Reading Gender in Curtius’ Portrait of Babylonian Prostitution (5.1.36-39)
p. 241-247
Texte intégral
1Ancient historiography included many digressions about local customs, monumental buildings, geography and zoology. In their works, historians not only discussed the matter they purported to be handling but also expressed their own views on other matters and contemporary values. This article examines the moralizing digression on Babylonian prostitution we encounter in Curtius’ Latin history of Alexander the Great (Historiae Alexandri Magni, 5.1.36-39). My article shows how the digression follows the Herodotean model of writing history and – at the same time – promotes the Roman gender system and contemporary views of prostitution.
2Curtius begins the moralizing digression on Babylonian prostitution after describing in detail Alexander’s triumphal entrance to the city of Babylon on a chariot, the magnificent walls surrounding the city and the Hanging Gardens (Curt. 5.1.19-35)1. Curtius’ Historiae offers us the longest and most vivid account of Alexander’s visit to the city. The extant works of other Alexander historians – Diodorus, Arrian, Plutarch and Justin – do not give such an extensive account of Alexander’s stay in Babylonia or say anything about Babylonian prostitution2. In the earlier research, instead of paying attention to the moralizing aspects of Curtius’ digression on local prostitution, scholars have concentrated on Curtius’ portraits of the luxurious surroundings of the city. Their main interest has been whether Curtius’ account of Babylonia is historically reliable and what sources Curtius used when he composed his narrative3. By contrast, the metatextual level of Curtius’ Historiae has received less interest, and studies on gender in Curtius are lacking.
3Curtius belonged most likely to the senatorial class and he composed his work during the reign of Claudius4. Below I present the digression (Curt. 5.1.36-39) and its translation:
Diutius in hac urbe quam usquam constitit rex, nec alio loco disciplinae militari magis nocuit. Nihil urbis eius corruptius moribus, nihil ad inritandas inliciendasque immodicas cupiditates instructius. Liberos coniugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. Conuiuales ludi tota Perside regibus purpuratisque cordi sunt, Babylonii maxime in uinum et, quae ebrietatem sequuntur, effusi sunt. Feminarum conuiuia ineuntium in principio modestus est habitus, dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt paulatimque pudorem profanant, ad ultimum – honos auribus habitus sit – ima corporum uelamenta proiciunt. Nec meretricum hoc dedecus est sed matronarum uirginumque, apud quas comitas habetur uulgati corporis uilitas. Inter haec flagitia exercitus ille domitor Asiae per XXXIIII dies saginatus ad ea, quae sequebantur, discrimina haud dubie debilior futurus fuit, si hostem habuisset.
“The king [Alexander] sojourned in the city of Babylon longer than elsewhere and there did more harm to the military discipline [of the Macedonian army] than in any other place. There is no other city where there is so much moral corruption, or which stimulates and arouses such excessive passions. Parents and husbands allow their children and wives to have sex with strangers, as long as this disgraceful licentiousness is paid for. All over the Persian Empire kings and high officials of the court love parties, and the Babylonians are particularly addicted to wine and the excesses that follow drunkenness. Women go to parties, at first dressed modestly. Afterwards they strip off all their upper layers of clothing and layer by layer reduce their respectability to dishonor until (forgive me for saying it) they finally cast off their most intimate garments. This shameful behavior is common not only among professional courtesans but also married women and virgins, who regard such vile prostitution as being friendly. Having shamefully spent thirty-four days in the heat of passion, that army which had conquered Asia would doubtless have been debilitated had it subsequently encountered any enemy”.
4Herodotus was considered a model for Greek and Latin historians, his work widely read and imitated by them. Digressions dealing with local myths, customs, religions, plants, animals, geography, and weather belong to the Herodotean model5. Curtius’ narrative is no exception6. It is very difficult to identify the sources Curtius consulted for each digression he made. As we know, the two first books of Curtius are lost, so we do not have access to the preface of the work, where he may have named his sources. Otherwise, Curtius refers to his sources only a few times in his work7. Cleitarchus has been suggested as one of Curtius’ main sources, but since this work is lost it would be no more than speculation to conclude that Curtius followed him in his portrayal of Babylonian prostitution8.
