I give you a Nereid fanny for #FannyFriday. It is just the mons veneris, hairless to match the Graeco-Roman beauty ideal. It may be that a slit is too difficult to do in a mosaic as there are other artworks depicting it. But this one erases that part of the #vulva.
It's #InternationalWomensDay and the #vulva is still a taboo. The vulva is regarded as ugly and something to be ashamed of and talking about it is considered obscene and vulgar. In #ancientGreece and #ancientRome, exposure of the vulva (#Anasyrma) was considered an act that could avert evil, just like the phallus charms.
Labia are rarely found in ancient #GreekRomanArt but were they omitted or erased?
"When she [#Inanna] went out to the shepherd, to the sheepfold, [...] her #vulva was remarkable. [...] her vulva was remarkable. She praised herself, full of delight at her vulva, she praised herself, full of delight at her vulva." #Inana and Enki, Segment A, lines 1-10
🏛 Ishtar or Inanna, dated 19th-17th century BCE from modern #Iraq.
It's not only phalloi that are auspicious: vulvas are just as lucky and protect from evil. Between women, flashing of the vulva is depicted as light-hearted and funny, such as when Baubo flashes hers to Demeter to cheer her up. But Pliny the Elder writes that a woman can avert storm and hail by exposing her vulva towards Z̶e̶u̶s̶ the lightning.
It's #FannyFriday, the day I invite everyone to post #vulva art along with me.
Here, #Eros is helping two women remove their pubic hair to be extra sexy. Yes, this goes back to antiquity. Eros and the woman behind him are using an oil lamp to burn off the hair. The bristly pubes growing back earned the vulva the nickname "piggy" in acient Greek.