Ancient Roman Ladies wore booty shorts, had pink dumbbells, and were also athletes..

[robofan]

I stumbled across the Roman "bikini girls" mosaic while looking for something else and thought this was really interesting so I'm sharing.

The mosaic is from the Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily. More here and here. Apparently it depicts some old-time Roman ladies having an Olympics or maybe a CrossFit games, and the winner gets a crown and some leaves!

Happy Friday everyone!

EDIT: Here are some more images: pink weights; volleyball; why is this sub so lifting-oriented, we can run too!

 

[warriorforchrist]

@robofan awesome!

 

[sifer]

@robofan I want to win a crown and some leaves!

 

[enlightenedfred]

@robofan Dude! That is so cool. I saw this mosaic in person last year when I was in Sicily for an archaeological dig. It was by far my favourite.

 

[robofan]

@enlightenedfred That site looked like an excellent place to check out, it would be awesome to see in person!

How big is it (the mosaic)?

 

[enlightenedfred]

@robofan There were a bunch of other amazing mosaics there too, definitely worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Italy! This mosaic was pretty big, probably about the size of a standard garage door (not the best example but I don't know what else to compare it to, sorry!).

 

[robofan]

@enlightenedfred Ahh sounds awesome!!!

 

[jariid]

@robofan There's a reference in Aristophanes' comic play Lysistrata to exercises Spartan women do where they kick their butt.

The Spartan woman in the play apparently had a nice ass, too. I recommend the play, it's hilarious, especially when you keep in mind that these are men playing women, written by a man who probably didn't witness tons of genuine interactions between women.

 

[keegclw]

@jariid

especially when you keep in mind that these are men playing women, written by a man who probably didn't witness tons of genuine interactions between women.

So basically like today?

 

[jariid]

@keegclw Nearly! Athenian aristocratic women were kept at home and were not permitted to socialize with men. Of course it is unlikely that the rules were always followed! It is funnier to think about how bad they were at writing female characters than thinking about contemporary failures. Too real.

Some scholars argue that Aristophanes shows the absurdity of the extent contemporary misogyny had gone! I'm not too sure about that but Aristophanes does like to play around with gender role reversal a lot!!

This has become way beyond the scope of xxfitness but I really like 30 Rock, the Office, and Veep for modern comedy with more diverse and interesting female characters and dialogue.

 

[robofan]

@jariid And TIL there is/was such a thing as a "comic phallus"!

 

[jariid]

@robofan Haha, the padded costumes are so bizarre!!

 

[robofan]

@jariid Awesome! I found a PDF version so I can read this during downtime at work yaaaay!!!

Thanks!

 

[musiquedepot]

@robofan She sure as hell didn't get those guns with those weights, she must be posing for a magazine shoot

 

[aa12x]

@musiquedepot Accuracy level on 10,000

 

[robofan]

@musiquedepot LOL

 

[dynamitex]

@robofan I made it my facebook cover, but the name is so cringy.

 

[robofan]

@dynamitex I agree with you. "Bikini Girls" sounds like a magazine special-issue or a B-series imitation Bond movie lol.

The thing got "discovered" in the 1960s though, I'm sure somewhere on the internet is a version with a less cringeworthy name!

 

[godsholythunder]

@robofan In Ancient Greece female athletes competed in the Heraean Games which was a female-only competition dedicated to the goddess Hera. These ladies were awesome!

 

[robofan]

@godsholythunder I didn't know that, how awesome!