Well, I suppose this is one reason why we shouldn't let Pompeii fall into ruins, although I can't say it's occurred to me to list it among my priorities ...
Ovid's impotence shows why we can't let Pompeii fall
Evidence of the subtlety of Roman eroticism gets lost in translation, and may be further buried if Pompeii crumbles
By Jonathan Jones at Guardian.co.uk
... Ovid's poems are in libraries and bookshops all over the world. But only in Pompeii can you explore a Roman brothel, visit Roman baths decorated with saucy scenes and see the seriously kinky frescoes in The Villa of the Mysteries. None of these are reconstructions; they are real places, preserved by chance along with so many aspects of everyday life in an ordinary Roman city.
To let this magical place decay, to fail to care about such rare survivals of human intimacy, is more obscene than anything Ovid wrote. Shame on those responsible.
Read the full article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment