Roman Prostitution, And Prostitution In General

[Guest fsp923]

I was wondering if someone couold give me a lot of information about prostitution in rome during ancient times, and about prostitution in general in italy from ancient times, relating to pompeii and such. I know of the penii on the streets leading sailors to whore houses and of the pictures on the walls of different positions. But i was wondering whether or not someone could give me a long detailed explanation that i can put into a paper im writing.

[Demson]

That's one interesting paper you're writing

 

Link.

[Guest Fiona]

That's one interesting paper you're writing

 

Link.

 

A post that endeavoured to contain information about Roman prostitution in such a way as to be useful to you would be too long I feel. This is owing to the wealth of information surrounding the topic. However I can try and give some useful references:

 

For detailed pitures of frescoes found in the lupanar brothel in Pompeii try 'Eros in Pompeii', a book containing images from the National Museum in Naples with particular reference to the 'secret room' (containing artefacts of a sexually explicit nature). Also 'looking at lovemaking' for analysis of frescoes.

 

try also 'Sexuality and the Roman Literary Imagination' which uses literary sources and has a large section on prostitution. It also has many amusing snippets of graffiti found in Pompeii. Sorry I don't have more detail, I'm remembering the books off the top of my head.

 

Also, be wary of the Penii directing clients to brothels. Although some phallic icons did direct to brothels and there is indeed such a sign on the road pointing to the lupanar in Pompeii, such images were found in many instances outside the context of sex and prostitution. This is due to the symbol also appealing to Priapus the household god, who brought prosperity and also had an oversized phallus.

[Pantagathus]

I was wondering if someone couold give me a lot of information about prostitution in rome during ancient times, and about prostitution in general in italy from ancient times, relating to pompeii and such. I know of the penii on the streets leading sailors to whore houses and of the pictures on the walls of different positions. But i was wondering whether or not someone could give me a long detailed explanation that i can put into a paper im writing.

 

If you are interested enough in a subject to do a paper on it, I believe you would benefit much more from doing your own research than from relying on somebody else's point of view in a forum...

[Pertinax]

A brief note here, I am reading Cruse"s 'Roman Medicine" at present whilst awaiting a copy of the Pompeian Herbal.I was intending to drop some photos into the gallery of plants known to the Romans for medicinal purposes (though not neccesarily the same contemporary usage). As luck would have it I was checking the squirting cucumber (Ecballium eraterium) a plant of amusing and explosive habit. This lead me to find that the plant was employed as an abortifactant by Roman prostitutes( if you took the sap of the fruit your bowels would be purged rather violently). This in turn lead me to find that the Stoics believed the foetus resembled a plant and only became an animal at birth when it started breathing, this was the moral underpinning of abortion in Rome till the time of Severus, abortion being allowable on grounds of health and to keep a youthful appearence .

 

Oxford Companion to Classical Civilisation (Hornblower and Spawforth) has a reference.

[Pertinax]

For those of you with particularly arcane interests I will be posting the squirting cucumber in the gallery section in due course.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

What was the plant used by the Romans as a contraceptive that Romans use it so much, it went extinct.

Err, squirting cucumber?

[Pertinax]

Squirting Cucumber-yes indeed a bizzare name but an antique abortifactant. Tansy ,Pennyroyal ,Slippery Elm, Raspberry Leaf and more besides any of these deployed by a "crafty woman" would achieve such an end. As far as spermicidal agents are involved any "barrier" cream or gel would suffice if the spermatozoa were exposed to air or fatally delayed.Sponges soaked in weak vinegar were used or cedar resin applied to the mouth of the womb. In all seriousness coitus interruptus has long been assumed to be an effective birth control method in Roman times. Many substances are Emmenagouges -ie: allow the healthy sloughing of the womb lining but if increased in dose are abortifactants.

I have added a gallery picture of the Cucumber.

Edited November 16, 2005 by Pertinax

[Northern Neil]

Earlier this year, I went to Pompeii and visited the famous brothel, complete with its stone beds and cubicles. Obviously, such establishments have their modern counterparts, and as such merely provide proof - if any were needed - as to the similarity of human nature throughout the ages. What I found more interesting was a pamphlet I picked up in the Pompeii museum, called 'The Forbidden Pompeii'. This little book contained information on some of the highly erotic paintings and inscriptions found in Pompeii, which were all removed and in most cases destroyed due to religious (Catholic) pressure.

 

There is a suggestion that the paintings were supressed on account of the fact that they contained images and information which was deemed incompatible with Christian doctrine. In most instances, only sketches drawn immediately prior to destruction remain of the originals. Others which were not destroyed remain intact, but under lock and key at the Museum of Naples, available for study - but not to photograph - with special permission.

 

I would hazard a guess that these paintings would not particularly shock us, or give us any revolutionary insights into the Roman world's views on sexuality. They do, however, tell us a great deal about the mentality of those who would keep these artifacts from us...

 

If you are interested enough in a subject to do a paper on it, I believe you would benefit much more from doing your own research than from relying on somebody else's point of view in a forum...

Give the guy a break, he probably is. If more information can be gathered by getting references and such of other forum members, then fine.

[Pertinax]

The area of sexuality is a minefield for "modern" people.The thread on "Homosexuality" covers a lot of ground relevant to assumptions about historical sexual relationships and applies also to "hetrosexual" elationships.Suffice to say that you need to look at marriage, concubinage, slavery and brothel keeping within the same economic nexus before examining roles of individuals in Roman society.The Oxford companion to Classical Civilisation has two very pertinent entries .