- Lupanar (Pompeii)
Lupanar is the most famous brothel located in the ruined Roman city of
Pompeii . It is of particular interest due to erotic paintings on the walls.Location
The Lupanar (VII, 12, 18-20) is located approximately two blocks east of the forum at the intersection of Vico del Lupanare and Vico del Balcone Pensile.cite web |url=http://traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/SeeingThePast/345 |title=Seeing the Past: Sex, Sight, and "Societas" in the Lupanar, Pompeii |accessdate=2007-05-11 |format= |work=]
Brothels
Early Pompeian excavators, guided by strict modesty of the time period, quickly classified any building containing erotic paintings as
brothel s. Using this metric, Pompeii had 35 lupanares. Given a population of ten thousand in Pompeii during the first century CE, this leaves one brothel per 286 people or 71 adult males. Using a stricter standard for identifying Brothels brings the number to a more realistic figure including nine single room establishments and the Lupanar at VII, 12, 18-20. [cite book |author=John R. Clarke |title=Looking at lovemaking: constructions of sexuality in Roman art, 100 B. C.-A. D. 250 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=1998 |pages= |isbn=0-520-20024-1 |oclc= |doi=]Brothels during this time period were typically small with only a few rooms. The Lupanar was the largest of the brothels found in
Pompeii with 10 rooms. Like other brothels, rooms in the Lupanar were plainly furnished. A mattress on a brick platform served as a bed. [Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002ff. BNP 2, 790-791]Graffiti
134 graffiti were transcribed in the Lupanar at Pompeii. The presence of this graffiti served as one of the criteria for identifying the building as a brothel.
Some examples that identify (VII, 12, 18-20) as a Brothel:
[CIL IV. 2175]hic ego puellas multas futui (= here I slept with many girls)
[CIL IV. 2175]Felixbene futuis Other examples can be traced to other locations in Pompeii. Given that persons of wealth generally did not visit brothels (because they had slaves/
concubine s ), the names generally do not link back to persons of importance. The graffiti do tell stories, however. Various authors respond to each other's carvings in a sort of dialogue. [ cite journal|title=Games and a Lupanar: Prosopography of a Neighborhood in Ancient Pompeii|journal=The Classical Journal|date=1986-04-|first=James L.|last=Franklin|coauthors=|volume=81|issue=4|pages=319–328|id= |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-8353%28198604%2F05%2981%3A4%3C319%3AGAALPO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4|format=|accessdate=2007-05-18]Art
The artwork found in the Lupanar at Pompeii is discussed in the article on
Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum .Notes
Further reading
* [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scavi_archeologici_di_Pompei#Lupanare Lupanar section of Italian Wikipedia article on Ancient Pompeii]
*Pompeii section of the French Lupanar entry
*Lupanar section of the French Pompeii entry
* [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/]
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