(Mathias Kabel/ CC BY SA 3.0 ) Were the Tokens an Early Form of Payment?

Britain’s Romanization was slow, thus so was the spread of the Roman language however, an image of sexual intercourse is universally understood.Ī Roman brothel token. in ancient Britain, the theory that these coins were used to get around language barriers is furthered. As it is known the Romans had forts, camps, etc. The Houses of Pleasure in Ancient PompeiiĪ more recent find of a Roman brothel token in London, called the “Putney token” for the bridge it was found near, was examined in 2012.

Ten Powerful and Fearsome Women of the Ancient World.Phryne, The Ancient Greek Prostitute Who Flashed Her Way to Freedom.As one would say, “I would like a number 4” at McDonald’s and pay for their food at the window, an ancient Roman would pass the token and then subsequently pay for the service before or after it occurred. If this theory is true, then one must consider that the coins themselves were not forms of payment rather, they were more akin to calling cards or order slips. It is believed by some scholars that “the sex act depicted on each coin corresponds to the price listed on the opposite face,” which has also been considered clever as it is “a system that would also have helped dissolve language barriers”. This would have been particularly important to those of high status who did not want their late night dalliances known. Further, in passing a coin between two people-i.e., the buyer and the “seller”-one could maintain a level of privacy. One of the most prominent theories about the creation and purpose of the coins was to advertise the prices of sexual acts. It is also notable that the tokens predominately depict male-female relations rather than relations of the same sex, likely indicating that homosexuality (at least outward homosexuality ) had become far less acceptable by the time of the Romans than it was for their predecessors in ancient Greece.ġ9th century engraving of 'Spintriae' (Roman brothel tokens) purportedly found in Pompeii. While male prostitutes and female participants were not uncommon, it was far more common-as far as literature can tell-that wealthy males sought the company of a meretrix, or legal female prostitute. Some depicted phalluses instead, full-formed and often with wings attached, likely indicating the virility of the man using the coin. The token had various sexual acts depicted on both the front and rear of the coins, usually the participants on the coin in the act of intercourse. Roman brothel tokens were rather obvious to the everyday money-handler. The prevalence of prostitution in Roman culture is highlighted through the wide circulation of these coins, and the plethora of imagery in the aforementioned vacation sites in southern Italy.Īncient Sex Tokens - A Different Kind of Coinage (Which is helpful for archaeologists, as both those sites remains “frozen” in time.) These staples eventually grew to encourage their own form of coinage, called spintriae in the Medieval period (though this name is misleading in ancient records). In fact, brothels were somewhat of a staple in vacation cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum. In ancient Rome, while everyone certainly had their own views of the practice, it was far more socially acceptable. It is often looked upon as “sinful”, “detestable”, and “shameful”-both for the prostitute and the participant. Today, there is a strong, negative stigma surrounding the occupation of prostitution. These so-called Roman sex coins may have been used to obtain entry to brothels, pay prostitutes or even function much like a modern-day menu, where customers who did not speak Latin could handover the token depicting the act they desired. They were not part of the normal moneyed economy and they were used for just a short time in the first century. There is a curiosity that belongs to ancient Roman history which historians are yet to solve there exists a collection of Roman brass coins or tokens that depict sexual acts on one side and a numeral on the other.

Augustus denarius for sale