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Il lupanare di Pompei. Sesso, classe e genere ai margini della società romana
Il lupanare di Pompei è l’unico edificio dell’antichità a essere stato identificato come tale: Sarah Levin-Richardson ne offre una minuziosa analisi archeologica, epigrafica, artistica e sociale. Una storia non solo della struttura e dei suoi reperti materiali, ma anche delle persone che la frequentavano (e dei loro corpi): prostitute, prostituti, clienti...
Scritto con uno stile chiaro e avvincente e accompagnato da un ampio repertorio di illustrazioni, il libro è destinato a diventare una lettura obbligata per quanti siano interessati alla storia delle donne, della schiavitù e della prostituzione nel mondo antico.
Scritto con uno stile chiaro e avvincente e accompagnato da un ampio repertorio di illustrazioni, il libro è destinato a diventare una lettura obbligata per quanti siano interessati alla storia delle donne, della schiavitù e della prostituzione nel mondo antico.
326 pages, Paperback
Published September 24, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 1, 2022
Merely in this book I have found rather complete and minutely described every nook and cranny of the Pompeiian brothel – both ground and upper floor – their ground plane, layout of cubicles, frescoes and their meaning and the most important part – graffiti and their localisation, enclosed both in Latin and English, along with corresponding original photographs. The book is comprehensive monography which told archaeological story about the most famous names inscribed on walls of the brothel, both female and male prostitutes and the details regarding daily sex life in Pompeii and its rites and customs.
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February 16, 2022Read for my Art and Architecture of the Ancient Roman World class.
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September 8, 2023As countries around the world grapple with whether to make prostitution legal, what – if anything – can we learn from the legalised brothels of ancient Pompeii? Sarah Levin-Richardson’s new book addresses the economic, social and legal complexities involved in ancient sex work. The book is the first to address systematically our only surviving ‘purpose-built’ Roman brothel, which was sealed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
In 1862, archaeologists began to excavate the two-story brothel, which sits between the forum of Pompeii and its main North-South business district. It catered to Roman men who bought sexual services from both male and female prostitutes. Just five years after its initial excavation, Mark Twain would visit the structure and remark on the fact that female tourists at the time were kept from entering it due to the rather racy wall paintings. Although Twain bashfully remarked that ‘no pen could have the hardihood to describe’ these frescos, this richly illustrated volume provides many of them in full frontal colour, accompanied by thoughtful analysis which questions the seemingly straightforward nature of these paintings and the people within them.
The obscene and often witty Latin graffiti interwoven into painted sexual narratives and scrawled along the hallways of the brothel captured Twain’s imagination and continue to reveal the lives of those who visited or worked in the space today. Since the renovated brothel reopened to the public in 2006, thousands of men – and now women – per day have visited a space where sexual and emotional labour were sold, paid for and even taxed. Levin-Richardson covers the archaeological remains of the brothel and reconstructs the poignant but ephemeral physical and emotional experiences that happened in and around it. Just as the ancient graffiti of the brothel arrested Twain, readers will be drawn in by the hundreds of translated graffiti and inscriptions compiled in this book, scribblings which range from men crowing about sexual conquests (‘Murtis, you suck well’) to the names of employed prostitutes (‘Hey, mistress Fabia!’). An appendix presents the evidence, but it is Levin-Richardson who deftly describes how they together reveal a hierarchy of male competition.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Sarah E. Bond is Associate Professor of History and Classics at the University of Iowa.
In 1862, archaeologists began to excavate the two-story brothel, which sits between the forum of Pompeii and its main North-South business district. It catered to Roman men who bought sexual services from both male and female prostitutes. Just five years after its initial excavation, Mark Twain would visit the structure and remark on the fact that female tourists at the time were kept from entering it due to the rather racy wall paintings. Although Twain bashfully remarked that ‘no pen could have the hardihood to describe’ these frescos, this richly illustrated volume provides many of them in full frontal colour, accompanied by thoughtful analysis which questions the seemingly straightforward nature of these paintings and the people within them.
The obscene and often witty Latin graffiti interwoven into painted sexual narratives and scrawled along the hallways of the brothel captured Twain’s imagination and continue to reveal the lives of those who visited or worked in the space today. Since the renovated brothel reopened to the public in 2006, thousands of men – and now women – per day have visited a space where sexual and emotional labour were sold, paid for and even taxed. Levin-Richardson covers the archaeological remains of the brothel and reconstructs the poignant but ephemeral physical and emotional experiences that happened in and around it. Just as the ancient graffiti of the brothel arrested Twain, readers will be drawn in by the hundreds of translated graffiti and inscriptions compiled in this book, scribblings which range from men crowing about sexual conquests (‘Murtis, you suck well’) to the names of employed prostitutes (‘Hey, mistress Fabia!’). An appendix presents the evidence, but it is Levin-Richardson who deftly describes how they together reveal a hierarchy of male competition.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Sarah E. Bond is Associate Professor of History and Classics at the University of Iowa.
December 10, 2024
I had to read this book to write a literature review for my university module on Pompeii and it surprised me so much. I don’t think I’ve ever been so interested in an archeological/ gender studies related book to the point of being able to read it cover to cover in less than a day. Levin-Richardson has broadened research into marginalised groups in Rome like no other.
July 19, 2025
Una disamina sul mondo della prostituzione di Roma Antica approfondita, interessante, con una visione ampia che coinvolge tutti gli attori. Uno spaccato della vita di quel periodo. Ottima lettura per gli appassionati di storia.
November 24, 2023
Un estudio completísimo. Muy recomendable.
January 23, 2026
dafür dass ich das für ein Seminar gelesen habe, hatte ich viel spaß mit dem buch. super spannendes thema
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews