Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 Bce-200 Ce

by Glazebrook, Allison; Henry, Madeleine M.

• ISBN13: 9780299235642
• ISBN10: 0299235645
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-06
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE200 CEchallenges the often-romanticized view of the prostitute as an urbane and liberated courtesan by examining the social and economic realities of the sex industry in Greco-Roman culture. Departing from the conventional focus on elite society, these essays consider the Greek prostitute as displaced foreigner, slave, and member of an urban underclass. The contributors draw on a wide range of material and textual evidence to discuss portrayals of prostitutes on painted vases and in the literary tradition, their roles at symposia (Greek drinking parties), and their place in the everyday life of the polis. Reassessing many assumptions about the people who provided and purchased sexual services, this volume yields a new look at gender, sexuality, urbanism, and economy in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Author Biography

Allison Glazebrook is associate professor of classics at Brock University, Ontario, Canada. Madeleine M. Henry is professor of classical studies at Iowa State University and author of Menander’s Courtesans and the Greek Comic Tradition and Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and Her Biographical Tradition.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. VII
Abbreviations and Transliterations	p. IX
Introduction: Why Prostitutes? Why Greek? Why Now?	p. 3
The Traffic in Women: From Homer to Hipponax, from War to Commerce	p. 14
Porneion: Prostitution in Athenian Civic Space	p. 34
Bringing the Outside In: The Andron as Brothel and the Symposium's Civic Sexuality	p. 60
Woman + Wine = Prostitute in Classical Athens?	p. 86
Embodying Sympotic Pleasure: A Visual Pun on the Body of an Auletris	p. 106
Sex for Sale? Interpreting Erotica in the Havana Collection	p. 122
The Brothels at Delos: The Evidence for Prostitution in the Maritime World	p. 147
Ballio's Brothel, Phoenicium's Letter, and the Literary Education of Greco-Roman Prostitutes: The Evidence of Plautus's Pseudolus	p. 172
Prostitutes, Pimps, and Political Conspiracies during the Late Roman Republic	p. 197
The Terminology of Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World	p. 222
Conclusion: Greek Brothels and More	p. 256
References	p. 269
Contributors	p. 293
Index	p. 295
Index Locorum	p. 311
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