5Herodotus’ account of the infamous Babylonian sacred prostitution (Hdt. 1.199) may have inspired Curtius9. In his account Herodotus writes that every local woman, no matter what her social status, was forced to have sexual intercourse in a sanctuary of Aphrodite at least once in her life, probably taking the Greek goddess as equivalent to Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of love10. Herodotus’ sensational account offers us an interesting comparison to Curtius’ digression. While Herodotus describes prostitution as a part of a cult of Aphrodite, Curtius makes no reference to the goddess of love and her temple as a site for prostitution, or to religion at all. Instead, he presents it as Babylonian custom related to banquets. In Curtius, Babylonian prostitution is institutionalized and presented to the reader as secular, commercial prostitution. Babylonian males use their wives and daughters as sex workers to make a financial profit. Both accounts, Curtius and Herodotus, claim that the Babylonians allow their daughters and wives to have sex with strangers. This similar wording could indicate that either Curtius or his sources were following Herodotus’ account of Babylonian sacred prostitution. Although Herodotus once calls this sacred prostitution the most disgusting (Hdt. 1.99.1: αἴσχιστος) of all Babylonian customs (νόµων), his narrative does not have the same strong critique and moralizing tone as Curtius’ does. This supports the view that Curtius’ narrative is not primarily a portrayal of Babylonian prostitution de facto but a moralizing tract for the Roman audience.
6Curtius finds it distasteful and repulsive that all Babylonians approve prostitution. He especially abhors the way it is performed: Parents and husbands permit their children (liberi) and wives (coniuges) to have sex with strangers as long as they are paid. The women disgrace themselves by willingly carrying out sexual services and undressing in front of their clients. It is particularly reproachable that besides meretrices (professional courtesans), married women (matronae) and virgins (uirgines) take part in this prostitution. To top it off, Babylonian women of all ages regard prostitution as comitas (being sociable/courteousness). It could be argued that in the Curtius’ digression Babylonians neglect the social responsibilities and sexual roles which should form the backbone of any society.
7The passage above should be read in the context of the Roman senatorial gender order and the social roles and mores both males and females had in Roman society. In Roman thinking, as heads of their families (pater familia) men were expected to protect the honor of their gens. Fathers controlled the actions of their daughters, who were expected to be married as virgins11. The word uirgo does not only denote age but refers to sexual purity12. Wives were expected to be morally exemplary matrons and faithful to their husbands13. As a contrast to the Roman gender order, in Curtius’ imaginary presentation of Babylonian society, Babylonian men neglected their duties as husbands and fathers by allowing the female family members to disgrace themselves and their families. The Babylonian women of social status act in a way that is in sharp contrast to the Roman social codes. From Curtius’ perspective, the custom could not conflict more sharply with the Roman ideals of masculinity and femininity.
8Curtius’ portrait of the Babylonian striptease as a part of the prostitution reflects Roman senatorial views of public nudity and clothing. In the eyes of the Roman elite, upper class women were not allowed to appear nude in public. Female dress indicated a woman’s rank, status and morality. Senatorial women had high standards for their clothing. Chaste wives (matronae) of the Roman upper-class were expected to wear stola14. By contrast, prostitutes and adulteresses were often identified as wearing a toga15. Connecting morality with dress code can be recognized from the Curtius passage too. Curtius describes the women as arriving at the Babylonian banquets wearing modestus dress, which tells us explicitly that there existed a dress code: women were supposed to dress decently in public. However, during the wild parties they outrageously gave up their social norms and stripped of their clothes.
