Pompeian Brothels and Social History: by Thomas A. J. Mcginn

Pompeian Brothels and Social History
By Thomas A. J. McGinn
Focus of the Study
 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?
 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
 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
Erotic Art from a Purpose-Built
Brothel
Erotic Art from the Changing
Room of a Suburban Bath
Potential Brothels
 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
 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 entrance-
stairway 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?
 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?
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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)

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• The presence of erotic graffiti

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