Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE–200 CE
Author(s): Allison Glazebrook (Editor), Madeleine M. Henry
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Publication Date: January 6, 2011
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 324 pages
ISBN-10: 0299235645
ISBN-13: 9780299235642
Book Description
Greek Prostitutes in the Ancient Mediterranean, 800 BCE&;200 CE challenges 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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“By questioning the class-based polarity between courtesan (hetaira) and whore (porne), the authors substantially correct academic readings of the Greek prostitute as cultural construct, embedding them in gritty reality.”—Marilyn Skinner, University of Arizona
“Common prostitutes, such as those found in brothels, around harbors, and on the streets of ancient cities, have long been ignored in favor of their more glamorous counterpart, the hetaira. This volume for the first time puts the focus on the degradation, marginality, and exploitation inherent in the ancient sex trade through an exploration of the literary and artistic representation of prostitutes and the civic and domestic spaces they inhabited.”—Laura K. McClure, coeditor of Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World
From the Publisher
Wisconsin Studies in Classics William Aylward, Nicholas D. Cahill, and Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, General Editors
Contributors: Clare Kelly Blazeby Helene A. Coccagna Sean Corner Allison Glazebrook Judith P. Hallett Madeleine M. Henry Konstantinos K. Kapparis T. Davina McClain Thomas A. J. McGinn Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz Nicholas K. Rauh
About the Author
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.
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