Posted on 04/01/2024 6:38:50 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, a French port city stands on the grounds of Roman history.
The site of the first Roman colony outside of Italy, Narbonne holds the secrets to the empire's past — and what it did with its stuff.
During an excavation along the outskirts of the city, archaeologists discovered stone walls more than 2,000 years old, likely part of an ancient warehouse district, according to a March 22 news release from INRAP, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research.
The city, called Colonia Narbo Martius, was founded in 118 B.C. during the early expansion of the Roman Empire, the researchers said.
What started as a colony soon grew to a city as it urbanized around 50 A.D., and it had several city blocks with streets, an alley and piping for directing water, according to INRAP.
The city went through redevelopment phases for hundreds of years, with a short period during which it was was abandoned at the end of the third century, the researchers said...
In a large section of the project, there was a nearly 100-foot long stone curtain wall, or enclosing wall, and a tower covered in stones, according to INRAP...
The crawl space under one warehouse was created by using recycled amphorae, a type of Roman pot.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Paint on the upper level of a warehouse suggests it was used as an office or living space and not as storage.INRAP (probably)
Did they find a locked door inside with a note that says “your storage room has been locked pending payment of this month’s rent”?
I think Narbonne is the place where a major well-preserved monument of Pompey's is located, but naturally I can't find a peep about it in multiple web searches. Found this though:
From Africa Pompey demanded that a triumph be given him in Rome; he refused to disband his army and appeared at the gates of Rome, obliging Sulla to yield to his demand. After Sulla’s abdication, Pompey supported the renegade Sullan Marcus Lepidus for the consulship of 78. Once in office Lepidus attempted revolution, and Pompey promptly joined the forces of law and order against him. The rising crushed, however, Pompey refused to disband his army, which he used to bring pressure on the Senate to send him with proconsular power to join Metellus Pius in Spain against the Marian leader Sertorius.Pompey the Great | Eric William Gray | Encyclopaedia Britannica | Last Updated: Feb 19, 2024
:^)
I’m not sure about the accuracy of the article’s claim that Narbo Martius, founded in 118 B.C. was the first Roman colony outside of Italy.
In Spain, outside of the existing city of Hispalis (Seville), the Romans founded the colony of Italica in 206 B.C., obviously naming it after their peninsula of origin.
I somehow read that as Ancient Roman Whorehouse discovered.
Probably cause I have not seen enough April 1 stuff this year.
Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal and licensed.
Men of any social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval,[1] as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoyment of sex.[2]
Brothels were part of the culture of ancient Rome, as popular places of entertainment for Roman men.[2]
Most prostitutes were female slaves or freedwomen. The balance of voluntary to forced prostitution can only be guessed at.
Privately held slaves were considered property under Roman law, so it was legal for an owner to employ them as prostitutes.
Pimping and prostitution were, however, considered disgraceful and dishonourable activities, and their practitioners were considered “infamous” (infames);
for citizens, this meant loss of reputation and many of the rights and privileges attached to citizenship. Slave-owning patrons and investors may have sought to avoid loss of privilege by appointing slaves or freedmen to manage their clandestine investments.[3]
Some large brothels in the 4th century, when Rome was becoming officially Christianized, seem to have been counted as tourist attractions and were possibly state-owned.[4]
Satyr and Maenad; Roman fresco from the House of the Greek Epigrams in Pompeii
Latin literature makes frequent reference to prostitutes. Historians such as Livy and Tacitus mention prostitutes who had acquired some degree of respectability through patriotic, law-abiding, or euergetic behavior.
The high-class “call girl” (meretrix) is a stock character in Plautus’s comedies, which were influenced by Greek models. The poems of Catullus, Horace, Ovid, Martial, and Juvenal, as well the Satyricon of Petronius, offer fictional or satiric glimpses of prostitutes.
Real-world practices are documented by provisions of Roman law that regulate prostitution, and by inscriptions, especially graffiti from Pompeii.
Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum from sites presumed to be brothels has also contributed to scholarly views on prostitution
If I’m not mistaken, Narbonne is now inland...sorta. In Roman times a seaport but all silted up over the centuries.
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