Some of the most fascinating unknown events in history

Some of the most fascinating unknown events in history

"...respectable women registered themselves as prostitutes to avoid punishment for adultery..."

"... a man's masculinity can be confirmed by sleeping with (penetrative/active) sinoidus (penetrati/passive) men ..."

When we think of ancient Rome, the first image that comes to mind is toga sporting Romans. But, surprisingly, not everyone wore togas. Only free-born Roman men were allowed to wear togas as a sign of Roman citizenship, while Roman women wore stoles.

Surprisingly, prostitutes were forbidden to wear stolas, so they wore togas!
A fresco from Pompeii, famous for its brothels in ancient Rome, showing two men and a woman having sex

Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession. In Rome, it was a thriving business.

According to ancient Roman law, the legal status of prostitutes was defined as infamy (disgraceful).

Interestingly, the infamous label was not only given to prostitutes, but also to gladiators, actors, and other public performers. This designation meant that members of the profession were restricted from various aspects of public life, such as standing for election as magistrates or being allowed to speak in courts of law. They were also seen as symbols of shame and were allowed to be beaten, mutilated and violated by others without fear of punishment – so much so that a husband was allowed to kill his wife's lover if they allowed him to kill his wife's lover on the condition that he divorce her. Three days and adultery case against him started.

Because the legal restrictions on infames overlapped with the legal restrictions already placed on women, it had less impact on women than on male prostitutes.
A Roman family

However, while the title of infamy may not seem to have overpowered a female prostitute in terms of legal restrictions, it was significant in many other ways.

The most important effect was that the label of infamia was carried for life. Other similar punishments, such as those imposed on disgraced soldiers or criminals, were time-limited.

This legal status also affected those around Infamy. A pimp was similarly defined as an insult, and if attempts to convict a woman of adultery failed, the husband could be prosecuted for pimping and become infamous himself.

Roman tradition attributed the severity of fathers and husbands in punishing illicit sexual behavior by daughters or wives. Such misconduct among married or unmarried women was stupram, an offense against chastity (pudicitia); Adultery describes sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man other than her husband.

Until Emperor Augustus's legislation, control was mainly in the hands of the family: adultery almost always justified divorce; A family council can advise the paternal family (husband or father in whose power the woman was) on this and other prohibitions, including honor killing.

The instant killing of adulteresses caught in the law was considered morally and traditionally permissible but not legally prescribed. Other physical violence against adulterers was common.

In the late Republic adultery, such as the seduction or rape of an unmarried woman, gave the father or husband the right to sue the man for damages for the insult and not only to divorce the wife but to retain her share of the dowry.

However, the standard judicial punishment for adulterers was banishment to various islands (banishment), and partial confiscation of property and dowry. With clear evidence the husband had to divorce or be liable to a charge of lenocinium (intentionally encouraging or acquiescing in adultery committed by a partner) and risking similar punishments.

There are some curious cases where some prominent women have registered themselves as prostitutes to avoid punishment and fines for adultery. But, the risk of a husband whose wife confesses to being a prostitute, whether true or not, is to be branded as a bad person as well.

Curiously enough, a female Roman citizen could be a slave if she had sex with another male slave despite the owner's objections.

Woman wearing yellow palla and white stola

An unmarried prostitute can marry a free man, but once they are married, she must again bear the infamous identity. Emperor Augustus later enacted laws preventing any woman who was or had been a prostitute from ever marrying a free male citizen. It practically means ostracizing anyone identified as a prostitute.

In ancient Rome, actors were seen as the worst of prostitutes, and were often seen as the same. As you might have guessed, both professions were seen as "faking it" for money and were therefore considered the same in practice.

Thus, for the Romans, the identity of a prostitute was outside of their profession, the essence of their profession being more focused on forgery. It should be noted that these legal designations, such as infamy, were directly related to perceived social attitudes. More stringent laws were enacted to prevent nobles from marrying infamously or participating in professions that carried the stigma of infamy.

It is clear that one of the main reasons for defining prostitutes as notoriety is to create a boundary between them and the rest of society. In a society where honor was held in high esteem, prostitution could be used as an example of negative role models, or what not to do, providing a contrast to what was respected in society.

Another way to keep sex art separate from Roman society was through the concept of "moral zoning" by deliberately placing it in hidden areas of cities.

However, ethical zoning of a city can be a somewhat simplistic approach. Although defining social class was important in Rome, the physical division of elite and poor was not as clear in city planning. Although most of the elite lived in the same area, they were not completely isolated from the rest of Roman society.

A deeper aspect of the harlot's identity is understood through ancient Roman attitudes toward sexuality. In modern Western definitions sexuality falls under the category of gender preference. In simplified terms, it is defined along an axis of heterosexual and homosexual, although there are many shades within this spectrum.

But, the ancient Roman definition included its own distinct rules and roles. Their criteria were active (vir) and passive (cinedus). The role of the heroic partner is penetration and sexual enjoyment. Synoidus, by contrast, is a passive role, designed to allow the voyeurs to experience their pleasure through penetration.

So anyone's definition of sexuality falls along these lines, regardless of the gender they are having sex with. Bisexuality was reportedly common, although this definition made no sense at the time. A man with another man d
The concept of Umano did not question the masculinity of either because the penetrator (vir) was still seen as male.

Ironically, a man's masculinity can be asserted by sleeping with Cenadus men.

On the other hand, a woman who took on the role of an active brother was seen as abnormal and masculine in her sexual enjoyment and was often labeled a prostitute or adulteress, which was socially unacceptable.

Different types of Roman togas

To distinguish them from normal female society, a prostitute was classified as a togata, meaning she wore a toga: another symbol of masculinity.

This adds another layer to the identity of the prostitute. Togata's identity in describing a woman did not always distinguish between adulteress and harlot, suggesting that they may be interchangeable in this regard as harlots and actors alike in their roles of humiliation.

However, ancient Rome was not the only time or place where female prostitutes dressed as men to represent their masculine sexual appetites. Prostitutes in Elizabethan England and 16th-century Venice also wore men's clothing for this reason.

A woman wearing a toga, as well as representing masculinity in terms of sexual preference, was considered an unorthodox public figure, to say the least, as noble Roman women did not go out in public alone or conduct business in the public eye.

A prostitute stood in stark contrast to the image of the respectable Roman woman, visible in public and always alone. Prostitutes again behaved more like men than women, who would stay at home or go out with attendants.

The term togata represents a prostitute's identity on two levels: a sexually promiscuous woman who defies Roman norms, values, and traditions, and one who works in public and goes out extravagantly.

Noble women are described as shedding the stola to "advertise" sex. Like the toga, the stola may have been abandoned over time as an impractical and hot garment without attempting to express sexual desire.

One of the practical reasons for the different clothing for noblewomen and prostitutes was men's complaints about moral and immoral women being segregated in the public sphere.

To conclude, rather than having a simple definition for the identity of female prostitutes in ancient Rome, there is a multi-layered socio-economic and cultural identity.

Nevertheless, as today, in a free display of hypocrisy, prostitutes in Roman society were considered dishonorable, dishonorable, untrustworthy, and worthy of being cut off from society, and always, the "honorable" exploited the "dishonored" to satisfy their unsavory carnal desires.