Upstairs at the brothel

Despite the bleats in my last post about not getting enough time for (real) work, I am now in Naples for seven days doing some serious hard graft  at Pompeii: my last good look at the site before I write my book on it.

One of the Pompeian places that is sure to feature somewhere in this book is The Brothel. Now that the famous House of the Vettii is closed to the public, it is this that is the tour guides’ hot spot, nicely restored with Danish money a few years ago. On the ground floor, it consists of five little rooms, each with a fitted stone bed – plus a single loo, though no running water.

What makes it 100% certain that it is a brothel rather than (say) a cheap lodging house is the decoration (a lot of more or less unimaginative bits of painted erotica above the doors to the ‘cells’). And, of course, the graffiti: all over the walls are scrawled boasts and confessions, along the lines of  “I fucked Glyce/I want to fuck Glyce/I fucked Glyce for tuppence”.

Hardly surprising, I guess, that it attracts streams of visitors. And hardly surprising that the site authorities enter into the sprit of it a bit. Some wag, no doubt worried about the effect of light on the paintings, has posted “No Flash” on the notice outside.

But what I’ve always wanted to know is what happened upstairs.

The Brothel is a two storey building, and the upstairs is shut to the public. Some books tell you that there were more rooms for sex workers there. Others claim that it was where the girls slept or took a break between clients. Until this week I hadn’t had permission to go and see for myself.

What you actually find is a neat stairway (with a loo at the bottom) plus five more rooms. One is a rather nice, and nicely decorated, large saloon; the others smallish chambers of some sort. There were no obvious cooking facilities. So if anyone lived here, beyond fruit and bread etc, and some hot snacks and the ancient equivalent of a cup of tea cooked up on a portable brazier (lots of those are found in the city), they would have eaten out.

So what was this suite for? Well it could hardly have been more “working” rooms. At least, there was not an erotic painting in sight and no graffiti at all, so far as I could see.

So what then?

Well maybe the girls’ quarters, with four bedrooms (for how many workers?) plus a recreation area. But it was hard to resist the idea that the nice big room was where that stock villain of Roman comedy, the pimp or “leno” hung out and counted his takings, and lived in some style (even if minus a kitchen).

Or maybe, as one of our party pointed out., we were still being too fanciful. Given the multiple use and multiple occupancy of most domestic space in Pompeii, this could equally well have been the flat of someone who just happened to have the address “above the brothel”.

And as for the girls? Just as likely that they slept on (or off) the job.

Comments

[Mary]

Katie. You should make sure that your department is a subscriber to the British School at Rome, and they will the help you. Mark Bradley in the Classics dept should be able to tell you how to go about getting in touch with the BSR, m

[Katie Matthews]

Hi I am doing my dissertation at Uni of Nottingham, on this Brothel. I was just wondering how I would go about trying to get access to the upstairs. If you could give me any info on who to contact etc that would be great.
Regards
Katie Matthews
abyykrm@nottingham.ac.uk

[Tony Francis]

To be honest, this "nolo cum" picture is troubling. I am having problems figuring out which is the "he" and "she". I would presume the one in yellow is the girl. But then, the "he" is shorter and standing on tip-toes. Also, the "she" is wearing really long shoes, like men did in the Middle Ages. Either that, or she needs to pull her socks up. Did s/he knock his/her socks off? Any finally, are either of these "Myrtale"? So many questions; so few answers.

[SW Foska]

For my part, Tony, I must tell you that the image on your link is more erotic than anything Foska has ever seen. S/he will of course let you know if this situation changes.

[Tony Francis]

Dearest Foska, I have been trying to think of something that is more disappointing than not being able to link to a posted site. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything. This should tell you a lot about my psychological state, and my life in general. Therefore, I stand before you, an open book; or perhaps an open website. Now, back to that "nolo cum Myrtale" site for a little eroticism.

[SW Foska]

Tony, you must have a different conception of disappointing than I do.

