Erotic artwork from Pompeii
Erotic artwork from Pompeii, forming a shop sign showing a priapic Mercury advancing. Pompeii on the shores of the Bay of Naples, Italy, was a Roman town destroyed by the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The eruption buried the town under a thick layer of ash, and it remained undiscovered until 1599. It was not until 1749 that attempts were made to excavate the town which has been very well preserved in the ash. The excavations revealed a huge amount about daily life at the time. The entire site is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photographed in 2017, in the Secret Cabinet, at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Photo by MARCO ANSALONI / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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