Pompeian Brothels and Social History
By Thomas A. J. McGinn
Focus of the Study
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To examine 20th Century scholarship on
Pompeian brothels, its methods and
assumptions, and above all the criteria
used to identify them
Not to advance new candidates for
brothels, but to suggest that not all
brothels in Pompeii have been identified
What is a Brothel?
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The broader the definition, the more the
possible venues
McGinn: “a location with sex as its principal
(or at least a major component of its)
business, that allows two or more prostitutes
to work simultaneously”
According to literary sources, this definition
applies to the Roman notion
Pompeian brothels were relatively small, so a
distortion brought about by a wide range in
the size of brothels is minimized
How to Identify Brothels in the
Archaeological Record
Della Corte’s criteria:
• The design and layout of the
establishment
• The presence of erotic art
• The presence of erotic graffiti
How to Identify Brothels in the
Archaeological Record
A. Wallace-Hadrill’s criteria:
•
The structural evidence of a masonry
bed set in a small cell of ready access
to the public
•
The presence of paintings of explicit
sexual scenes
•
The cluster of graffiti lauding bene
futui, good sexual partners
Problems with these Criteria
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Reliance on room layout provides no effective
way to distinguish a brothel from an inn
Masonry beds only reveal purpose-built
brothels – prostitutes could have used
wooden beds, which are less likely to have
survived, or no bed at all
Erotic art was a ubiquitous feature of Roman
social life
Graffiti can communicate jokes, insults, or
idle boasting
Public Displays of Erotic Art
Public Displays of Erotic Art
Public Displays of Erotic Art
Public Displays of Erotic Art
Erotic Art from a Purpose-Built
Brothel
Erotic Art from the Changing
Room of a Suburban Bath
Potential Brothels
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Purpose-built brothels: spaces intended, designed,
and built to serve as brothels
Cellae meretriciae: the most likely venues for
prostitution at Pompeii
Cribs: small, crude buildings or rooms, clustered in an
alley or along a roadway, used by prostitutes who do
not work in brothels
Baths and cauponae: areas where prostitution
certainly occurred but was not a major component of
the business
Private dwellings: parts of a house separate from the
owner’s living area, such as a slave’s quarters, often
had separate entrances and many of the criteria
found in brothels
The Purpose-Built Brothel
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5 simple small rooms on the ground floor, each with a
masonry bed
Series of erotic paintings along the hallway
connecting the rooms
5 upstairs rooms accessible by a separate entrancestairway and balcony
Latrine under the stairway with 100 graffiti, mostly
erotic
Often the upstairs does not contain erotic paintings –
sleeping quarters for prostitutes, or it could be a
separate operation
Moral Zoning?
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Did the Romans keep brothels in certain
areas and out of others?
Did they wish to isolate prostitution
from elite women and children?
Were impure activities concentrated in
hidden areas?
Were brothels segregated to lower class
neighborhoods?
Moral Zoning?
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Moral zoning was not common until the rise
of Christianity
Roman cities tended to be fairly
homogeneous socially
Brothels were rarely located at great
distances from upper-class dwellings
Map of Pompeii shows that brothels were
evenly distributed, except near the Forum,
where regulation of brothels may have been
successful
Roman Perspective on
Prostitution
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Prostitution seen as an alternative or antidote to
adultery
Prostitutes served to distract male lust away from
“respectable women”
Erotic art was commonly on display and easily visible
to elite women and children, in dining rooms and
gardens
The Romans were much more open about sex than
we are today and evidently had no concern keeping it
out of the home and confined to a brothel
Prostitution may have been seen as a breach of
upper-class decorum, but indecent behavior by
members of the lower classes was to be expected
Roman Public Policy Toward
Prostitution
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Prostitution was tolerated – limited regulation
Today, public policy involves repression of
prostitution, which would have been foreign to the
Romans
What policies were initiated ultimately failed
Although no brothels are located in the Forum,
prostitution existed and was actually encouraged
there
Roman policy on prostitution tended to make the
activity as visible as possible
Prostitutes were meant to be humiliated
Demographics
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Estimates of Pompeii’s population: 7,000 to
20,000
504 domus (private dwellings)
34-35 brothels
Many of the clients of prostitutes probably
were not citizens of Pompeii
Assuming an average of 4 prostitutes per
brothel, and accounting for prostitutes who
did not work at brothels, just over 100
prostitutes lived in Pompeii.
Future Work
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Redefine the criteria for identifying brothels
More detailed examination of the physical
remains
Reexamine the subtypes of brothels
(purpose-built, caupona, and lower-class
lodgings, etc.)
Analyze Pompeian brothels in the context of
the Roman world (Ostia and Rome itself)