Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World

by Anise K Strong

Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World is the first substantial account of elite Roman concubines and courtesans. Exploring the blurred line between proper matron and wicked prostitute, it illuminates the lives of sexually promiscuous women like Messalina and Clodia, as well as prostitutes with hearts of gold who saved Rome and their lovers in times of crisis. It also offers insights into the multiple functions of erotic imagery and the circumstances in which prostitutes could play prominent roles in Roman public and religious life. Tracing the evolution of social stereotypes and concepts of virtue and vice in ancient Rome, this volume reveals the range of life choices and sexual activity, beyond the traditional binary depiction of wives or prostitutes, that were available to Roman women.

Genres: Classics

350 pages, Hardcover

Published July 12, 2016

Reviews

[ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zapomniałam zaznaczyć, że już dawno przeczytane, i to kilkukrotnie.
Uwielbiam tę książkę, oparłam na niej niemal cały grant, mam ją bez przerwy wypożyczoną z biblioteki i jest cała w moich ołówkowych zakreśleniach. I dobrze, stety-niestety nie jest zbyt popularna, co widać po ilości ocen tutaj.
Polecam! Ale nie wiem, jak ją zdobędziecie, bo trochę ją jeszcze przetrzymam...

[Nightwitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a non-academic non-expert, so this review is written with that in mind. In the introduction Strong writes, "This book is concerned not so much with the lived reality of Roman prostitutes but with the discourse about the meretrix as a social, sexual, and moral category," which I found to be a useful guide as I read the book. Because so much of the evidence of the lives and views of women and types of women is written by men (and moreover upper-class men), you can't really use that information to get a concrete look at how things actually worked for the average woman, particularly women like prostitutes (who tended to be freedwomen or slaves). However, Strong really works with what she's got, and I came away feeling like I had a good understanding of how the Romans may have viewed prostitutes, women's morals, etc., along with some fun anecdotes about famous concubines. (And not so famous ones: it's really too bad that we're probably only ever going to know Allia Potestas, a blonde Perugian freedwoman concubine who shared a household with not one but two young lovers, from the very nice epitaph which talked about her great legs.) Some chapters are more interesting than others - there's an entire chapter on "prostitutes and matrons in the urban landscape," a lot of which seems to be attempting to identify brothels from architectural remains, and the section on "pious prostitutes" (which is mostly about women-specific religious festivals) would probably have been far more interesting if I knew more (read: anything) about Roman religious practice. Basically, this is a very scholarly book but given that, actually pretty readable if you're interested in the subject.

[Sarah Schanze · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of really fascinating insight into the ancient Roman world, but I guess I was hoping for something that went into every day life for these women, instead of (understandably) focusing on rich or famous (or fictionally famous) ladies from back then. My favorite chapter was about ancient artwork and actual archaeological finds, rather than chapters that focused on literary sources. All this is coming from a layman, however, and someone with a more academic background might find it more useful. The bibliography alone is like 10 pages long.

[James Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to this via Gibson's commentary on Ovid's Ars III and the two share a thesis that the lines between matronae and meretrices in Roman society were never as sharp as Augustus and the Leges Iuliae would suggest. The argument is clear; the use of examples is informative; the range - from locations of brothels through political invective - informative; I thought it was excellent.