[anthony alcock]

Anise
Well spotted

[Tony Francis]

Concerning "nolo cum Myrtale", I can't get the specific website listed by Anise to come up on my computer. This seems to work:
http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/lovers_painting.jpg
This is described as an "erotic scene". They must have a different concept of erotic than I do. The entire McManus site is loaded with interesting images. It is like going to a museum. Thanks for pointing this out, Anise.
http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/index.html
(As a note to those posting websites: it is useful to check these before posting. I find that about 90% of the time, I have typed something incorrectly, and have to re-write it. These sites can be checked during the "preview" before posting. There is nothing more disappointing than not being able to link to a site.)

[Anise K. Strong]

Anthony,

Lucian lived in the 2nd century CE, so not unless the disgruntled patron was also a time traveler. I should clarify that "Nolo cum Myrtale" is also not graffiti per se but a sort of comic "bubble" in the figural scene ornamenting the outside of Salvius' tavern. (http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/lovers_painting.jpg)

[anthony alcock]

The phrase "I don't want to with Myrtale" puts me in mind of the Myrtale in Lucian, who gave Dorion such a hard time. Could it be some reference on the part of some reasonably well-read disgruntled customer to the literary characters created by the great son of Samosata ?

[Anise K. Strong]

Thank you! Even an absence of evidence can be suggestive. Upon checking McGinn's _Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World_, 236-9, there is apparently some literary evidence suggesting that at least some prostitutes lived onsite.

Also, Varone, "Lupanare," (2002), pg 194 argues that the excavation techniques of 1862 failed to preserve the art or graffiti on the upper level, and that it may well have been a connected or separate brothel in its own right. There's no positive evidence here, however.

[Mary]

Anise. I have looked at my notes. The small rooms had little surviving decoration and, so far as you could tell through the restoration, it was plain. The large room was painted yellow, with panel decoration, but no figured scenes (so far as I've noted). It had an internal window opening onto the corridor/balcony running around the outside at the upper level.

[Anise K. Strong]

Thanks for the description! I've been trying to gain access to that upper level for years now, but it's always been under repair. (I'm currently working on a book on Roman prostitutes, so it's extremely relevant.)

Can you be more specific about the decoration of the "saloon"? I'm very curious. I note that this fairly precisely matches the layout of the disputed Ephesus brothel, which similarly has one "working" section connected to a more upscale, residential area, and another possible brothel in Ostia as well.

So it seems quite plausible that the leno or lena lived upstairs. Poetic evidence suggests (Juvenal's 6th Satire, for instance), that most lupanar women did not live at the brothel, which would be further borne out by the lack of a hearth, but says little about the home of the leno.

With regard to the Pompeian lupanar, I offer a specific suggestion for its owner. Most of the graffiti on the ground floor refer to common prostitute names like "Fortuna" and "Nike." A rare exception is visible in a graffito in the first room on the left in the Pompeii lupanar (VII.12.18), where a woman is identified as “SALVI FILIA" (CIL 4.2173_. A Salvius is also the owner of the tavern or caupona two blocks away (VI.14.36), which features a painting of a man and woman kissing, and the inscription “NOLO CUM MYRTALE,” “I don’t want to with Myrtale,” a name which also appears twice in the lupanar, in the first room on the right: CIL 4.2268 and 4.2271. This suggests a possible direct connection between Salvius the caupona-owner and the brothel, which might explain the unusual invocation of a father, if he was also a leno or pimp. The first room on the left is also the largest, well-lit, and has the highest percentage of graffiti. This might indicate that the room belonged to a particularly privileged prostitute or the madam of the place.

Therefore, if we go with your theory of the leno's apartment upstairs, it might belong to Salvius, the caupona and brothel-owner, who lived there with his daughter, and possibly another privileged girl or two. The caupona would also mean that there was no need for on-site cooking facilities.

N.B. I haven't had the opportunity to publish this theory yet, so please consider it a preliminary but copyrighted proposal.

[anthony alcock]

Hey Steve,
Size, eh ? What could you possibly mean ?
Tone

[paul potts]

Dear Mary

I had occasion to visit an out-of-the way hotel in Swaziland. Since the Gents' was out of order, I had to go to the Ladies'. I was astonished at what I saw. Wall-to-wall mirrors, pink velvet stools, and the debris of what some call cosmetics. I escaped, and noticed that there were some ladies in the bar who might have been looking for a good time, but I guess that they would rather use the Gents'.

