The best of all possible brothels

Abstract

Despite its importance, this edifice, with its Pompeian address of 7.12.18–20, has received intense scrutiny only in recent decades. This trend began just over a quarter century ago with a pathbreaking contribution by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, who called attention to its usefulness for the identification of brothels in general. The monograph under review, with its wealth of both information and speculation about this building, marks a significant development and will no doubt encourage further scholarly attention.