9The language of Curtius and his moralizing tone are also a striking aspect of the narrative. He uses words like stuprum, pudor and uilitas when describing Babylonian prostitution. These words convey ideas of disgrace, disgust and vileness. The author begs for his audience for pardon when explaining the Babylonian habit of stripping naked16. Admittedly, in some contexts and literary genres Romans did write straightforwardly about sexuality and sexual acts17. The same can be said of the Greek and Latin graffiti that use sexually loaded language that both some modern and ancient readers may view as too explicit and offensive18. However, in Roman society there were also ideals of chastity and sexual abstinence. In 18 BC, perhaps some 50 years before Curtius composed his work, Emperor Augustus had enacted a law concerning adultery and marriage. This law (lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis) was intended to control the sex life of married women, widows or unmarried freeborn women. Later Emperor Tiberius passed a law that forbade senatorial women from becoming prostitutes after the adulterous matron Vistilia allegedly registered herself as prostitute (Tac., An., 2.84-85; Suet., Tib., 35.1). In Roman culture the concept pudicitia, translated as sexual virtue, was an important virtue19. For the members of Roman upper class, protecting the pudicitia of women and children was essential20. It could be argued that Curtius’ moralizing and sensational language is self-presentation, intended to promote his image both as a citizen and a historian worried about the mores in Roman society and possible lack of pudicitia21.
10In the digression, the author gives the impression that the Babylonian parentes and mariti sold for prostitution were not slaves but free Babylonians. This leads us to the question of class in the Romans view of prostitution in the time of Curtius. Even though prostitution was regarded as a normal part of Roman society, it was regarded as work performed mostly by female slaves22. It was also viewed as a shameful profession, like that of gladiator or actor23. For a member of the Roman senatorial class, prostitution involving free Roman upper-class females as sex workers would have been something detestable. If Curtius wrote during Claudius’ reign, the question of an upper-class matron’s involvement in prostitution and sexual excess may have been a current issue. We know emperor Claudius’ third wife Empress Valeria Messalina was notorious for her extravagant sex life, and in the literary tradition she was associated with prostitutes. The stories of Messalina’s all-night sex competition with a prostitute and her working secretly in a brothel under the name of She-Wolf may have been part of a smear campaign (Plin., Nat., 10.172; Juv. 6.123)24. There were also stories of Roman matrons from the highest aristocracy going to the temple of Juno Sospita to participate in sacred prostitution when a revelation was needed25. It is impossible to say whether Curtius had these stories related to Messalina or Roman matrons in his mind when composing his passage on Babylonian prostitution. However, rumors that Roman matrons were involved in prostitution, a work suitable only for slaves, may have inspired Curtius to compose his digression as a reminder and warning to his audience26.
11Lastly, Curtius’ moralizing digression on Babylonian prostitution is part of the tradition of classical historians writing about distant eastern countries as the exotic, opulent and degenerate ‘Other’27. According to Curtius, the city of Babylon itself was rife with moral corruption (corruptius mores). The military discipline of the Macedonian army suffered because it stayed too long in the city and became infected by the moral laxity of the locals28. As head of the state Alexander was responsible for taking care of his army physically and mentally. However, in this situation Alexander exposed his soldiers to the temptations of self-indulgence and the debasing influence of Babylonian banquets characterized by excess and prostitution. In another passage of his work Curtius writes that arranging banquets early in the day that involved heavy drinking – where ‘troops of concubines’ (greges pelicum) attended – was one of the alien and harmful ways of the Persians (6.1.1-2). Herodotus, the “father of history”, had started this tradition of writing about the barbarians and their strange ways. After Herodotus, we encounter these stereotypical prejudices repeatedly in Greco-Roman historiographical tradition29. Curtius followed this long tradition and adopted the same attitudes to barbarians. His digression is underlining that Barbarians and their ways are inferior to Roman values and norms and therefore they are not to be imitated.