Whatever the management were up to, it wasn't what an archaeologist would suppose. And I further guess that the love-seekers in Pompeii would prefer to have nothing to do with your brothel.

[Tony Francis]

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1953, the Romans were much more sensitive to the effects of prostitution than other ancient cultures. There was an attempt to register them, and segregate them by either dress or by wearing a blond wig. Once a woman was registered as a prostitute, she could never outlive the stigma. The following site has interesting Latin terms using "wolf". A lupa was a female wolf, but also a prostitute. Presumably, this was based on the belief that a prostitute ravaged the family like a wolf would a herd of sheep. A borbello was a "Lupanar". This was to get the pesky lupa off the streets and into rooms, where decent people wouldn't have to look at them. Apparently, all the regulation was for naught, as there were plenty of lupanars in every city. There was a fear that the good Roman bloodlines would be tainted with "lupa blood". They indicate most cities had "red light districts". How all this plays into the legend of Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf would be an interesting psychological subject to study.
http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/1219

[Mary]

OK Malcolm McClure...I see the point, but yes I do think it's interesting enough to spend a few hundred words on. That's partly because the damn building so obviously has another floor, but hardly anyone knows what's there. I've had people ask me before... and just had to confess ignorance. I also had in mind all those other people, who take parties of students/schoolkids round..now THEY have the answer too.

As for Eileen's points...these are almost all hotly contested. I think the safest thing to say is that there are plenty of other places in Pompeii where people paid for sex, but this is the only universally agreed, purpose built brothel (when I say 'universally agreed' I mean that -- some people, not me, would identify 20 or 30 more).

Zoning too is tricky. It is pretty clear that Pompeii is not zoned in the way many modern cities are (there isnt a posh area, a red light district, a commercial zone etc). But people have debated quite how far the different areas of the city have subtly different characters. Some think that the brothel is in a somewhat risqué patch.

It's about 5 minutes walk from the Forum.

[Eileen]

What do the archaeological surveys say about the number and types of buildings in Pompeii? Was this the only brothel, or just the only one so identified? What about zoning? Were brothels mixed in with the residential neighborhoods or were they on the fringes, or next to the major market, or some other busy place? Was there advertising/identification on the exterior? Or, I presume, like today, their location was known by means of local gossip?

[Eugene]

Speaking of "LÈsprit de L'Escalier", I should like to add that this "leno" at the top of the stairs, offering the original version of the Tonight Show, was also quite a jay.

(Oh, Jesus, that was good, if I may be permitted to blow (he he) my own horn.

[Eugene]

I have it on good authority that the chap upstairs, the "leno", hosted a racier version of "The Tonight Show" for the lupanarious audience.

[Malcolm McClure]

Mary's piece on the Pompeii brothel is in the best traditions of academic salacious decadence, but is it interesting?

[Mary]

I'll get back on this when I'm back in Cambridge, with the books.
There is a curious connection in Latin between 'wolves' and 'prostitutes' -- but I think that those howling prostitutes are another modern myth!

[Steve]

Dunno Tone, but nobody's mentioned size.

Yet. Perhaps Mary can enlighten us.

Mary? Mary??

[Steve]

I found it absolutely appalling that the girls, known as "Lupinari" were made to howl like wolves to attract custom - or was it perhaps, to warn off unsuspecting pedestrians?

Also, what exactly does "Lupinari" mean?

"Wolfette" sounds far too harsh and hypocritical. Almost as if it were an attempt to inflict unusual punishment on the girls.

Did the ancient Romans respect their women? This might be an interesting avenue to pursue.

[anthony alcock]

Hard graf(fi)t(i) at the brothel, eh ?
I'd be interested to know a little more about the texts and who put them there, under what circumstances and why. Most of that information will not be forthcoming, but a relatively simple textual analysis might help: writer A records his performance; writer B records his (unfulfilled ?) desire; writer C tells you how much he had to shell out. Is he boasting or complaining ?
What's it all about, Alfie ?