- Meretrix
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For the clam species, see Meretrix lusoria.
In ancient Rome, registered prostitutes were called meretrices while the unregistered ones fell under the broad category prostibulae.
A meretrix, in Medieval Europe, was understood as any woman held in common, who “turned no one away.” It was generally understood that money would be involved in this transaction, but it didn’t have to be. A prostitute was reckoned differently in Medieval Europe than it is today, and accepting money for sex acts was not the single most common indicator for the legal status of being a meretrix, being a woman who engaged in sex with more than one man was. It has been argued that Meretrix in the medieval mindset is closer to our modern understanding of a sexual orientation[citation needed].
Whorehouses were often hotels[citation needed], the best restaurants in town[citation needed], and places for good music and conversation, in which the women were taught how to entertain. In the banquets of nobility, these women would come in as entertainers in many instances. In Paris the prostitutes had a guild.
References
- Christopher A. Faraone, Laura McClure, "Prostitutes and courtesans in the ancient world", Wisconsin studies in classics, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2006, ISBN 0299213145
- Kim M. Phillips, Barry Reay, "Sexualities in history: a reader", Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0415929350
- 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 [1]
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