BBC News - Friday, 27 October 2006
Pompeii's erotic past revealed
Each fresco reveals a different sex scene
Hundreds of tourists have been queuing in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy, to gain entry to one of the city's most extravagant brothels.
The 2,000-year-old building, featuring erotic fresco paintings, has been re-opened after a costly restoration.
The Lupanare - from the Latin word "lupa" for prostitute - is regarded as one of Pompeii's main attractions.
The town, by the slopes of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, was destroyed by a catastrophic eruption in AD79.
The eruption helped preserve the city, allowing insights into life under the Romans.
Prostitute specialities
In those times, prostitution was not illegal. Sex workers were often slaves, and many came from Greece.
The brothel is becoming one of Pompeii's star attractions
Some of their names and those of their clients are still visible - scrawled on the walls of the small cubicles where the sex workers took their customers.
The erotic frescoes painted above each door of the two-storey brothel are believed to suggest the prostitute's speciality.
According to archaeologists, sex workers charged the equivalent of the price at that time of eight glasses of red wine.
The BBC's David Willey in Pompeii says the site is attracting considerable interest from tourists.
One guide told him while there was not much to see in the brothel, there were "a lot of things to imagine".
The restoration has cost $250,000 (200,000 euros; £134,000) and taken one year.
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In 2,000 years time, somebody will find something like that in Poço !
Eight glasses of red wine
"According to archaeologists, sex workers charged the equivalent of the price at that time of eight glasses of red wine."
Hmm.. 2,000 years later, in the Poço … glass of good tinto from the Alentejo: €2.00.
Sabina should therefore be spreading for €16, but instead asks €25 and you have to possess nerves of steel to hold her to just that.
And here in Londinium, where Mur is exiled for the foreseeable future:
Glass of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon in Soho pub: £4.00
‘Quickie’ with Lithuanian blonde, in walk-up next door: not £32, but a mere £20, plus two quid for the maid, price list on wall, no bargaining hassles.
Conclusion: on the ‘Pompeii baseline’ of WMR (World Mongering Rates), London is a better deal for hobbyists than Lisbon.
BUT
Economics is a complex ‘science’. The above conclusion is probably based on a false assumption, being predicated on fast-food service. Now, was it just a ten–minute shag that the Pompeii putas were providing?
Unlikely. First, because we read of frescoes depicting the ‘speciality’ offered by each girl. Next, because we know from ancient authors that the Romans were eager dirt-track riders, just as enthusiastic about the back passage as their World-Cup-winning descendants.
Add to this the fact that "many [of the ladies] came from Greece", and you can establish that ‘A’ was a staple of this service. Latex not having been invented, and syphilis not yet imported from the Americas, we may also assume that the full performance was uncovered.
So: BBBJ with ‘A’ to follow, in modern Londinium? £150, or 35 glasses of wine.
In Lisbon? Perhaps as little as €60, or 30 glasses of wine.
So prices have slipped way out of control since ancient times, and we realise, as if we didn’t know already, that the Pompeii mongers had a better time than us. Add that they endured no mobile phones, no SUVs, no income tax and no MTV, and in the stadium they could watch the equivalent of Sporting and Benfica actually killing each other, why, you get an unrivalled quality of life.
However, they did live in fear of terrorist attacks just as we do here in London: and who needs Al-Qaeda when you live in the shadow of Vesuvius?
Escort in Lisbon / Estroil
Hi Guys and Girls,
I will be visiting Lisbon / Estroil for 3 days.
I would like to have some info regarding where I can spend nice hours ? Clubs / Girls.
This is my first visit to Lisbon.
Thx for your help.
Joseph