Improper Women

• Greek Improper Women

  • prostituion was legal in athens; taxed by the state
  • no adultery laws regarding prostitues
  • prostitues allowed to run a business and buy and sell land
• • Herodutus tells us that Rhodonis a wealthy prostitute was able to pay for a monument of herself at delphi
  • most greek men wouldn't have been able to do this
• Pornai

  • a pornē was a lower class prostitute who worked in a brothel in poor conditions
  • commonly exposed themselves to entice clients “they weave traps for everyone” and “care about making and robbing those nearby“ (comedy)
• vast majority of pornē would’ve been slaves; they would’ve earned money for their master

  had little freedom and exposed to harsh treatment
• A hetairai was a high class prostitute, who was either a free woman or a metic

  hetairais charged high prices and had their own clients
• • hetairais were educated; could discuss political and philosophical matters in order to entertain men at symposiums
  • they offered a range of talents: singing dancing and recite poetry
• Nearia

  • sold to brothel keeper nicarate as a slave and trained to be a hetaira
  • whilst in hiding, she met stephanus who promised to take care of her
  • he would make men pay large fines for commiting adultery with neaira
• Nearias court case

  • charged for false identity as an athenian citizen
  • she had little benefits in court as she was 50 and a villaness in the story
  • no evidence that she had been mistreated despite being property to others throughout her life
• Nearia was an example of the poor treatment prostitues received in greek society

  • Demosthenes= “treated with wanton brutality”
• Aspasia

  • was a hetaria and courtesan of pericles, who loved her dearly but was unable to marry her due to his own law
  • had great deal of political influence as she wrote his own speeches for him
• Plutarch Pericles= “ socrates came with his acquaintances“ to listen to her “even thought she ran a business that was neither decent nor respectful”

  • refers to people coming listen to aspasia as she was highly respected regardless of her profession
• Roman Improper Women

  • also legal in Rome; taxed by the state
  • either slaves or freeborn women were prostitutes
  • considered infami (shamefu)
• A femal prositutite was called a meretrix

  slaves worked in lunapars (brothels) that had poor conditions; under control of lena (pimp)

  some prostitutes were well educated with long term contracts
• • Virgil gives evidence to prostitues working as barmaids
  • a “syrian hostess” worked at a bar
  • show’s the payment wasn’t sufficient enough
• Meretrixes couldn’t attend dinner parties as wife’s would’ve been present

  they wore togas to symbolise public property

  involved in religious festivals like Fortuna Villis
• • infamia was a legal status where people labelled as this would loose rights
  • illegal for high class family members to register as prostitutes in order to uphold reputation
• Volumnia Cytheris

  • born a slave + was an actress
  • famous for her beauty as she was nicknamed aphrodite
  • had professional relations with mark anyony and cornelius gallus
  • wealthy but bound to a contract
• Cicero Philippic= “honourable men” addressing her as “Volumnia” “under compulsion”

  • tone suggests that she is regarded as infamis still despite her fame by cicero
• Cornelius gallus wrote 4 love books of poetry about her referring to her by her psuedonym lycoris; common for love poems to hide identity
• Cytheris would have been under the authority of her owner; limited freedom and respectability

  However cytheris was wealthy in her own right and was highly esteemed throughout time
• Clodia

  • psuedonym was lesbia ; hid her identity as she was a noblewoman
  • rejected traditional roman ideals; had affairs and partied
• Catullusts poems provide details of his relationship with Clodia

  • refers to himself as a “weak man”; switched roles of women in relationship
  • ”mad catullus” demonstrates her influence on her partners
• Cicero’s Pro Caelio was a speech defending Caelius as he was put on trail against Clodia

  Clodia accused Caelius of poisoning her and Ciceros defence was to discredit her arguement by revealing her scandalous character
• Pro Caelio= “your modesty will attest to Marcus Caelius”

  • cicero exposes her improper behaviour; this makes her arguement less reliable in the eyes of the court