Dura-Europos brothel
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The house that is known as Dura-Europos' brothel is a part of the Block G5 agora of Dura-Europos, and specifically refers to the house G5-C. It was the workplace of a guild of entertainers, which likely encompassed the surrounding buildings as well.[1]
The brothel's architectural structure is similar to the other houses excavated at this site, but several other factors have been used to identify this building to be a brothel. Generally, brothels have been identified in other Greco-Roman sites, like Pompeii and Athens, based on the architecture of the building.[1] However, in this case, a dipinto was found in G5- C2 that details the members of the guild of entertainers, what they could do, and a list of the notices of their travel to and from Zeugma.[1] In addition, the erotic art, graffiti, and painted relief of Aphrodite identifies the building as a brothel.[1]
Most of the entertainers came from Zeugma, and likely traveled to Dura-Europos with the Roman military.[1] The dipinto lists 63 names total, listed under different groups. Some of these groups consisted of those officially in the organization, new arrivals and departures, and slaves. A few of the listed occupations of these entertainers were tragedians, dancers, a dice-player, and several performers of mime.[1]
Due to the sheer number of people listed on this dipinto, it is likely that many of these entertainers lived in the nearby houses. Evidence for this includes a reserve of coins, many of which were from Zeugma, that was found in the adjacent house, G5-D. The proximity of the location to the military quarters lends a lot of credit to the idea that the purpose of the building was to be a brothel. 'Sexual service' was a necessity for the Roman army in their provinces, so it is incredibly likely that Dura-Europos would have a building for this purpose.
