BOOB POTS + A BRAND NEW FRESCO DISCOVERY (.)(.)

mastoi cups and the latest update from excavations at Pompeii 🌋🌋🌋

TLDR: boob-shaped drinking cups were a thing in ancient Greece (are we even remotely surprised??) and a very. pretty. mythological fresco was just uncovered at Pompeii 🎨

first up, the boob pots, aka mastoi cups !

so these c u r v a c e o u s ceramic creations came up when I was chatting to Liv, host of the one + only mythsbaby podcast (we recorded an absolutely unhinged episode about the fear of the feminine and female sexuality in ancient Greece that will be coming out in a few weeks :0) and, frankly, I think they deserve more attention.

I have to confess mastoi cups were a relatively rare shape in attic vase production ~ the shape or form was *probably* invented by the Corinthians at the beginning of the 6th century BCE. Now breasts had maternal as well as sexual associations for the ancient Greeks (Freud, the real f-word, may have been tossed around during the podcast recording), BUT the tactile appeal of breasts, especially virginal ones (🤢) was absolutely emphasised in literature. Mastoi cups advanced this, providing a saucy, three-dimensional manifestation or embodiment of this tactile, sensual appeal, inviting the drinker to handle the female breast (I know I’ve just used the word breast three times but fun-bags/melons/knockers just didn’t feel right).

What is particularly funky about these cups (bc the fact that they’re shaped like ta-tas is not enough) is that the shape of the cup meant that once it was filled it could not be put down. Due to the literal nipple on the bottom. See above. So the drinker would have to drain their cup COMPLETELY before setting it down ~ a sort of mammary-based drinking game perhaps ?? Unsure.

Mastoi cups, of course, represent the literal objectification of women within the setting of the ancient Greek symposium and ancient Greece more broadly 👍 We ALSO have a fun bit of literary evidence for this ~ Pliny the Elder mentions a cup in the shape of Helen of Troy’s breast that was dedicated at the temple of Athena on the island of Rhodes 🏛️

Also, it’s giving Marie Antoinette - iykyk (but if you don’t know, here’s an article about the history of the champagne coupe - I have no idea about the historical accuracy of this but the rumour that coupes were modelled off of ms Antoinette’s left breast is so widespread it’s almost canon, surely).

For all you mega nerds who want to read up on mastoi cups, here is the INCREDIBLE diss that I used in my recent essay and got all the ta-ta related info from: Coccagna, Helene Augusta. “Embodying Sympotic Experience: Anatomical Manipulations of Athenian Vases.” Ph.D. dissertation, Johns Hopkins University, 2009.

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Now onto the brand-spanking new FRESCO that was just uncovered in Pompeii (I mean it’s 2,000 years old so I’m sure we can debate its newness, but you know what I mean).

Now I understand why you might assume otherwise but in a twist no-one saw coming, the sheep is NOT Zeus trynna shag someone  🐑 👀

The painting depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle who were saved by a flying ram (saved, not seduced, but you really would be forgiven for assuming otherwise) that was sent by the gods to whisk them away from their evil stepmother who was plotting to have them killed :/   

ALAS, only one of the twins make it - this fresco depicts the tragic fate of Helle (the one at the bottom reaching up towards her brother) who falls off the flying sheep (I mean how good a grip was she expected to have on wet wool ??? Reins are NOT pictured) and drowns in the sea 🫧

I don’t know how comforting this is as far as silver linings go BUT the strait that she fell into WAS named after her ~ that’s where the word Hellespont comes from, the ancient name for the Dardanelles.

God I mean these COLOURS ^^^^^^^^^^^

Also, an extra dose of nerdiness from me, this fresco was discovered in the House of Leda, an INCREDIBLE structure that is still being excavated and houses a beautiful/disturbing painting of, you guessed it, Zeus and Leda 🦢 

That swan’s neck will haunt my dreams for years to come. YEARS. Why is it so squiggly.

Read proper articles about the discovery here and here and shout-out to Hannah Parker for bringing this discovery to my attention with her ridiculously efficient reporting of breaking archaeological news 🏺

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Now some PLUGS: Ben aka

CSMFHT

wrote a sensational article covering a social media scandal that befell the British Museum that I otherwise would’ve completely missed: The British Museum Does It Again and

Donna Zuckerberg

(not that Zuckerberg, but she is his sister) wrote up a conversation between her and a pal bringing a trans reading to a certain passage of Homer’s Odyssey based on their ex-husbands’ (now ex-wives’) marriage proposals: "Even in antiquity, there's a sense that the material representations of gender performance are somehow hardwired."

Whilst we’re on the TOPIC of Homer’s Odyssey, for those of you that are new here, I wrote and presented a very silly/chaotic summary of the Odyssey last year in Corfu ~ watch episode one here:

The Odyssey in a Day: Part One

I talk about Scylla and Charybdis in a bikini and there are prop gummy bears, I really cannot recommend it enough.

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