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Vistilia (prostitute)

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Vistilia was an ancient Roman woman who registered herself as a prostitute, possibly to avoid charges of adultery.[1][2][3] She was nonetheless prosecuted for immorality in approximately the year 19 CE, during the reign of Tiberius.[4][5][6]

Biography[edit]

She was of the gens Vistilia and probably the daughter of Sextus Vistilius, making her a cousin of the future empress Milonia Caesonia, through Caesonia's mother Vistilia.

Tacitus describes Vistilia as a noble Roman woman who denounced herself as a prostitute to the aediles who regulated prostitution.[6][7] Roman lawmakers wanted to keep prostitution legal while also punishing prostitutes by publically shaming them; thus, sex workers were legally required to publically register themselves in this way.[3][8] Additionally, those registered as prostitutes lost many of their rights.[1]

Current scholarly consensus, however, holds that Vistilia was not actually a sex worker.[1][9][10] Instead, many scholars suggest that she registered herself as a prostitute in order to take advantage of a legal loophole in Roman law, to avoid prosecution for adultery.[11][12] The lex Julia de adulteris (established by Augustus) exempted those registered as prostitutes from being prosecuted for adultery.[11][1] Suetonius described this practice of registering as a prostitute despite not being one, in order to avoid prosecution, though he did not mention Vistilia specifically.[9]

Vistilia was nonetheless tried by the Roman Senate.[13] Her husband, Titidius Labeo, when asked why he had not tried to enforce the statutory penalty, stated the consultation period (which was sixty days) had not yet expired.[14] The senate decided to prosecute only Vistilia (under Roman law, husbands who did not immediately punish adulterous wives could be tried as pimps).[15] Vistilia was found guilty, and was deported to the Greek island of Seriphos.[1] Subsequently, in 19 CE, the Roman Senate passed a law that no Roman woman whose father or grandfather was of equestrian status or higher could register as a prostitute.[2][13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Radicke, Jan (2022-11-07). Roman Women’s Dress: Literary Sources, Terminology, and Historical Development. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-071165-3.
  2. ^ a b Ziogas, Ioannis (2021-01-28). Law and Love in Ovid: Courting Justice in the Age of Augustus. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-258379-6.
  3. ^ a b McGinn, Thomas A. J. (2003-01-30). Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-802486-6.
  4. ^ Edwards, Catharine (2020-10-06), "THREE. Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome", THREE. Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome, Princeton University Press, pp. 66–96, doi:10.1515/9780691219547-005/pdf?licensetype=restricted, ISBN 978-0-691-21954-7, retrieved 2024-06-24
  5. ^ Champlin, Edward (2011). "Sex on Capri". Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-). 141 (2): 315–332. ISSN 0360-5949.
  6. ^ a b Bond, Sarah (2014-05-19). "Altering Infamy Status, Violence, and Civic Exclusion in Late Antiquity". Classical Antiquity. 33 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1525/CA.2014.33.1.1. ISSN 0278-6656.
  7. ^ Natalie Nagel, Barbara (2013-06-01). "The Tyrant as Artist: Legal Fiction and Sexual Violence under Tiberius". Law & Literature. 25 (2): 286–310. doi:10.1525/lal.2013.25.2.286. ISSN 1535-685X.
  8. ^ Kertzer, David I.; Saller, Richard P. (1991-01-01). The Family in Italy from Antiquity to the Present. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05550-4.
  9. ^ a b Strong, Anise K. (2016-07-12). Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-14875-8.
  10. ^ Riggsby, Andrew M. (2010-06-07). Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86751-1.
  11. ^ a b McGinn, Thomas A. J. (2003-01-30). Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988294-6.
  12. ^ Gilligan, Carol; Richards, David A. J. (2008-11-10). The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, and Democracy's Future. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-47522-8.
  13. ^ a b Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2006-08-30). Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work: [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-0-313-08387-7.
  14. ^ Pagán, Victoria Emma (2023-05-24). The Tacitus Encyclopedia. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-74333-0.
  15. ^ Justinian I, Digest 48.5.2
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