Claire Yasmin Khokhar-Thesis

Fantasy for Sale: The Appeal for Pompeii’s Lupanar A Master’s Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Graduate Program in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies Alexandra Ratzlaff, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Claire Yasmin Khokhar May 2021 Copyright by Claire Yasmin Khokhar 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Alexandra Ratzlaff, for her constant support throughout my thesis research, planning, and writing. She urged me to find my own voice in the midst of other’s research and write more authentically. Additionally, I would like to thank my thesis committee: Dr. Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow and Dr. Caitlin Gillespie, both of whom have played a key role during my time at Brandeis University and helped further shape and deepen my understanding of classics. Finally, I thank my family and friends who supported and motivated me in this effort. I am lucky to have an encouraging circle and appreciate you all immensely. iii ABSTRACT Fantasy for Sale: The Appeal for Pompeii’s Lupanar A thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts By Claire Yasmin Khokhar This thesis aims to discern the appeal and the experience one could find at Pompeii’s lupanar, the purpose-built brothel. While we know certain aspects of Roman prostitution like the range of prices and different vocabulary terms for the word “prostitute”, my passion and curiosity for Roman daily life led me to question why a Roman male went to the brothel? What was the appeal of going to a purpose-built brothel rather than soliciting sex publicly in bathhouses or the streets? I hypothesize that the appeal for the brothel was its disposition as an accepted sexual outlet for married men, the availability of non-normative sex, and the elite experience of reclined dining its majority sub-elite clientele could participate in. To examine this, chapters in this thesis look at literary and archaeological evidence, specifically the context of marriage and prostitution, the vocabulary of prostitution, the archaeology of the brothel in Pompeii, and the graffiti on the walls of the brothel and Pompeii. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 1 Literary Evidence…..……………………………………………………...4 CHAPTER 2 Vocabulary of Prostitution………………………………………………...16 CHAPTER 3 Archaeological Evidence of the Purpose-Built Brothel…………………..25 CHAPTER 4 The Brothel’s Graffiti....…………………………………………………..39 CHAPTER 5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….49 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………….54 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Map of Pompeii………………………………………………………………….....26 Figure 2 Plan of Pompeii’s Brothel………………………………………………………….27 Figure 3 Outside View of the Brothel…………………………………………………….....29 Figure 4 One of the Brothel’s Masonry Beds………………………………………………..32 Figure 5 Convivium Scene…………………………………………………………………...34 Figure 6 Erotic Fresco from the Casa del Centenario……………………………………….36 Figure 7 Erotic Fresco from the Brothel…………………………………………………….38 Figure 8 Graffiti on the Brothel’s Wall………………………………………………………44 Figure 9 Graffiti on the Brothel’s Wall………………………………………………………45 vi INTRODUCTION This thesis aims to show that the appeal for Pompeii’s purpose-built brothel (lupanar in Latin) was its disposition as an accepted sexual outlet for married men, the availablitity of non-normative sex, and the elite experience of reclined dining its majority sub-elite clientele could participate in. This thesis stems from my interest in Roman daily life, specifically in Pompeii- the city famously buried under ash and pumice in 79 CE. Pompeii provides a wealth of information about Roman life, undisturbed for more than a thousand years whereas other Roman cities constantly evolved and were built upon losing their pristine preservation in a specific moment. This research also stems from my interest in the lives of women who were rarely written about, specifically the world of prostitution and prostitutes; these women in Rome were given a negative connotation. While male prostitutes certainly existed, this thesis focuses on female prostitutes as more evidence exists for women in the profession. Upon further research, I came across scholarship on the purpose-built brothel in Pompeii as it provides a multitude of archaeological evidence of prostitution and the prostitutes that worked there. Scholars use ‘purpose-built’ to denote the distinction of a building entirely dedicated to the sale of sex versus multi-purpose buildings where sex may be solicited, such as inns or bathhouses. The lupanar at the focus of this thesis is the only surviving building in Pompeii, and likely the Roman Empire, that is entirely dedicated to venal sex. Because of its distinction, I infer the atmosphere and experience was unique as well. This thesis is significant to the study of classics because it further explores Roman social dynamics. We can know how something happens, but digging deeper helps us understand why- in turn, deepening our understanding of Roman society. Synthesizing the components that went into Roman practice of prostitution distinguishes the different roles prostitutes played in certain 1 settings, such as in the brothel. Some guiding questions that lead my research were: “Why go to the purpose-built brothel instead of soliciting sex in more public settings like bathhouses or inns?”, “What distinguished the experience one could find at the purpose-built brothel?”, “What kind of men formed the base of the brothel’s clientele?”