Naples in Perspective

A last word from me on Naples – for the time being – can be found in the latest ssue of the excellent magazine Perspective...

https://perspectivemag.co.uk/letter-from-elsewhere-naples/

See Naples and Live – 21: Breasts or Testicles?

©Nigel Summerley

While I was reading a century-old book relating the story of the Hittite empire, a reference to "Artemis of the Many Breasts" reminded me of one of the most curious sights in Naples' National Archaeological Museum – pictured above.

My first thought on seeing her was certainly that this was a goddess with a profusion of breasts. But when I read the accompanying notice, I was informed that these were in fact bulls' testicles and thus symbols of fertility.

Either way, this was a pretty weird image. But I was sold on the testicles, and stuck to that explanation when showing this photograph to other people.

However, now it doesn't seem to be quite so clear-cut. The breasts explanation held sway for a very long time in the past – so much so that one statue of the goddess had multiple jets of milk-like liquid spurting from every protuberance (not dissimilar to the Naples fountain depicting Parthenope – see this blog 23 November, See Naples and Live – 14: Sirens, Sirens Everywhere...).

One argument for the testicles, though, is that if these were the goddess's breasts, surely they would be coloured dark, to match her face and hands? Their distinctly different colouring suggests that they are indeed testicles detached from their bovine owners to be made into fashion accessories with a religious significance.

Whatever the truth, this stunning statue remains just one of myriad reasons to visit a museum overflowing with marvels.

See Naples and Live – 14: Sirens, Sirens Everywhere...

 

Ever since I set out on An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague (see this blog March-October 2020), I seem to have been beset by Sirens.

Maybe it's just something that goes with following in the wake of Odysseus...

But Naples has a huge connection with the Sirens, and it's difficult to spend some time there without being aware of the fact.

In the National Archaeological Museum you can even interact with a digital Siren, a tiny but seductive virtual fish/woman who sings requests (see below).

©Nigel Summerley

Nearby, the museum also has this large-as-life Siren (below) complete with fishy tail but lacking any other appendages

©Nigel Summerley

According to legend, the Siren called Parthenope (see this blog – An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Parthenope – 13 February 2021) cast herself into the sea after failing to seduce Odysseus, and her dying body washed up on the beach in front of what was to become Naples.

The caryatid (below) comes complete with arms, fishy tail and everything else a Siren should have. She stands by the sea on Via Partenope and is part of the 17th-century Fontana dell'Immacolatella.

©Nigel Summerley

This Siren from the Palazzo Sanfelice (below) seems to make up in the fishy legs department for what she lacks in arms.

©Nigel Summerley

Breasts, of course, are a prominent feature in depictions of Sirens... and nowhere more so than at the Fontana di Spinacorona (below) which depicts Parthenope (in the more classically authentic half-bird, half-woman form) squeezing jets of liquid from her breasts to put out the fires of Vesuvius.

©Nigel Summerley

And last – and most contemporary – is this transport of delight spotted just across the bay from Vesuvius (which is seen reflected in the bus window). Only in Naples...

©Nigel Summerley

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Parthenope

 Fontana della Sirena - Piazza Sannazar, Naples

Odysseus had a tendency to fall under the spell of enchantresses – at least that was one of his excuses for being late getting home to Ithaca.

However, one alluring female not only found herself being resisted by him, but she was so distraught at her failure that she surrendered her own life.

She was Parthenope, one of the Sirens, who flung herself into the sea and was washed up dying on the shore of what today is the city of Naples. Greek settlers here, on the west coast of what became Italy, originally named their town after her.

Parthenope was half-bird and half-woman (as the Sirens were originally described). Her legend became entwined with the history of Naples, and there are now three fountains in the city that commemorate her.

The most unusual is the Fontana di Spinacorona whose "lactating" breasts actually spill water over Vesuvius below her. In their impeccable guide Secret Naples, Valerio Ceva Grimaldi and Maria Franchini recount that this 15th-century depiction of Parthenope was intended to have a calming and contemplative effect, but "it has always been popularly known as the 'fountain of the tits'."

Fontana di Spinacorona

Another Parthenope tribute is the Fontana della Sirena at Piazza Sannazar (at the top of this post) and the third is the more modern one at Napoli Centrale railway station (featured along with other Siren images from my 2020 odyssey on this blog at An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague  – Siren Land).

It was only in the Middle Ages that the image of the Sirens underwent a makeover with their emergence as half-woman and half-fish – and a merger with all the many legends of mermaids who lured sailors to their doom.

Over the centuries, depictions of the Sirens have become increasingly erotic, one example being the Fountain of the Sirens at Maratea, which I passed through last year, heading up the beautiful west coast of Italy, north to Naples. 

Fountain of the Sirens at Maratea