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

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.

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.