Symbol of human love, embraced bodies of Pompeii belonged to 2 men

Called “The Two Maidens, ” the image of two embraced and petrified bodies following the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD may actually belong to two men. At least that is what new research suggests about what remains of the disaster-ravaged Italian city.

To this day, it was believed that the bodies belonged to two women. But the scientists analyzed bone and dental fragments of charred and petrified bodies in ashes and came to the conclusion that they belonged to an 18-year-old boy and another man in his early 20s.

Massimo Osanna, director of the Pompei archaeological site, explains that computerized tomography and DNA analysis techniques were used to reach this conclusion. He warns, however, that it is not possible to determine whether the two men were lovers, although this possibility should not be ruled out because of the position in which they both succumbed.

The analysis also showed that the two bodies did not belong to the same family: they were not brothers, cousins ​​or father and son, for example. It is important to remember that during the period of the Roman Empire, homosexuality was not seen with the same taboo today. It was common for men to have relations with each other without affecting their social position or their own sexuality. Probably the nature of their relationship will become yet another unanswered puzzle.

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