Floralia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Floralia was a festival in ancient Roman religious practice in honor of the goddess Flora, held April 27 during the Republican era, or April 28 in the Julian calendar. The festival included Ludi Florae, the "Games of Flora" which lasted for six days under the empire.
Participation of prostitutes
Prostitutes participated in the Floralia as well as the wine festival (Vinalia) on April 23. According to the satirist Juvenal, prostitutes danced naked and fought in mock gladiator combat. Many prostitutes in ancient Rome were slaves, and even free women who worked as prostitutes lost their legal and social standing as citizens, but their inclusion at religious festivals indicates that sex workers were not completely outcast from society. (Thomas A.J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 24.)
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