Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Classics

Supervisor

Olson, Kelly

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the erotic evidence from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii. I analyze the erotic wall-paintings in the House of the Vettii (located in rooms b, p, n, t, and x1) and the erotic graffiti found within the house (located in rooms v and a). I also consider individual and overarching themes found within the erotic wall-paintings in order to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the artwork and identify a number of themes in the decorative programme: erotic abandonment, illicit desire, and demigods that use sexual violence against mortal women. While I do not come to any unprecedented revelations in my thesis, mine is the first scholarly work to examine all the erotic evidence from one house.

Summary for Lay Audience

In this thesis I examine the erotic evidence (evidence which either explicitly or implicitly alludes to erotic or sexual themes) from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii. The House of the Vettii was owned by former slaves and contains many cases of artistic erotic evidence found in wall-paintings/frescoes (artworks painted directly onto the interior walls of Roman houses) as well as literary erotic evidence in the form of graffiti. The erotic wall-paintings I analyze are located in rooms b, p, n, t, and x1 and the erotic graffiti I examine are located in rooms v and a of the House of the Vettii. While previous scholarship has analyzed certain pieces of the erotic evidence from the House of the Vettii, my work is the first to examine all the erotic evidence solely from this house.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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