Prostitution is often stated as being the oldest profession Gonsalves , Regardless of the questionable accuracy of this statement, prostitution is an ancient business. This paper will specifically discuss the identity of the female prostitute in Ancient Rome. For clarification, the definition of prostitute used will be: a female who is not a slave and who works within the sex industry.
It should also be noted that the entire Roman Empire will not be discussed; local cultural variation presents more alternatives than the scope of this paper allows for. Therefore Rome itself, as well as Pompeii, will be looked at. In presenting an identity of the Ancient Roman prostitute, the difficulties in studying female prostitutes from this time period will be presented.
Various interwoven identities will then be discussed, starting with the legal definition given to prostitutes. Then Roman sexual definitions, and their impact on the identity of prostitutes, will be explored.
Thirdly, the identity of a prostitute as a woman will be examined. Historically, work on Roman society has been understood along the lines of 19th century colonial concepts of male power. This resulted in an understanding of Roman life without a female perspective Olson , For instance, an exploration of the Roman female narrative requires different chronological divisions to the traditional ones, which present changes in society from a male perspective Bauman , 2.
As a result, some scholars have begun to look at female and family issues in Ancient Rome to try and fill this gap e. Allison ; Rawson ; Rawson One of the major obstacles for the visibility of women in this period is the lack of documentary evidence.
