Regio VI is the northwestern part of Pompeii, embraced by the Cardo Maximus to the east and the 
Decumanus Superior to the south; its western side is framed by the city walls, as is the northern side, punctuated by the Porta Ercolano (northwest) and Porta Vesuvio (northeast), marked red on the map above. Northwest Regio is Pompeii's most extensively excavated area and thus a veritable treasure trove. In case you are interested in taking a more detailed tour through Regio VI (including local gossip and snacks) please refer to the corresponding article below.
The streets were plastered with basalt and fringed by considerably higher pedestrian ways, interrupted by pedestrian crossings made of higher boulders. This system allowed for a comparably safe and dry-footed crossing after downpours (the streets also served as a drainage system), or in case the street was littered with garbage.
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Despite their overall symmetric layout, the streets did not lead directly to the gates; it is therefore assumed that streets and gates were not built around the same time. For most parts the houses in Regio VI were privately owned residences, some of them divided into smaller, separate units at a later point, for example the House of Pansa or the considerably larger Insula Occidentalis. Usually the owner of the house kept the inner part for himself, sealed off all connecting ways to the outer parts, and rented them out as small shops or private apartments, as can be seen from a floor plan of the House of Pansa, also known as the Insula Arriana Polliana (see image to the right). Other than in the Central Western, Southern or Southeastern Regio (the last two being approximately the oldest quarters of Pompeii), Regio VI held no public buildings, official or sacred, apart from the House of the Vestals which was located in the northwestern corner close to the Herculaneum Gate. So far the kinds of business discovered here - but that at virtually every corner - were bakeries and cookshops (thermopolia).
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It is most likely that one or several lupanares were located there as well, and indeed one or two of the villas might have been converted into brothels, judging from murals and the way rooms had been separated. But since the Pompeiians were quite fond of erotic depictions it is hard to tell lupanares apart from art-lovers' homes. Therefore estimations on the number of lupanares range from two to more than hundred. Regarding the world's most ancient business Pompeii holds a unique position. We know that the censor Cato frowned upon his co-citizens' practice to pay the equivalent sum of a country estate for a male prostitute. (Please note: He didn't speak out against homosexuality. Cato took offence at their high price, the same reason why he frowned upon importing caviar from the Black Sea.) From this it can be deduced that male prostitution was usually quite lucrative.
So what is it that makes Pompeii so unique? Attica, a Pompeiian lupa of the early Imperial Era, offered her services for sixteen Asses (or eight Sestercii), a very high rate if one keeps in mind that the average daily pay of a soldier was five Asses (or two and a half Sestercii). Most likely the nine Asses Spes charged for her attentions were an adequate, average price. So what about the male prostitutes? As their acqusition was outrageously costly one could assume that prices charged for their services were accordingly high. Generally speaking this is correct as far as we know - but not in Pompei. For whatever reason, male prostitutes didn't fare too well there; grafitti show that Menander offered himself for two Asses, whereas Felix charged twice as much. Skeletal remains of identified (or suspected) prostitutes reveal that females had been all in all better nourished than their male colleagues; one of them even showed severe signs of malnutrition.
Some additional notes upon prostitutes:
Lupae or meretrices (deriving from merere = earn) were called by different names, depending on their main places of activity. For example those looking out for clients on the streets were called ambulatrices (promenaders, strollers), those working under bridges (fornices) were called fornicatrices. Those who preferred to work at night were called noctilucae (fireflies). Some other names derived from their specialties (Lahis, for example, advertised herself under the name Fellatrix in a grafitto found on the house of Eumachia close to the Forum). Whatever they were called, whatever their specialties were, they had one thing in common - prostitutes had to be identifiable as such. Strangley enough, of all things their mandatory working clothes, their uniform so to say, was the toga - draped in a fashion that left both knees and lower legs bare (which, by the way, casts a dubious light on hitherto unsuspected characters in sword and sandal movies). And their hair had to be coloured red, hence their popular aliases Rufia or Rufio, the Red One.
Text by: Idris Silures
Content: Various sources on the internet and, most notably, "Pompei, La vita quotidiana" by Sergio Rinaldi Tufi, Florence, 2003.
Images: The map above was taken from the AW's Pompeii main 'hood page. House of Pansa: Plan view, from Edgell Georg and Fiske Kimball, History of Architecture, photo, K. Cohen, San Jose State University, found at Bryn Mawr College. Both images altered by me. Backgounds and dividers found at the Inspiration Gallery, Ambo Graphics and EOS Design, some altered by me.
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