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A museum piece like no other

Maev Kennedy

British Museum reveals saucy side of the ancient world

London: Just inside the towering front door of the British Museum here, visitors paused on Thursday to stare at an exhibit, unique in its 253-year history. In small, elegant type a sign warned: "Please note that the display contains sexually explicit images." Some blinked, some laughed, most went in to find that `Sex and Society in Ancient Greece and Rome' did exactly what it said on the tin.

Grouped around a dazzlingly beautiful and explicit Roman silver cup, a collection of objects in silver, glass and pottery pictured men and women, men or boys and, in the case of a small oil lamp, two women risking really serious back strain.

"The mask is off, we're up for it," curator Dyfri Williams said. Then he paused and considered his phrasing. "We wanted to show this fantastic object in a context in which we could ask how much we understand about attitudes to sexuality when it was made. These seem extraordinary now, but there were many objects in common use, and wall paintings and mosaics in baths and in private houses, showing very similar imagery." —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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