Beautiful wintery day, Pompeii phalluses on line | ward's Blog

Oh my, it's been snowing lightly since mid-morning, looking like one of those Japanese prints you see sometimes.  It is so pretty; every window looks like a winter wonderland postcard.  One can sure appreciate a nice warm house on a day like this, windows are a real bonus.

A few years back I told my wife about the strange street signs I'd seen in Pompeii.  She didn't ever believe me I guess, so this afternoon we were finished in bed and she asked me about it again: were there really penises and testicles carved into the pavement there?  Yes, I described the images again, round testicles about fist size with a penis extending as you'd expect, carved into the surface;  then we plugged "pompeii phallus" into a search engine and got plenty of pics people had posted.  It was fun to revisit Pompeii and she was amused at the prominence of phalluses all around the city.  Apparently the penis emblems there in those times were non-sexual, meant to ward off evil spirits or something.