Meretrix

A meretrix (plural: meretrices) was a registered prostitute in ancient Rome. Unregistered prostitutes fell under the broad category prostibulae.

Roman conditions

Legal status

In Roman law, the status of meretrices was specifically and closely regulated.^[1] They were obliged to register with the aediles,^[2] and (from Caligula's day onwards) to pay imperial tax.^[3] Because of the social stigma associated with the profession, they could not give evidence in court,^[3] and Roman freeborn were legally forbidden from marrying them.^[4]

Clothing

Since the times of Emperor Augustus they were required to wear distinctive togas, typically dyed in yellow, to distinguish themselves from respected matrons.^[5] Bright colors – "Colores meretricii" – and jewelled anklets also marked them out from respectable women.^[6]

Brothels

Because intercourse with a meretrix was almost normative for the adolescent male of the period, and permitted for the married man as long as the prostitute was properly registered,^[7] brothels were commonly dispersed around Roman cities, often found between houses of respected families.^[8] These included both large brothels and one-room cellae meretriciae, or "prostitute's cots".^[9] However, ancient authors often made distinctions between "good faith" meretrices who truly loved their clients, and "bad faith" prostitutes, who only lured them in for their money.^[10][11]

Medieval condition

In Medieval Europe, a meretrix was understood as any woman held in common, who “turned no one away”.^[12] It was generally understood that money would be involved in this transaction, but it did not have to be: it was rather promiscuousness that defined the meretrix.^[13]

Medieval Christian authors often discouraged prostitution, but did not consider it a serious offence and under some circumstances even considered marrying a harlot to be an act of piety.^[14] Every woman was considered to contain a latent meretrix, so that it was possible to both rise out of and fall into the category, as with tales of prostitutes repenting to become saints.^[15]

Modern professors of feminism have argued that a meretrix in the medieval mindset is closer to our modern understanding of a sexual identity or orientation.^[16]

See also

• Heloise
• Petronius Arbiter
• Propertius
• Prostitution in ancient Rome

References

1. Sokala, pp. 5-35
2. J. P. V. D. Balsdon, Roman Women (1966) p. 227
3. H. Nettleship/J. E. Sandys eds., A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1894) p. 293
4. J. P. V. D. Balsdon, Roman Women (1966) p. 192
5. Gibson, pp. 32-34
6. J. P. V. D. Balsdon, Roman Women (1966) p. 224, 252-4 and p. 327n
7. J. P. V. D. Balsdon, Roman Women (1966) p. 218 and 225-6
8. Duncan, p. 13
9. McGinn, pp. 11-13
10. Duncan, pp. 257-260
11. Duckworth, p. 253
12. Biffi, pp. 15-24
13. K. M.Phillips/B. Reay eds., Sexualities in History (2002) p. 93
14. Brundage, pp. 308-311
15. Carla Freccero, Queer/Early/Modern (2005) p. 37
16. Martha C. Nussbaum/Juha Sivola, The Sleep of Reason (2002) p. 247-8

Further reading

• Anne Duncan; Thomas McGinn (2006). "Infamous performers". In Christopher A. Faraone; Laura McClure. Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World. Wisconsin studies in classics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-21314-5.
• Kim M. Phillips, Barry Reay, "Sexualities in history: a reader", Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-415-92935-0
• P Austin Nuttall, "A classical and archæological dictionary of the manners, customs, laws, institutions, arts, &c. of the celebrated nations of antiquity, and of the middle ages. To which is prefixed, A synoptical and chronological view of ancient history", 1840, pp. 267–268
• Giacomo Biffi. "Casta Meretrix: „The Chaste Whore” : an Essay on the Ecclesiology of St. Ambrose". Saint Austin Press, 2000.
• (Polish) Andrzej Sokala. Meretrix i jej pozycja w prawie rzymskim. Wydawnictwo UMK, 1998.
• Roy K. Gibson; Ovid (2003). Ars Amatoria. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81370-9.
• Giacomo Biffi (2000). Casta meretrix: "the chaste whore" : an essay on the ecclesiology of St. Ambrose. Saint Austin Press. ISBN 978-1-901157-34-5.
• James A. Brundage (1990). "Prostitution". Law, sex, and Christian society in medieval Europe. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-07784-0.
• Andrzej Sokala (1998). Meretrix i jej pozycja w prawie rzymskim (in Polish). Nicolaus Copernicus University Press. ISBN 978-83-231-0995-2.
• George Eckel Duckworth (1994). The nature of Roman comedy: a study in popular entertainment. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-2620-3.
• Thomas A. McGinn (2004). The economy of prostitution in the Roman world: a study of social history & the brothel. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11362-0.