26th Annual Student Research Conference
A Lack of Intersection:
An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Female Prostitutes and Adultery
in Justinian Codex 9.9.22
Serena A. Karraker
Dr. Scott Alberts, Dr. Rebecca Harrison, and Dr. Bridget Thomas, Faculty Mentors
To our culture, it seems paradoxical to consider a married man's involvement with a prostitute as anything but adulterous. Roman law makers clearly disagreed with this sentiment as evidenced by law 9.9.22 of the Justinian Codex from the sixth century CE. The law states that the crime of adultery has not been committed if a man has sexual relations with a woman who has prostituted herself. In the original language, the law is phrased so that the agency is entirely put upon the female prostitute - which in effect condemns her actions while dismissing his. This interdisciplinary paper discusses the separation between prostitution and adultery in law 9.9.22 and demonstrates through a close reading of the Latin text and the applied analyses of history, law, and women's studies that prostitutes were falsely given agency and thus condemned for their profession.
Keywords: Justinian Codex, Latin Law Analysis, 9.9.22, Interdisciplinary
Topic(s):Classics
Women's and Gender Studies
Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 309-2
Location: VH 1324
Time: 1:15