Pompeii's red light baths open

2001-11-14 22:12

Pompeii - Locked to the public for decades, Pompeii's mysterious public baths were officially opened on Wednesday, allowing visitors a first glance at the erotic frescoes that once embellished the pleasure domes of ancient Rome.

The public baths were first discovered in the 1950s, but the restoration work that unveiled the frescoes was only completed at the end of the 1980s.

The eight images, which depict highly erotic scenes and have been described as a Mediterranean Kamasutra, have long divided archaeologists. Located inside the baths' mixed changing rooms, above the clothes cabinets, they served as a sex prompt for clients, according to some experts.

Brothel or banter?

But others have challenged the notion that the baths were effectively a 2 000-year-old brothel, arguing that the frescoes merely reflected Romans' favourite sex gags.

Archaeologist Luciana Jacobelli, the baths' leading expert, points out that none of the rooms usually used by prostitutes were found inside the Terme Suburbane.

She says the baths were an honest place of entertainment frequented by middle class people.

Divided in cold, tepid and warm-water pools, Pompeii's baths even featured a heated swimming pool and were adorned by magnificent frescoes depicting fantastic sea animals.

Pompeii, situated near modern day Naples, is Italy's most visited archaeological site with around 2.5 million visitors per year. The Roman city was buried by volcanic ash and lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. The eruption was chronicled by the ancient annalist Pliny the Younger.

The site's "red light" building will be open to the public next December, officials said. - Sapa/DPA

- SAPA