George Gardiner: A Forbidden History.The Hadrian enigma

He was currently researching his latest book, Lives of Famous Whores. This is a work which will certainly find a ready market among the Empire's book copiers. For this reason he had been keen to sample the wares of the many providers of courtesan services which abound in Egypt, especially at Alexandria and nearby Canopus. This offered an opportunity to explore the history of the leading exponents of these arts and their special techniques.

Mind you, Suetonius has long accessed the services of courtesans across the Empire. He can name you each of a hundred of the better houses and their locales, along with their unusual specialties, prices, and possible risks.

For this reason Suetonius had retired to The House of the Blue Lotuses, the best in Middle Egypt he was advised.

"Good sir, my master, a leading councilor of the Greek community at Alexandria, has ensured our stock is exemplary," Cadmus opened his sales spiel.

"And expensive..!" Suetonius contributed jovially from within the burning herb's enveloping fug.

"My master has acquired several of the leading girls of Alexandria, but has also bought fresh purchases from the slave emporia at the Isle of Delos in the Aegean," the steward continued.

"The newest ones are very young and come from exotic places across the Empire. They include some racy Germans with flaxen hair and sluttish habits, a delicate peach-cheeked Briton of very white skin and a shy manner, a pair of Parthian identical twins for dual pleasure, and some fresh professionals from the island of Samos."

Suetonius acknowledged how Samos off the Ionian coast was a major exporter of well-trained girls, along with its knitted lace, deep-sea sponges, sweet wines, olives, and other luxuries.

"If it is to your taste, fine sir, my master has acquired two guaranteed virgins as well as three handsome youths from around the Middle Sea. This includes a white skinned, white haired, pink-eyed albino novelty from Crete."

Cadmus was exultant about the quality of his produce.

The virgins and the youths didn't interest Suetonius. It was likely the 'guaranteed virgins' had not been so for quite some time, but clever surgical arts assisted the illusion. Also for Suetonius they were far too inept to be mixing with men of mature experience. Loose folds of sagging ashen skin, wispy hair pasted across long-balded pates, a few missing teeth, and demanding sexual expectations were prone to distress them. Besides, he recalled, such girls were entirely without conversation. Amusing conversation was at a premium among sex entertainers. It drew good prices.

Separately, the young men rarely enjoyed being ravaged by their clients. They bite their lips in discomfort, and in the provinces are likely to be still untrained in simple intestinal hygiene.

But Suetonius kept the albino slave in mind to mention to Hadrian's master of diversions, Geta the Dacian, to whom he owed a favor or two. Perhaps the albino might meet the emperor's taste, despite Hadrian's known aversion to sex worker slaves.

In the recent words of the philosopher Plutarch, an emperor does not stoop to importune a slave who will have absolutely no rights in the matter, regardless of their admirable looks or unique sexual skills.

Besides, Caesar's long companionship with his Favorite of the past five years, the sweet-natured young man Antinous of Bithynia, had seen him desist from the excesses of his predecessors. This is despite many earlier Caesars being prone to an exuberant intemperance in such things.

Hadrian had a reputation in much earlier life for pursuing beauties. Nevertheless though Suetonius could recall the names of several elite males who had succumbed to Hadrian's seduction, he could not recall any of a member of the opposite gender. An interesting omission he thought, unless Hadrian's marital status precluded such dalliances?

The historian's own taste had contracted over time into an unfashionable focus on women young enough to be his grand-daughter's age. That is, if he had actually bred any children or grandchildren. This included a taste for voluptuous fleshiness in lasses capable of maintaining a breezy conversation. Such qualities recalled his favorite slave-concubine Priscilla, he realized, may the gods bless her long departed soul.

Priscilla died after being his companion for five years. She joined her ancestors while giving birth to a child who may, or may not, have been his. The child too died. Mortality is a constant companion to us all, we know, yet one whose presence inevitably interrupts unexpectedly.

Cadmus, the House steward, ushered his Roman client beyond the open public atrium of the establishment into a secluded chamber to select his choice of the newer stock.

"Fine sir, please enjoy the comforts of our premiere salon," he encouraged with much Egyptian-style groveling. "We reserve this parlor for only our most important clients."

Suetonius absorbed its distinctive decors with interest.

The chamber was comfortably appointed with cushions and drapes and a reclining couch of quality with a large divan to one side. Witty but tasteful wall paintings portrayed copulating couples or multiples in a variety of elaborately ingenious combinations. They were accompanied by allegories of the Gods in similarly lascivious, comedic entanglements, merrily looking down upon their earthbound mortals.

These amusing images with their prodigiously erect phalluses and tortuous contortions conveyed an optimistic tone to the room. They endorsed a cheerful, spicy view of life happily beyond the influence of the Evil Eye or other demonic presence.

The room was redolent with the intense fragrance of bowls of blue lotus blooms, with dried fruits, dates, honey-cakes, and nuts displayed for a client's enjoyment.

Suetonius's servant unclasped the outer garments of his toga and stripped him to the underlying tunic. He poured a goblet of wine for his master and retired to the doorway to await instruction.

Cadmus sent his girls into the suite one by one. Each regaled Suetonius with a jolly smile or a sensual leer. They flashed their bodies from beneath their skimpy outerwear with a spin and a turn, highlighting their best bodily feature. They displayed their genitals forward to arouse his sensuality and check for signs of eczemas, blisters, or infestation.

Each wore a House identification slate chalked with their name and place of origin, plus their price. Charges vary according to age, beauty, or special services. Several of the girls had uneven teeth, thin chicken legs, or flat busts, probably reflecting their poor diet since childhood and the poverty of their mothers' similar calling. These influence price. Others were exemplary even by Rome's standards where the cream of the Empire's courtesans flourish.

One dark haired beauty immediately took Suetonius's fancy. Her well-formed limbs, shapely bosom, and intelligently-twinkling eyes caught his attention.

"What is your name, girl?" he asked, hazily reading the name inscribed on her board.

"Surisca, my lord. I am Surisca of Antioch," she responded in a cheery teasing trill.

Suetonius recognized she was from Syria because she spoke Greek with the accent of those whose native tongue is Aramaic, the common language of the farther East. The Syri was probably in her late teens, yet looked older from the rigors of her profession. Her board announced she was a dancer and flautist, hints her gifts included athletic activities and oral skills.

Her long hair bound high in a Syriac headband possessed a well-combed sheen. Her teeth seemed evenly lined, and her limbs were healthily straight but fulsomely feminine. There were no eczemas or signs of lice at her mount of Venus. She also wore less face-paint than some of the other girls, which was a definite attraction for him in a sex-worker. Only the faded henna-dye patterns stenciled onto her hands, arms, and forehead told of her ethnicity and implied her mode of livelihood.