A Drop of History 125

Prostitution (2)
When brothels were next door to churches

When Christianity prevailed in the Roman world, a solution to the widespread phenomenon of prostitution had to be found. Theoretically, its prohibition and condemnation were absolute. Besides, the fact that many pagan temples doubled up as brothels was one of the main arguments of the Christian theologians against older religions. But is it possible to eradicate prostitution from human society? Probably not.

Consequently, church officials decided to condemn the sin, but practically to look the other way. “We cast prostitution away from us,” they said, “in the margins of society, and whoever cares can repent afterwards.” Even special convents were created for prostitutes who wanted to get back on the straight and narrow. But despite the condemnation of sin and the glorification of virginity, there have been church fathers who, in moments of candour, were forced to admit the social utility of love for sale. Saint Anthony said: “Ban prostitution, and then immorality will sweep away everything.” Thomas Aquinas was more refined: “Prostitution in a city is like the cesspool in a palace. If the cesspool is removed, the palace will be choked by filth and stench.”

The most inventive of all was, later, King Louis XIII of France. In order to be on the good side of both the church and his lascivious subjects, he imposed the following incredible law: “All brothels must be situated at a distance of no more than 300 metres from a church, so those who leave the brothel can easily reach a church for purification.” I suppose that, when he drafted this hypocritical piece of legislation, all his political and ecclesiastical advisors exclaimed, “A brilliant idea, Majesty.” The Louises in general had a tradition of such brilliant ideas. Louis IX forbade his crusaders who marched on the Holy Land from taking prostitutes with them, because that was a grave sin, but he allowed them to consort with Arab prostitutes, because they were not Christian and therefore not subject to the prohibition.

The first municipal brothels appeared in the 13th century, especially in cities that were trade centres, where merchant caravans often passed through. Against the fear of wealthy strangers seducing local men’s wives, the communities themselves opened brothels, securing both their peace of mind and some extra income for the community coffers. In Florence and Venice, on the other hand, between 1360 and 1400, there were dozens of state-run brothels with a very specific mission. As diseases, especially the Black Death, had decimated the local population, the city authorities decided to offer prostitutes to young men, for a very low price, so they would get to know and enjoy sex and subsequently resort to marriage, which was a necessary step for the population to increase. It was a kind of state-subsidised prostitution.

In addition, it was common practice in the Middle Ages (tacitly condoned by the church) to encourage young men to go to brothels, preferring them to contra naturam practices like sodomy and masturbation. The Roman Catholic Church has officially admitted several times that it considers relations with common women a lesser sin than reviled homosexuality. The Middle Ages, as well, were the heyday of fair prostitutes, women who went from one local fair to another in wagons, in which they offered their services to the people gathered there.

Finally, there were the infamous camp followers, who were the worst of their kind. They followed the kings’ and nobles’ mercenary troops on their wars and raids and were responsible for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and other epidemics. The lowest of the low, they were ragged, filthy, and utterly ruthless. They looted the areas that the troops had raided, and they encouraged the mercenaries to rape and kill the women of the cities they took: camp followers hated decent women for their good luck to have homes and families.

© Dimitris Kambourakis 2003, All Rights Reserved
Translation from the Greek © M.A.K. 2008, All Rights Reserved

A Drop of History 124

Prostitution (1)
When the state lived on brothel taxes

The first state brothels to be found in world history were established here in Greece, under the famous legislation of Solon the Athenian. In his legislative reformation, in the 6th century BCE, the father of democracy makes a distinction between hetairai (sophisticated courtesans) and common prostitutes, and forces the latter to ply their trade in houses under state regulation, which would provide the state with income through taxation.

Of course, prostitution itself, in all its forms, is much older; only nobody had thought of putting it under state regulation before. Serious scholars discredit the famous saying that considers prostitution the oldest profession. Elias Petropoulos, for instance, claims that theft and banditry are definitely older trades, since they originate in the first formation of human societies, while systematic prostitution appeared much later, at the time of permanent settlements and the establishment of the family as an institution. As long as humans were hunting nomads, sexual relationships were unrestricted and guilt-free.

The first form of prostitution was sacred. The union of a priestess with a man, in the presence of the faithful and in an environment of group spiritual elevation, was a symbolic act of fertility in Ishtar’s temples in Babylon. The even older tradition of a virgin’s defloration by a priest in the ancient Persian temples had the same meaning. In Ishtar’s temples, according to Herodotus, all the women of the country were required to prostitute themselves once in their life, as a sacrifice to the goddess. They would go to the temple, wait until a stranger dropped a silver coin at their feet, and have sex with him. According to the great Greek historian, beautiful and noble women were soon done with their obligation, but there were some unfortunate ones, ugly or disfigured, who waited in the temple for three or four years until someone would deign to choose them.

