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by yellowapple 2223 days ago
I find it interesting that no scholars seem to entertain the idea that maybe Medieval graffiti artisans enjoyed painting dicks on things just like we do in the modern day.

Like, the way the phalluses (phalli? Huh, apparently "phalli" is the one Firefox's spellcheck recognizes) look like they're thinly painted on top of what look like normal fruit, with a different paint that appears to have faded faster than the original, strongly suggests the fresco was not originally painted with such phallic abundance. Seems like some prankster took some paint and "improved" it, possibly with his medieval buddies for a laugh.

Another tell-tale sign of this being ancient vandalism is the missing spots (both in the boughs and among the women on the ground), as if a caretaker desperately tried to scrub off the penises until, realizing such efforts were scrubbing away the original, gave up in frustration.