Vistilia (prostitute) explained

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

Biography

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.^[3] Roman lawmakers wanted to keep prostitution legal while also punishing prostitutes by publicly shaming them; thus, sex workers were legally required to publicly register themselves in this way.^{[4] [5]} Additionally, those registered as prostitutes lost many of their rights.^[6]

Current scholarly consensus, however, holds that Vistilia was not actually a sex worker.^{[7] [8]} 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.^{[9] [10]} The lex Julia de adulteris (established by Augustus) exempted those registered as prostitutes from being prosecuted for adultery. 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.

Vistilia was nonetheless tried by the Roman Senate.^[11] 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.^[12] The senate decided to prosecute only Vistilia (under Roman law, husbands who did not immediately punish adulterous wives could be tried as pimps).^[13] Vistilia was found guilty, and was deported to the Greek island of Seriphos. 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.^[14]

See also

• List of Roman women
• Women in ancient Rome

Notes and References

1. Champlin . Edward . 2011 . Sex on Capri . Transactions of the American Philological Association . 141 . 2 . 315–332 . 41289747 . 0360-5949.
2. Bond . Sarah . 2014-05-19 . Altering Infamy Status, Violence, and Civic Exclusion in Late Antiquity . Classical Antiquity . en-US . 33 . 1 . 1–30 . 10.1525/CA.2014.33.1.1 . 0278-6656.
3. Natalie Nagel . Barbara . 2013-06-01 . The Tyrant as Artist: Legal Fiction and Sexual Violence under Tiberius . Law & Literature . en . 25 . 2 . 286–310 . 10.1525/lal.2013.25.2.286 . 1535-685X.
4. Book: McGinn, Thomas A. J. . Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome . 2003-01-30 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-802486-6 . en.
5. Book: Kertzer . David I. . The Family in Italy from Antiquity to the Present . Saller . Richard P. . 1991-01-01 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-05550-4 . en.
6. Book: Radicke, Jan . Roman Women's Dress: Literary Sources, Terminology, and Historical Development . 2022-11-07 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG . 978-3-11-071165-3 . en.
7. Book: Strong, Anise K. . Prostitutes and Matrons in the Roman World . 2016-07-12 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-14875-8 . en.
8. Book: Riggsby, Andrew M. . Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans . 2010-06-07 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-86751-1 . en.
9. Book: McGinn, Thomas A. J. . Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome . 2003-01-30 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-988294-6 . en.
10. Book: Gilligan . Carol . The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, and Democracy's Future . Richards . David A. J. . 2008-11-10 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-139-47522-8 . en.
11. Book: Ditmore, Melissa Hope . Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work: [2 volumes] ]. 2006-08-30 . Bloomsbury Publishing USA . 978-0-313-08387-7 . en.
12. Book: Pagán, Victoria Emma . The Tacitus Encyclopedia . 2023-05-24 . John Wiley & Sons . 978-1-119-74333-0 . en.
13. [Justinian I]
14. Book: Ziogas, Ioannis . Law and Love in Ovid: Courting Justice in the Age of Augustus . 2021-01-28 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-258379-6 . en.