12Curtius’ passage contains different layers. First there is the actual historical event – the visit of Alexander and his armies to the famous Chaldean capital. The historical Alexander evidently visited Babylon. His armies allegedly stayed there for a month in October-December of 331 BC after the victory at Gaugamela on October 1. Undoubtedly, the Macedonians organized banquets and some of them used the services of the local courtesans. It is difficult to know whether they encountered any sacred prostitution since the very existence of the practice is controversial. However, we can guess that some of the Macedonian soldiers and commanders were probably unwilling to continue the campaign after years of hard campaigning in Anatolia and Syria and experiencing the wine, women and other amusements of Babylon. This aspect of the visit was recorded in the early Hellenistic histories composed by Alexander’s contemporaries. Curtius’ portrayal of Babylonian prostitution is likely to reflect his imagination rather than “historical reality”. The passage Curtius adapted from his sources, possible even straight from Herodotus30, was intended not only to amuse his audience, but to formulate ideas of masculinity and femininity important for the Roman senatorial class. Curtius writes about Babylonian prostitution in such a way as to criticize manifestations of prostitution by upper class women and sexually loose conduct in Rome. It reminded the Roman higher class that they should stay faithful their gender roles, which formed the backbone of society. The digression on Babylonian prostitution enabled Curtius to present himself as a representative of Roman mores, a guardian of decency and social norms.
Notes de bas de page
1 There are several portraits of Alexander’s triumphal entry to Babylon in the visual arts. Charles Le Brun’s oil work on canvas is probably the most famous. Oliver Stone’s film Alexander (2004) also includes a dramatic depiction of Alexander entry into Babylon.
2 Cf. Diod 17.65.1-2. Arr., An., 3.16.3-4. Plutarch and Justin practically omit Alexander’s and his army’s visit to the city. Cf. Just.11.14.6-9; Plu., Alex., 35.1.
3 Cf. Atkinson 1994, 36-46 deals at length with the reliability of Curtius’ account of the Hanging Gardens and the city walls and the sources the he used. On p. 47-48, Atkinson discusses very little the portraiture of Babylonian prostitution. For Alexander’s visit and the topography of the Babylonian hanging gardens see Raede 2000. For studies on Curtius see Devine 1979; Atkinson 1980; 1994; 2009; Baynham 1998. Gender as a topic has been included in research on the historical Alexander; Ogden 2011 is the most detailed study on the origin of the myths and the sexuality of Alexander.
4 For the Claudian dating of Curtius’ work see Atkinson 1980, 19-57; 2009, 3-9; Heckel 1984, 1-4. For the Vespasian dating of Curtius’ work see Baynham 1998, 213-219.
5 Asheri et al. 2007, 12-13 note that in Herodotus we can read digressions within digressions.
6 Usually these digressions do not fit into a chronological order and therefore authors provide an explanation or justification for it. Cf. digressions on Tyre (4.4.19-21), the Rebellion of Agis in Greece (6.1.1-21), Rome’s new emperor (10.9.1-6), to mention just three.
7 For a general discussion on the sources Curtius used see Atkinson 1980, 58-67; Baynham 1998, 57-85.
8 Since the Curtian portrait of Babylonia resembles that given in Diodorus, it has been suggested that their ultimate source was Cleitarchus; Pearson 1956, 228; Diod. 2.10.1-6, on the gardens and 2.8.6 on the fortifications. Diodorus does not discuss the site in Book 17 but in Book 2. For a comparison of Curtius’ and Diodorus’ accounts see Atkinson 1994, 36-39. On the possibility that Curtius used Berossus’ work as well see Atkinson 1994, 46-47.
9 For a critical discussion on the existence of sacred prostitution, see Budin 2009, who intends to show that passages of Herodotus, Strabo, Lucian, Valerius Maximus etc. traditionally associated with sacred prostitution should not be regarded as proofs of its existence (Budin does not refer to Curtius’ account of Babylonian prostitution). In contrast, Strong 2016, 174-196 suggests that there was some financial or spiritual connection between prostitutes and certain cults.
