Consumers of Carla Fayer's previous compilations on the Roman family will know what to expect here: a vast survey of previous scholarship. What is different in this case is that, in addition to the secondary literature, which is presented through quotation, paraphrase, or summary on a large scale, we find more extensive quotation with translation of the primary sources. In the end, there is room for doubt as to how much of value the book adds to our knowledge of female prostitution in ancient Rome.

There are seven chapters. The first discusses Roman toleration of prostitution. The second and third treat prostitutes and pimps in Comedy. Ch. 4 deals with words for prostitutes, ch. 5 with their clothing and make-up. The final two chapters are devoted to places where prostitution was practised and law, respectively. The volume closes with a bibliography, as well as indices of sources and subjects, plus a few illustrations. There is no conclusion.

The book's argument, such as it is, is easy to summarize. Prostitution was considered disgraceful, but was tolerated because it functioned as a safety valve protecting respectable women. One looks in vain for a stated chronological spectrum. The vast bulk of the material cited ranges from Plautus to Justinian, with great discontinuities. Given the size of the book there is remarkably little for a reviewer to criticize apart from the exorbitant price. There is also the author's use of previous works of scholarship, which might strike some readers as a tad aggressive. So little is new here.

Of the more than 650 pages of text, nearly 400 cover prostitution and its practitioners in Plautus and Terence. I found these chapters the most engaging if only because of the quality of the ancient evidence, which is generously presented here. The method employed by the author might fairly be described as antiquarian. She appears to operate on the assumption that there is generally no need to interpret the ancient sources. They simply say what they say. Throughout the book, F. follows roughly the same practice of exposition: quotation of an ancient source, followed by a translation, then a summary that more or less recaps the translation, and winding up in many instances with a summary of modern views. When these, as often happens, diverge, our author will often pick a winner — at least in the early chapters on Comedy. In those that follow, evidently distrustful of her expertise, she tends toward aporia, venturing to choose sides only rarely, and so leaving the reader largely to fend for herself. As a result, for many problems associated with the practice of prostitution in Rome no clear authority emerges in this book, least of all the author herself.

F.'s efforts to reproduce the results of her predecessors are on the whole remarkably successful. Readers are advised to consult the originals all the same. No cut-off is given for the bibliography, but it begins to fade starting about a decade before publication, and no work published after 2009 is cited. There are egregious omissions from earlier on as well. Epigraphists will note the confusion of Silvio with Matthew Panciera (690).

The high price for the volume merits comment, especially given the fact that it might have been far more effective if it were, say, less than half its size, and so presumably much less expensive. What I find curious is the business model that the publisher appears to have adopted, and not just for this case. There are no evident concerns with either size or cost. A very high price is stated for a book and subsequently this is heavily discounted. It is hard to see how many a reader will be able to resist waiting for the sale.