Prostitution and Religion
Prostitutes had a role in several ancient Roman religious observances, mainly in the month of April. On April 1, women honored Fortuna Virilis, "Masculine Luck," on the day of the Veneralia, a festival of Venus. According to Ovid, prostitutes joined married women (matronae) in the ritual cleansing and reclothing of the cult statue of Fortuna Virilis. Usually, the line between respectable women and the infames was carefully drawn: when a priestess traveled through the streets, attendants moved prostitutes along with other "impurities" out of her path.
On April 23, prostitutes made offerings at the Temple of Venus Erycina that had been dedicated on that date in 181 BC, as the second temple in Rome to Venus Erycina (Venus of Eryx), a goddess associated with prostitutes. The date coincided with the Vinalia, a wine festival. "Pimped-out boys" (pueri lenonii) were celebrated on April 25, the same day as the Robigalia, an archaic agricultural festival aimed at protecting the grain crops.
On April 27, the Floralia, held in honor of the goddess Flora and first introduced about 238 BC, featured erotic dancing and stripping by women characterized as prostitutes. According to the Christian writer Lactantius, "in addition to the freedom of speech that pours forth every obscenity, the prostitutes, at the importunities of the rabble, strip off their clothing and act as mimes in full view of the crowd, and this they continue until full satiety comes to the shameless lookers-on, holding their attention with their wriggling buttocks." Juvenal also refers to the nude dancing, and perhaps to prostitutes fighting in gladiatorial contests.
Read more about this topic: Prostitution In Ancient Rome
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