Slavery and infanticide among prostitutes in the Roman Empire circa 150AD
I've had an idea for a story that I almost wish I hadn't! The germ of the story was the discoveries of Roman-era mass graves of babies in Ashkelon, Israel, and in Hambleden, England, and other places.
The situation of these graves near bathouses and the evidence that the babies were actively killed rather than exposed, and were, unusually for infanticide, equally divided between boys and girls, leads some but not all researchers to suppose that they were the offspring of prostitutes, killed to enable the mothers to continue working.
I am seeking information on two related questions:
1) What is the most recent view of archeologists and historians as to how these mass graves came to be? Is there a consensus, or is it all still controversial?
2) Were most Roman prostitutes slaves? Specifically, were those prostitutes (assuming that the hypothesis that they were prostitutes is correct) who gave birth to the babies buried in Ashkelon and Hambleden, slaves? In other words, is this a case of the women probably being forced to kill the babies, as one of the links below asserts, or was it a case of perhaps regretted but voluntary infanticide? I know that infanticide was legal and fairly common in Imperial Rome.
I am currently intending to use Hambleden as the setting of my story but taking the findings at Ashkelon into account as background.
I've researched several stories about the Ashkelon and Hambleden graves, including the following:
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/discovery-mass-baby-grave-under-roman-bathhouse-ashkelon-israel-002399 "The discovery of a mass baby grave in Roman bathouse in Ashkelon, Israel"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14401305 "Roman dead baby 'brothel' mystery deepens"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2031727/Roman-prostitutes-forced-kill-children-bury-mass-graves-English-brothel.html "Roman prostitutes were forced to kill their own children and bury them in mass graves at English 'brothel'"
However these don't give firm conclusions.
On question (2), material I've read includes the following:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/02/20/the-many-types-of-prostitutes-in-ancient-rome/ "The many types of prostitutes in ancient Rome"
https://www.quora.com/Were-all-Roman-prostitutes-slaves# Answer to a Quora question, "Were all Roman prostitutes slaves?"
However, while it is clear that both free and slave prostitutes existed in ancient Rome, I haven't been able to get more specific information on what if anything is known about this question regarding the Ashkelon and Hambleden sites.
[Note to moderators: the intended tags on this entry are "roman republic & empire" and "servants/slaves". I have tried to set the adult content marker to explicit on the grounds that this is a distressing subject, although it is discussed in an unemotional way. I am new to LiveJournal and may have pressed the wrong buttons. Please arrange for the text to appear above or below the line and marked as you think most appropriate for the conventions of this forum.]
The situation of these graves near bathouses and the evidence that the babies were actively killed rather than exposed, and were, unusually for infanticide, equally divided between boys and girls, leads some but not all researchers to suppose that they were the offspring of prostitutes, killed to enable the mothers to continue working.
I am seeking information on two related questions:
1) What is the most recent view of archeologists and historians as to how these mass graves came to be? Is there a consensus, or is it all still controversial?
2) Were most Roman prostitutes slaves? Specifically, were those prostitutes (assuming that the hypothesis that they were prostitutes is correct) who gave birth to the babies buried in Ashkelon and Hambleden, slaves? In other words, is this a case of the women probably being forced to kill the babies, as one of the links below asserts, or was it a case of perhaps regretted but voluntary infanticide? I know that infanticide was legal and fairly common in Imperial Rome.
I am currently intending to use Hambleden as the setting of my story but taking the findings at Ashkelon into account as background.
I've researched several stories about the Ashkelon and Hambleden graves, including the following:
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/discovery-mass-baby-grave-under-roman-bathhouse-ashkelon-israel-002399 "The discovery of a mass baby grave in Roman bathouse in Ashkelon, Israel"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14401305 "Roman dead baby 'brothel' mystery deepens"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2031727/Roman-prostitutes-forced-kill-children-bury-mass-graves-English-brothel.html "Roman prostitutes were forced to kill their own children and bury them in mass graves at English 'brothel'"
However these don't give firm conclusions.
On question (2), material I've read includes the following:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/02/20/the-many-types-of-prostitutes-in-ancient-rome/ "The many types of prostitutes in ancient Rome"
https://www.quora.com/Were-all-Roman-prostitutes-slaves# Answer to a Quora question, "Were all Roman prostitutes slaves?"
However, while it is clear that both free and slave prostitutes existed in ancient Rome, I haven't been able to get more specific information on what if anything is known about this question regarding the Ashkelon and Hambleden sites.
[Note to moderators: the intended tags on this entry are "roman republic & empire" and "servants/slaves". I have tried to set the adult content marker to explicit on the grounds that this is a distressing subject, although it is discussed in an unemotional way. I am new to LiveJournal and may have pressed the wrong buttons. Please arrange for the text to appear above or below the line and marked as you think most appropriate for the conventions of this forum.]