The Roman Courtesan - Terra Italia ONLUS

The Roman Courtesan
Archaeological Reflections of a Literary Topos
International Symposium organized by Institutum Romanum Finlandiae in collaboration
with Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom
30th May 2014
Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Villa Lante, Passeggiata del Gianicolo 10
contact: [email protected]
The Plautine meretrix, the elegiac puella and the symposiac women in Pompeian wallpaintings – are the Roman courtesans mere fantasy products and reflections of the
legendary hetairai of the Hellenistic world, or essential elements of the Roman gender
system? The one-day symposium will bring together experts working on epigraphic,
iconographic, literary and archaeological sources to examine the legal status, cultural role,
representations and materialities of non-servile prostitutes and courtesans in Roman
antiquity.
Programme
9.45 – 10.00 Welcome and Introduction (Tuomas Heikkilä, Director IRF; Ortwin Dally, Director DAI;
Ria Berg, Vice-director IRF)
Session I: Status and Cultural Role
10.00 – 10.30 Thomas McGinn (Vanderbilt University): “Legal status of Roman courtesans”
10.30 – 10.50 Mika Kajava (University of Helsinki): “Naming courtesans in antiquity”
10.50 – 11.20 Coffee
11.20 – 11.40 Antonio Varone (Direzione Generale Antichità, Mibact): “Pupa, puella, domina – tracce
di cortigiane nella documentazione pompeiana”
Discussion 11.40 – 12.00
Session II: Reflections in Roman Art
12.00 – 12.20 Luciana Jacobelli (Università del Molise): “Scene di banchetto con presenze femminili
nelle case di Pompei: alcune considerazioni”
12.20 – 12.40 Richard Neudecker (DAI): “The most beautiful girls of Pompeii - hetairai?”
12.40 – 13.00 Discussion
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch break
14.00 – 14.20 Siri Sande (Norwegian Institute of Rome): “Prostitutes and entertainers at Rome – did
they leave memories of themselves?”
14.20 – 14.40 Ville Hakanen (University of Helsinki): “Ganymede in Roman wall paintings –
A visual allusion to male prostitution?”
14.40 – 15.00 Discussion
Session III: Courtesans and Materiality
15.00 – 15.20 Angela Deodato (Soprintendenza archeologica del Piemonte): “Domina, lupa o
saga? Status femminile attraverso gli elementi erotici e magici da un contesto funerario del Piemonte
romano”
15.20 – 15.40 Ria Berg (IRF): “Cercando la casa di una cortigiana a Pompei. I reperti materiali quali
segno di attività di prostituzione?”
15.40 – 16.00 Discussion
16.00 – 16.30 Coffee
Session IV: The Written Courtesan
16.30 – 16.50 Katariina Mustakallio (University of Tampere): ”Acca Larentia's legend. How did the
Roman storytellers explain her role in Roman memory”
16.50 – 17.10 Marja-Leena Hänninen (University of Helsinki): ”The image of a wellborn lady as
prostitute: The cases of Julia and Messalina”
17.10 – 17.40 Sharon L. James (University of North Carolina): “The Life course of the Roman
courtesan”
17.40 – 18.00 Discussion and conclusion
Refreshments

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