In ancient Egypt, female prisoners of war were sent to prostitute themselves in Ammon’s temples. The Old Testament, in the Book of Hosea, mentions that strangers in Canaan lodged in the houses of common women. In ancient Corinth, the brothels dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite were famous. In classical Athens and Rome, as well, prostitution was quite widespread. Wealthy Hellenes had their hetairai, women of superior education and sophistication, who included sexual satisfaction in their companionship, while affluent Romans had their respective refined meretrices. Additionally, in both states, slave women engaged in legitimate prostitution in their masters’ households. But for the poor, the strangers, the soldiers and sailors, there were houses of ill repute and common women.

The one thing that was unthinkable in classical times, both in Greece and Rome, is what we take for granted today: the fact that a man marries in order to be sexually satisfied by his wife. For the poor, that was the case de facto, since with marriage they had a woman for free, but for the upper classes such a notion was borderline immoral. Marriage was a legal bond that provided heirs to the family property, and married women had the obligation to bear children and manage the household where those children would be raised. The exclusion of married women from society and the restrictions imposed on their lives had to do primarily with ensuring the legitimacy of their children and only secondarily with morals.

For sexual satisfaction, Romans would turn to prostitutes, not their wives. The words of Cato the Elder, who was an extreme conservative Roman, opposing any change and reformation and supporting extreme adherence to ancestral tradition, are famous. He is credited with saying to a friend whom he met coming out of a brothel, “Well done, young man. This is where a man should satisfy his urges, not soliciting married women.”

However, during the times of Rome’s absolute dominion, the situation grew out of all control and several emperors started establishing laws to restrict the phenomenon. Domitian prohibited the buying and selling of young boys, while later Constantine and Theodosius imposed crushing taxes on brothels, in an effort to limit them. Justinian too was a dedicated enemy of prostitution and persecuted procurers relentlessly. It is not known what opinion was held on the subject by his wife Theodora, who, before becoming empress, had been one of the most notorious common prostitutes in the empire.

© Dimitris Kambourakis 2003, All Rights Reserved
Translation from the Greek © M.A.K. 2008, All Rights Reserved

A Drop of History 62

The sins of the masters are visited unto the slaves
A Roman orgy kills four hundred slaves

In 61 CE, world-ruling Rome shook with a murder case that grew to such social and legal dimensions that it almost led to insurrection. The particular case showcased the Roman way of thinking, but also the structuring of Roman society.

The case was triggered by an orgy. A senator named Pentanius Secundus, former consul and disgustingly rich, was murdered by one of his slaves during said orgy. Master and slave were having sex with a third youngster, and in the heat of passion and competition, the slave stabbed his master.

The case could have closed with the execution of the culprit, if certain senators had not demanded the activation of an old law, according to which, when a slave murdered his master, all the household slaves would be executed. The reasoning behind the law was obvious. The household slaves not only would not take part in any kind of conspiracy against their master, but also they would automatically become his informers and bodyguards, since any attempt on his life would inevitably mean their own death, whether they were culpable or not.

The problem with the particular case was double. Firstly, everyone knew exactly how the crime had been committed, so conspiracy was not an issue. Secondly, Pentanius Secundus was so rich that his household consisted of four hundred slaves, including dozens of women, children and elders, who would have to be executed. Observing the law clashed with natural justice. But on the legislative side things were more complicated. The case reached as far as the Senate itself. Slaves in Rome had no right to testify as witnesses, nor were they entitled to a defence advocate. But no Roman citizen was willing to declare officially before the Senate that a consul had been participating in a homoerotic orgy. Consequently, out of pure social hypocrisy, the court decided that it was a general, vague murder, without delving into the particulars of the crime.

Then the crime took on a political dimension. The wealthy conservative Romans, who lived in permanent fear of revolt of their millions of slaves, jumped at the chance to make a display of power. But the mass of slaves, freedmen and workers, the Roman rabble itself, saw the case as the culmination of injustice on the part of the rich. The great number of those who were going to die added to this feeling.

Conservative jurist Gaius Cassius pleaded in favour of execution, claiming that such a riffraff of slaves of all the world’s races can only be reined in through fear, and went on: “There is no doubt that this massive execution will include some innocents. But the same thing happens to a defeated army. After the defeat, is not one in ten soldiers selected randomly and whipped to death? Are not there brave men among those? But the evil done to the one innocent is counterbalanced by the good done to the whole.”

The Senate’s verdict was that the law should be observed. The rabble was outraged and besieged the prison, armed with clubs and stones. Emperor Nero found himself in a no-win situation. If he accepted the verdict, he would go against the feeling of the people; if he vetoed it, he would come into conflict with the Senate, the wealthy and the nobles. He decided to side with the latter. He sent out troops, including the praetorian guard, who broke the siege of the prison and drove the protesters away, in quite a bloody manner. And while the fighting went on in the streets of Rome, a long line of four hundred slaves were led out of the prison and crucified to the last one. Among them there were women, children and elders, all of them innocent and unconnected with the crime; another piece of proof that, in this marvellous human history, the poor and downtrodden pay for the vices and interests of the rich.

© Dimitris Kambourakis 2003, All Rights Reserved
Translation from the Greek © M.A.K. 2007, All Rights Reserved