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A (; , ; . , ), Latinized as ( ), was a type of highly educated female companion in ancient Greece who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist. Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute.
Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from the symposium, but this prohibition did not extend to , who were often foreign-born and could be well-versed in arts, philosophy, and culture. Other female entertainers might appear in the otherwise male domain, but actively participated in conversations, including intellectual and literary discourse.
Traditionally, historians of ancient Greece have distinguished between and '' pornai'', another class of prostitute. In contrast to pornai, who provided sex for numerous clients in brothels or on the street, were thought to have had only a few men as clients at any one time, to have had long-term relationships with them, and to have provided companionship and intellectual stimulation as well as sex. For instance, Charles Seltman wrote in 1953 that "hetaeras were certainly in a very different class, often highly educated women".
More recently, historians have questioned the extent to which there was really a distinction between and pornai. The second edition of the '' Oxford Classical Dictionary'', for instance, held that was a euphemism for any kind of prostitute. This position is supported by Konstantinos Kapparis, who holds that Apollodorus' famous tripartite division of the types of women in the speech Against Neaera ("We have courtesans for pleasure, concubines for the daily tending of the body, and wives in order to beget legitimate children and have a trustworthy guardian of what is at home.") classes all prostitutes together, under the term .
A third position, advanced by Rebecca Futo Kennedy, suggests that "were not prostitutes or even courtesans". Instead, she argues, were "elite women ... who participated in sympotic and luxury culture", just as the masculine form of the wordwas used to refer to groups of elite men at symposia.
Even when the term was used to refer to a specific class of prostitute, though, scholars disagree on what precisely the line of demarcation was. Kurke emphasises that veiled the fact that they were selling sex through the language of gift-exchange, while pornai explicitly commodified sex. Leslie Kurke claims that both and pornai could be slaves or free, and might or might not work for a pimp. Kapparis says that were high-class prostitutes, and cites
File:Reveller courtesan BM E44.jpg, A prostitute putting on her
An essay on women’s lives in classical Athens
{{Authority control Prostitution in ancient Greece Sexuality in ancient Greece Obsolete occupations Courtesans by type Women in ancient Greece
A (; , ; . , ), Latinized as ( ), was a type of highly educated female companion in ancient Greece who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist. Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute.
Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from the symposium, but this prohibition did not extend to , who were often foreign-born and could be well-versed in arts, philosophy, and culture. Other female entertainers might appear in the otherwise male domain, but actively participated in conversations, including intellectual and literary discourse.
Summary
Traditionally, historians of ancient Greece have distinguished between and '' pornai'', another class of prostitute. In contrast to pornai, who provided sex for numerous clients in brothels or on the street, were thought to have had only a few men as clients at any one time, to have had long-term relationships with them, and to have provided companionship and intellectual stimulation as well as sex. For instance, Charles Seltman wrote in 1953 that "hetaeras were certainly in a very different class, often highly educated women".
More recently, historians have questioned the extent to which there was really a distinction between and pornai. The second edition of the '' Oxford Classical Dictionary'', for instance, held that was a euphemism for any kind of prostitute. This position is supported by Konstantinos Kapparis, who holds that Apollodorus' famous tripartite division of the types of women in the speech Against Neaera ("We have courtesans for pleasure, concubines for the daily tending of the body, and wives in order to beget legitimate children and have a trustworthy guardian of what is at home.") classes all prostitutes together, under the term .
A third position, advanced by Rebecca Futo Kennedy, suggests that "were not prostitutes or even courtesans". Instead, she argues, were "elite women ... who participated in sympotic and luxury culture", just as the masculine form of the wordwas used to refer to groups of elite men at symposia.
Even when the term was used to refer to a specific class of prostitute, though, scholars disagree on what precisely the line of demarcation was. Kurke emphasises that veiled the fact that they were selling sex through the language of gift-exchange, while pornai explicitly commodified sex. Leslie Kurke claims that both and pornai could be slaves or free, and might or might not work for a pimp. Kapparis says that were high-class prostitutes, and cites Dover
Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
as pointing to the long-term nature of hetairai's relationships with individual men. Miner disagrees with Kurke, claiming that were always free, not slaves.
Along with sexual services, women described as rather than seem to have often been educated, and have provided companionship. According to Kurke, the concept of hetairism was a product of the symposium, where were permitted as sexually available companions of the male party-goers. In Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...
' ''Deipnosophistai'', are described as providing "flattering and skillful conversation": something which is, elsewhere in classical literature, seen as a significant part of the hetaira's role. Particularly, "witty" and "refined" were seen as attributes which distinguished from common pornai. Hetairai are likely to have been musically educated, too.
Free could become very wealthy, and control their own finances. However, their careers could be short, and if they did not earn enough to support themselves, they might have been forced to resort to working in brothel
A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
s, or working as pimps, in order to ensure a continued income as they got older.
Iconography
Scholars also disagree about the identification of hetaeras in ancient Greek vase painting. Attributes which might identify hetaeras include nudity, involvement in erotic activity, and the presence of money bags. Working with textiles, depiction on kylixes, and being named in inscriptions have all also been used as evidence that women depicted on vases are hetaeras. However, the reliability of all of these indications has been questioned: for instance nudity in the context of athletics, wedding rituals, or supplication does not necessarily relate to sex work. Some scholars have argued that it is impossible to distinguish hetaeras from other kinds of women, or that some depictions of women are intentionally ambiguous.himation
A himation ( , ) was a type of clothing, a mantle (clothing), mantle or Wrap (clothing), wrap worn by ancient Greek men and women from the Archaic Greece, Archaic period through the Hellenistic period ( BC). It was usually worn over a Chiton (gar ...
in front of her client. The lyre shows that she is a musician called for a banquet. '' Tondo'' of an Attic cup with red figures. Euphronius v.490 BC, British Museum.
File:Drunken banqueter Louvre G13.jpg, Drunken banqueter with a drinking dish, flirting with a musician holding a lyre or barbiton
File:Crátera con simposio del pintor de Nicias.jpg, Symposium, men on couches, the only woman present is a .
File:Banquet scene Louvre G135.jpg, Party musicians are often associated with prostitution. Bottom painting of a bowl from Attica, with red clay figures on a black background. The author is the so-called Painter of Colmar, . The Louvre Museum.
File:Kylix of the Symposium of the Hetairai by Oltos vase painter - MAN.JPG, Man and in symposium
File:Jean-Léon Gérôme, Phryne revealed before the Areopagus (1861) - 01.jpg, 19th century interpretation of the : Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting '' Phryne Before the Areopagus'' depicts the Phryne on trial. The sight of her nude body, according to legend, persuaded the jurors to acquit her.
See also
* List of prostitutes and courtesans of antiquity * '' Oiran'': class of courtesans in Edo period and Imperial Japan * '' Qayna'': class of courtesans in pre-modern Islamic world *Prostitution in ancient Rome
Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal and licensed. Men of any social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval, as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoym ...
* Hetair-, a Greek linguistic root
References
Further reading
*An essay on women’s lives in classical Athens
{{Authority control Prostitution in ancient Greece Sexuality in ancient Greece Obsolete occupations Courtesans by type Women in ancient Greece