. I do not attempt to glamorize the brothel, nor do I claim the experience at every Roman brothel was the same. Brothels are notoriously described as dirty and foul-smelling, as stated by Romans such as Horace and Seneca, and the rooms of the brothel are small and dark (Horace, Satire I.2.30; Seneca, Controversiae I.2). Presumably, both agreeable brothels and more deplorable ones abounded; though, due to the uniqueness of Pompeii’s brothel, it was perhaps more pleasant than many. The life of a prostitute was not easy, and the profession was not celebrated; prostitutes lived in the outskirts of society. This research builds upon literary and archaeological evidence to shape the context of the purpose-built brothel in Pompeii and discern its appeal. The literary evidence primarily comes from the Augustan marriage laws that layout the construct of Roman marriage and the consequences for adultery, the Caligula tax on prostitution that alludes to the profitability of prostitution, Cicero’s speech, Pro Caelio, that highlights the contrast of proper Roman women and prostitutes, and the graffiti covering the walls of the lupanar that reveal patterns in Latin sexual written culture. Additional excerpts support claims of certain associations with prostitution. The examination of the archaeology highlights the brothel building, its position within the city, and its comparison to other purported brothels, the erotic artwork within Pompeiian households and the lupanar, and the masonry beds which could be used as dining couches. After evaluating the components of Roman prostitution, I start to build the framework of the experience one could find at Pompeii’s brothel. I hypothesize that males visited Pompeii’s 2 brothel because of several factors: visiting the brothel was not considered adultery and thus an outlet for sexual urges, one could participate in sexual acts not socially acceptable as indicative by the graffiti on the brothel walls, and the elite experience of leisure and sexual pleasure associated with higher status prostitutes, or courtesans. As the title of the thesis suggests, the brothel offered, for a price, an experience of fantasy because it catered an elite experience to a sub-elite clientele. For example, a man who visited the brothel may not have been wealthy enough to own slaves he could use for sexual satisfaction or wealthy enough to regularly enjoy elite leisure. Chapter one introduces the literary sources defining marriage, adultery, prostitutes in comparison to respectable Roman women, and the profitable tax on prostitution. Chapter two compares the vocabulary of Greek and Roman prostitution to deduce the type of prostitute that would have worked in the brothel and the one associated with elite leisure, namely reclined dining. These initial chapters provide integral literary information on the different expectations and realities of wives and prostitutes while simultaneously setting up the male privilege of being able to visit a brothel and choose whom they want to sexually engage with. Chapter three analyzes the archaeology of the brothel in terms of its layout and position within the city, as well as the erotic art found inside the brothel and notable houses. Chapter four looks at the graffiti in the brothel and houses to identify patterns of Latin sexual inscriptions. These two chapters provide the archaeological evidence to set the scene for where the action takes place. Chapter five summarizes the thesis research results, the challenges while researching, and the future of this research. Together these lines of evidence and analyses help in understanding the moving elements of the brothel's atmosphere to form a hypothesis of what the appeal and experience was there. 3 CHAPTER 1 This chapter addresses the Augustan laws, the Lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus, Lex Papia Poppaea, and the Lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis, which pertain to marriage and adultery, revealing the expectations of marriage and subsequently the consequences if the vows of marriage are broken. These laws are pivotal to consider because they set the moral expectation of a Roman marriage but also exclude men visiting a brothel as an act of adultery. Cicero’s Speech in Defense of Caelius offers a glimpse into the social normality of prostitution and iterates how visiting the brothel was neither considered immoral nor was it considered an act of adultery for a married man to solicit sexual acts from a prostitute. Cicero’s Speech in Defense of Caelius also indicates the vastly different expected behavior and activities of Roman women, whether married or not, and prostitutes.

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