Disgraceful Archaeology Read Online Free
Author: Paul Bahn
ROMANSâ¦â¦BAAAARF
Mark Antony, according to Plutarch (the Greek historian of the first century AD), was hated for his drunkenness, his gross intrigues with women, and the many days spent sleeping off his debauches, wandering about with an aching head and befuddled wits, and his many nights spent in revels. The story goes that he once attended a banquet given for the wedding of Hippias the actor; he ate and drank all night, and then, when he was summoned to attend a political meeting early in the morning at the Forum, he appeared in public surfeited with food and vomited into his toga, which one of his friends held ready for him ( 15 ).
Similarly, the emperor Claudius was always ready for food and drink â it was seldom that he left a dining hall except gorged and sodden; he would then go to bed and sleep supine with his mouth wide open, thus allowing a feather to be put down his throat, which would bring up the superfluous food and drink as vomit.
From ancient Egypt there is a depiction in tomb 49 at Thebes of a woman (presumably hung-over) throwing up, while there is also a Greek vase showing a young harlot comforting a vomiting customer.
UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES…
In ancient Rome, some prostitutes did not have the security of a brothel in which to work, but instead practised their trade out of doors under archways — the word ‘fornicate’ is actually derived from the Latin word for ‘arch’ ( fornix ) ( 16 ).
In Kingston-upon-Hull, in northern England, the medieval council’s attitude to prostitution was ambivalent. The corporation was prepared in the 1490s to let out the town walls and towers and the foreland to the whores, receiving £3-£8 a year in rent.
Among the Greek words for ‘harlot’ a common one is ‘ chamaitype ’, ‘earth-striker’, which shows that they often worked on the ground.
16
BROTHELS AND BATHS
The term ‘brothel’ comes from the Old English word for wretch, perhaps referring to the living conditions of the women who worked in the early houses of prostitution. In the medieval period, lower-class women could avoid a life of toil and drudgery by bartering their sexuality, despite the risk of disease; while nuns and married upper-class women could escape the confines of their life by secretly entering a brothel. As long as they profited from the brothels, the nobles and clergy turned a blind eye to the houses devoted to sexual adventure, and indeed were often to be found among the clientele.
At Ashkelon, Israel, the Roman (fourth century) bathhouse contained lamps decorated with erotic images, while a Greek inscription ‘Enter, enjoy and .…’ suggests the bathhouse served as a brothel. It was probably in the red light district — an earlier Roman villa on the site had a room full of lamps decorated with erotic images. As mixed bathing came into vogue in Claudius’s reign, bath houses became like bordellos — in fact one author from Nero’s time wrote of a father who went to the baths, leaving one child at home, only to return from the baths a prospective father of two more. The poet Martial (first century AD) wrote ‘The bathman lets you among the tomb-haunting whores only after putting out his lantern’.
Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, has its ‘Bes chambers’ — early last century archaeologists at Saqqara uncovered four rooms of a mud-brick house; some had brick benches along the walls, and the walls were decorated with representations of the god Bes, 1–1.5 m high, covered with stucco and painted. The dwarf god Bes was often present where physical love is celebrated. In addition, 32 phallic figures were recovered from the debris. So these ‘Bes chambers’ may have been for lady inmates and their clients, or a place of worship linked to procreation.
17
The names of medieval brothel areas were often explicit, and some still survive in contracted form: in fourteenth century London there were Slut’s Hole, Gropecuntlane (now Grape Lane),
Mark Antony, according to Plutarch (the Greek historian of the first century AD), was hated for his drunkenness, his gross intrigues with women, and the many days spent sleeping off his debauches, wandering about with an aching head and befuddled wits, and his many nights spent in revels. The story goes that he once attended a banquet given for the wedding of Hippias the actor; he ate and drank all night, and then, when he was summoned to attend a political meeting early in the morning at the Forum, he appeared in public surfeited with food and vomited into his toga, which one of his friends held ready for him ( 15 ).
Similarly, the emperor Claudius was always ready for food and drink â it was seldom that he left a dining hall except gorged and sodden; he would then go to bed and sleep supine with his mouth wide open, thus allowing a feather to be put down his throat, which would bring up the superfluous food and drink as vomit.
From ancient Egypt there is a depiction in tomb 49 at Thebes of a woman (presumably hung-over) throwing up, while there is also a Greek vase showing a young harlot comforting a vomiting customer.
UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES…
In ancient Rome, some prostitutes did not have the security of a brothel in which to work, but instead practised their trade out of doors under archways — the word ‘fornicate’ is actually derived from the Latin word for ‘arch’ ( fornix ) ( 16 ).
In Kingston-upon-Hull, in northern England, the medieval council’s attitude to prostitution was ambivalent. The corporation was prepared in the 1490s to let out the town walls and towers and the foreland to the whores, receiving £3-£8 a year in rent.
Among the Greek words for ‘harlot’ a common one is ‘ chamaitype ’, ‘earth-striker’, which shows that they often worked on the ground.
16
BROTHELS AND BATHS
The term ‘brothel’ comes from the Old English word for wretch, perhaps referring to the living conditions of the women who worked in the early houses of prostitution. In the medieval period, lower-class women could avoid a life of toil and drudgery by bartering their sexuality, despite the risk of disease; while nuns and married upper-class women could escape the confines of their life by secretly entering a brothel. As long as they profited from the brothels, the nobles and clergy turned a blind eye to the houses devoted to sexual adventure, and indeed were often to be found among the clientele.
At Ashkelon, Israel, the Roman (fourth century) bathhouse contained lamps decorated with erotic images, while a Greek inscription ‘Enter, enjoy and .…’ suggests the bathhouse served as a brothel. It was probably in the red light district — an earlier Roman villa on the site had a room full of lamps decorated with erotic images. As mixed bathing came into vogue in Claudius’s reign, bath houses became like bordellos — in fact one author from Nero’s time wrote of a father who went to the baths, leaving one child at home, only to return from the baths a prospective father of two more. The poet Martial (first century AD) wrote ‘The bathman lets you among the tomb-haunting whores only after putting out his lantern’.
Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, has its ‘Bes chambers’ — early last century archaeologists at Saqqara uncovered four rooms of a mud-brick house; some had brick benches along the walls, and the walls were decorated with representations of the god Bes, 1–1.5 m high, covered with stucco and painted. The dwarf god Bes was often present where physical love is celebrated. In addition, 32 phallic figures were recovered from the debris. So these ‘Bes chambers’ may have been for lady inmates and their clients, or a place of worship linked to procreation.
17
The names of medieval brothel areas were often explicit, and some still survive in contracted form: in fourteenth century London there were Slut’s Hole, Gropecuntlane (now Grape Lane),
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