Lupanare Grande:
Pompeii, after the eruption in 79 AD, left behind vast amounts of evidence concerning its vivid sex life. From street paving's, to graffiti and the sex houses, sex was seen as a once thriving trade in this city. There have been around 35 brothels -sex houses- found among the ruins, distinctive for its basically furnished rooms, crude frescoes or mosaics and graffiti. The largest, most popular being the Lupanare Grande " the Big Brothel of Pompeii". Here, every detail has revealed aspects which have led to conclusions of what went on in this building at that time. The Lupanare Grande consisted of two stories; the first floor having 10 small rooms. Each room was shaped and furnished in such a way to imply that it was only to be used for sex, it had a stone bed which would have held a basic straw mattress. This floor most likely appealed to casual walk-ins. A panel of erotic paintings of various graphic scenes is displayed above these rooms, once thought to show what was on offer, is now thought to also give a sense of sexual fantasy and what could become reality. Another distinctive aspect of this floor were the hundreds of pieces of graffiti carved into the walls explaining what went on here. This was significant because it alerted people what this building was and what occurred here.
The second floor was somewhat mysterious as it was so incredibly different from the floor below. This was because it had no erotic art or graffiti on the walls and no stone beds. This indicated that it might have once been furnished with expensive wooden bed and curtains - which were destroyed in the eruption. This space was perceived to be used to host parties with friends, where the more higher class prostitutes could provide their services.
Brothels in Pompeii have played a very important role in every day life both personally and economically. This is because prostitution is one of the few high paying occupations for lower-middle class people. Even the low end prostitutes earning up to three times the wages of a skilled working man. Since a large majority of prostitutes are slaves, all profits made goes straight to their master. High end prostitutes can earn up to ten times as much as low end prostitutes and only do around 2-3 sessions per day. There were also male prostitutes including slaves as well as gladiators, though they would only receive a fraction of a typical female prostitute profits. Together, this business of sex fuels the economy.
"Acceptable objects of desire were women of any social or legal status, male prostitutes, or male slaves, but sexual behaviours outside marriage were to be confined to slaves and prostitutes. Lack of self-control, including in managing one's sex life indicated that a man was incapable of governing others. " This quote indicates that sex can govern ones life in many ways and has fundamental rules in place. Not having a managed sex life can result in a man losing his political position, so sex in this time should be managed well. It also outlines the acceptable relationship between social standings, an important part in Pompeiinians everyday life.
There have been countless discoverers providing evidence of sex in Ancient Rome such as art works, statues and of course Brothels such as Lupanare Grande. Because of this we can conclude that sex in the Pompeii was fairly open. Roman religion accepted sexuality as they saw it as a way to improve ones erotic lifestyle and defined their power through sexual acts. Same gender sex was a social norm as did not affect a persons rights to his masculinity nor did it reveal weakness. This is significant to our conclusion of Roman life in this century as sex of all natures was widely accepted and seen as an everyday task.
The second floor was somewhat mysterious as it was so incredibly different from the floor below. This was because it had no erotic art or graffiti on the walls and no stone beds. This indicated that it might have once been furnished with expensive wooden bed and curtains - which were destroyed in the eruption. This space was perceived to be used to host parties with friends, where the more higher class prostitutes could provide their services.
Brothels in Pompeii have played a very important role in every day life both personally and economically. This is because prostitution is one of the few high paying occupations for lower-middle class people. Even the low end prostitutes earning up to three times the wages of a skilled working man. Since a large majority of prostitutes are slaves, all profits made goes straight to their master. High end prostitutes can earn up to ten times as much as low end prostitutes and only do around 2-3 sessions per day. There were also male prostitutes including slaves as well as gladiators, though they would only receive a fraction of a typical female prostitute profits. Together, this business of sex fuels the economy.
"Acceptable objects of desire were women of any social or legal status, male prostitutes, or male slaves, but sexual behaviours outside marriage were to be confined to slaves and prostitutes. Lack of self-control, including in managing one's sex life indicated that a man was incapable of governing others. " This quote indicates that sex can govern ones life in many ways and has fundamental rules in place. Not having a managed sex life can result in a man losing his political position, so sex in this time should be managed well. It also outlines the acceptable relationship between social standings, an important part in Pompeiinians everyday life.
There have been countless discoverers providing evidence of sex in Ancient Rome such as art works, statues and of course Brothels such as Lupanare Grande. Because of this we can conclude that sex in the Pompeii was fairly open. Roman religion accepted sexuality as they saw it as a way to improve ones erotic lifestyle and defined their power through sexual acts. Same gender sex was a social norm as did not affect a persons rights to his masculinity nor did it reveal weakness. This is significant to our conclusion of Roman life in this century as sex of all natures was widely accepted and seen as an everyday task.