Brothels and prostitutes in the vicus.

[M. Caecilius]

Hi Edna,

Interesting topic. I cannot give more than some general clues. Don't limit your searches (on JStor an elsewhere) to 'vicus'; there is also the term 'canabae' for the unofficial civilian settlements outside of a camp, and be aware that troops were occasionally billeted on people in the cities (cf. for example Tacitus' tirade at Annales 13.35. without direct mention to prostitution however).

For instance, the following two works I could find with a simple search in google books on "canabae" and "prostitution".

Parts of R. Friedl's Der Konkubinat im kaiserzeitlichen Rom (1994, Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart) are available on google books, and include a chapter on soldier sexuality with interesting foot notes. It discusses prostitution, the use of female slaves, and the "Konkubinat" proper, so the unofficial marriages of Roman soldiers. I believe it has evidence for women in the actual camp, too.

S.E. Phang's The marriage of Roman soldiers (13 B.C.-A.D. 235), Columbia University, 2001, also has some pages on this topic, including references to commanders throwing prostitutes and other camp-followers out of the camp to secure discipline.

The bibliography might also be well worth perusing.

Do you have access to the Année Philologique? It does have an online site and a search feature, into which I entered just now the words "prostitution" and "canabae" (the settlements outside the camps) for a test. I list some findings, by no means exhaustive, below.

Note that I have not read them, but they do sound interesting.

1) Roman frontier studies 1989 : proceedings of the XVth International congress of Roman frontier studies / ed. by Maxfield Valerie A.& Dobson Michael J. Exeter : Univ. of Exeter Pr., 1991. VIII includes an article on
"Women on the frontiers" by M.M. Roxan), only five pages (pp.462-7) and on the "Legionscanabae in Nijmegen" by J.K. Haalebos (three pages, 184-187).
2) Freu, Christel. - Femmes à louer, femmes à vendre : les prostituées et leur famille dans le monde romain. C&C 2009 4 (2) : 79-101
3) Stumpp, Bettina Eva. - Prostitution in der römischen Antike. Berlin : Akademie Verl., 1998
4) Vanoyeke Violaine. - La prostitution en Grèce et à Rome. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1990

Beyond that, don't forget to check the bibliographies in your books, and perhaps check out what the Pauly-Wissowa RE has to say on the subject. As a starting point. Don't ignore the ancient sources, although you'll find many references in the secondary sources. Look in unlikely places too, if time allows: there's a lot of stuff in prostitution in the Elder Seneca, but I can't recall any involving the army; comparison to other periods could be risked, if done carefully as comparative studies always must be.

Best luck with the dissertation.