10 Budin 2009, 58-93 suggests that Herodotus’ passage should not be regarded as a historically reliable account but as a poetic description of Babylonia’s conquered status filled with literary fabrications. As an example of the contrary view, see Asheri et al. 2007, 211 who connect Herodotus’ account of the sacred prostitution in Asia Minor with that in Armenia. For a detailed discussion of Herodotus’ account of Babylonia see Kuhrt 2002, who is also skeptical about Herodotus’ account of compulsory ritual intercourse (p. 494).
11 Caldwell 2015, 61-66 reminds us that Roman law made criminals of any who threatened or harassed virgines and it also defended paterfamilias status of a daughter’s virginity. Ormand 2009, 141-142 states that in Roman society women’s sexuality was viewed with suspicion and they needed to be watched carefully within the immediate family.
12 Cf. Caldwell 2015, 50-51.
13 Chrystal 2013, 20-25; George 2005b, 41-42.
14 Olson 2006, 189-191.
15 Olson 2006, 192-196.
16 Atkinson 1994, 47 suggests that the phrase honos auribus habitus sit indicates that the work was prepared for oral presentation.
17 Satirical poetry can be viewed probably as the most sexualized literature of antiquity; cf. Rosen & Keane 2014.
18 Cf. Williams 2014, 499-500.
19 For a study of pudicitia in Roman society see Langlands 2006.
20 Langlands 2006, 21-24, 39-41, 99-103, 107-108, 119-120. For example, Valerius Maximus presents lust (libido) as the most dangerous of vices and praises sexual virtue (pudicitia); cf. Val Max. 6.1.
21 Roman authors like Cicero and Tacitus often expressed their worry about the moral condition of Roman society.
22 For general studies of Roman prostitution see Stumpp 1998; Mac Ginn 2004; Strong 2016.
23 Cf. Edwards 1997 on why professions of prostitutes, male actors and gladiators were regarded as antithesis of honor, infames.
24 The literary tradition of Messalina’s sexual excess is vast, including Tacitus and Suetonius. Politically active and promiscuous matrons were easily labelled as “whores”. Cf. Strong 2016, 97-118. Hänninen 2018, 114-116 for a discussion of Messalina in the sources. For Messalina’s reception in the 19th and 20th centuries see Wyke 2007, 321-391.
25 Schultz 2006, 208-209. For a more detailed discussion on the relationship between prostitutes and religion see Strong 2016, 171-197.
26 We may recognize an anti-prostitution tone also in Curtius’ account of the banquets that led to the burning of the royal palace of Persepolis; Curt. 5.7.1-12. Cf. other versions of the incident: Diod, 17.72.1-6; Plu., Alex., 38.1-4. According to Curtius the king had begun to attend day-time drinking parties where women could also attend. Curtius emphasizes that these were not women whom it was unlawful to violate according to divine law (nefas) but courtesans/concubines (paelices). Later in the narrative, Curtius calls the courtesan Thais, who recommended and then took up a torch and set the palace on fire, a drunken whore (scortum). To Curtius it was reproachable that Alexander let women, even a prostitute of her status, to manipulate him and make such an important decision. This narrative can also be read in the context of Roman gender roles.
27 Cf. Spencer 2005, where Curtius’ depiction of the east is approached as “textual colonialism” stressing unknowability, glamour and the looming disaster of the Orient.
28 The passage resembles a Roman literary topos where women are considered as a threat to martial virtues. Cf Mustakallio 1999, 56, 59-61.
29 For the prejudice against and racist views of the “barbarian” groups in Greco-Roman literature see Isaac 2004.
30 Cf. Budin 2009, 154-165, 230-232, 244 who suggests that ancient authors like Strabo, Justin and Valerius Maximus writing about “sacred prostitution” copied or retold Herodotus’ account.
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