The Lupanar of Pompeii is the most famous brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 in the ruined Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 city of Pompeii

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...

. It is of particular interest for the erotic paintings on its walls. "Lupanar" (Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 also lupanarium) is one of the most common words in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for "brothel" and means "den of she-wolves," lupa being misogynistic slang for "prostitute, whore" in a predatory sense. The Pompeii lupanar is also known as Lupanare Grande.

Location

The Lupanar (VII, 12, 18-20) is located approximately two blocks east of the forum at the intersection of Vico del Lupanare and Vico del Balcone Pensile.

Brothels

Early Pompeian excavators, guided by the strict modesty of the time period, quickly classified any building containing erotic paintings as brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

s. Using this metric, Pompeii had 35 lupanares. Given a population of ten thousand in Pompeii during the first century CE, this leaves one brothel per 286 people or 71 adult males. Using a stricter standard for identifying brothels brings the number to a more realistic figure including nine single room establishments and the Lupanar at VII, 12, 18-20.
Brothels during this period were typically small with only a few rooms. The Lupanar was the largest of the brothels found in Pompeii

Pompeii

The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...

 with 10 rooms. Like other brothels, rooms in the Lupanar were plainly furnished. A mattress on a brick platform served as a bed.

Graffiti

134 graffiti have been transcribed from the Lupanar at Pompeii. The presence of this graffiti served as one of the criteria for identifying the building as a brothel.

Examples of graffiti from the Lupanar include:

• Hic ego puellas multas futui ("Here I fucked many girls").
• Felix bene futuis ("Lucky guy, you fuck well," a prostitute's blandishment to her client, or "Lucky guy, you get a good fuck").

Other examples can be traced to other locations in Pompeii. Given that persons of wealth generally did not visit brothels because of the availability of mistresses or slave concubines, the names can't be connected to known historical figures. The graffiti do tell stories, however. Various authors respond to each other's carvings in a sort of dialogue.

See also

• Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum
  Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum
  Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum was discovered in the ancient cities around the bay of Naples after extensive excavations began in the 18th century. The city was found to be full of erotic art and frescoes, symbols, and inscriptions regarded by its excavators as pornographic. Even many...
  
  
• Prostitution in ancient Rome
  Prostitution in ancient Rome
  Prostitution in ancient Rome reflects the ambivalent attitudes of Romans toward pleasure and sexuality. Prostitution was legal and licensed. Some large brothels in the 4th century, when Rome was becoming officially Christianized, seem to have been counted as tourist attractions and were possibly...
  
  

Further reading

• Lupanar section of Italian Wikipedia article on Ancient Pompeii
• Pompeii section of the French Lupanar entry
• Lupanar section of the French Pompeii entry
• Map of Pompeii