A cast of two embracing figures
taken at Pompeii is that of two male lovers, Superintendent
Massimo Osanna said after new findings Thursday.
"Pompeii never ceases to amaze," he said. "We always imagined
that it was an embrace between women. But a CAT scan and DNA
have revealed that they are men," he said.
Later downplaying the discovery, Osanna said "the fact that
they were lovers is an hypothesis that cannot be dismissed".
But he said that tests on the bones and teeth of the pair -
hitherto known as The Two Maidens - showed that they were in
fact male.
The casts of shapes in the volcanic ash that buried the
ancient Roman city in 49 AD were made by archaeologist Vittorio
Spinazzola at the start of the 20th century. This cast was made
at the House of the Cryptoporticus.
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