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Hetaira

(Redirected fromHetaera)
"Hetaerism" redirects here. For the concept in anthropology, seeJohann Jakob Bachofen.
Not to be confused withHetaireia.

Ahetaira(/hɪˈtaɪrə/;Ancient Greek:ἑταίρα,lit. 'companion';pl..ἑταῖραιhetairai,/hɪˈtaɪraɪ/),Latinizedashetaera(/hɪˈtɪrə/pl.hetaerae/hɪˈtɪriː/), was a type ofcourtesanorprostitute in ancient Greece,who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist in addition to providing sexual service. Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from thesymposium,but this prohibition did not extend tohetairai,who were often foreign born and could be highly educated. Other female entertainers made appearances in the otherwise male domain, buthetairaijoined the male guests in their sexual joking, sometimes evidencing a wide knowledge of literature in their contributions.

Greekhetairaand her client, approx. 430 BC. The fact that she is on the couch with him is telling, as wives were not allowed into thesymposium.

Summary

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Two banqueters and apsalterion-playinghetaerasitting together on aklinē.Terracottafrom Myrina, Mysia,c. 25BC. The harp is anangular harp.

Traditionally, historians of ancient Greece have distinguished betweenhetairaiandpornai,another class of prostitute. In contrast to pornai, who provided sex for numerous clients in brothels or on the street,hetairaiwere 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.[1]For instance,Charles Seltmanwrote in 1953 that "hetaeras were certainly in a very different class, often highly educated women".[2]

More recently historians have questioned the extent to which there was really a distinction betweenhetairaiand pornai. The second edition of theOxford Classical Dictionary,for instance, held thathetairawas a euphemism for any kind of prostitute.[3]This position is supported by Konstantinos Kapparis, who holds thatApollodorus' famous tripartite division of the types of women in the speechAgainst 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."[4]) classes all prostitutes together, under the termhetairai.[5][6]

A third position, advanced by Rebecca Futo Kennedy, suggests thathetairai"were not prostitutes or even courtesans".[7]Instead, she argues,hetairaiwere "elite women... who participated insympoticand luxury culture ",[8]just ashetairoi—the masculine form of the word—was used to refer to groups of elite men at symposia.[7]

Painting, on the inside of akylix,of ahetairaor prostitute playingkottabos,adrinking gameplayed at symposia in which the participants flicked the dregs of their wine at a target.[9]

Even when the termhetairawas used to refer to a specific class of prostitute, though, scholars disagree on what precisely the line of demarcation was. Kurke emphasises thathetairaiveiled the fact that they were selling sex through the language of gift-exchange, while pornai explicitly commodified sex.[10]Leslie Kurke claims that bothhetairaiand pornai could be slaves or free, and might or might not work for apimp.[10]Kapparis says thathetairaiwere high-class prostitutes, and citesDoveras pointing to the long-term nature of hetairai's relationships with individual men.[11]Miner disagrees with Kurke, claiming thathetairaiwere always free, not slaves.[12]

Along with sexual services, women described ashetairairather thanpornaiseem to have often been educated, and have provided companionship.[13]According to Kurke, the concept of hetairism was a product of thesymposium,wherehetairaiwere permitted as sexually available companions of the male party-goers.[14]InAthenaeus'Deipnosophistai,hetairaiare described as providing "flattering and skillful conversation": something which is, elsewhere in classical literature, seen as a significant part of the hetaira's role.[15]Particularly, "witty" and "refined" were seen as attributes which distinguishedhetairaifrom common pornai.[16]Hetairai are likely to have been musically educated, too.[17]

Freehetairaicould 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 inbrothels,or working as pimps, in order to ensure a continued income as they got older.[18]

Iconography

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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.[19]

  • A prostitute putting on herhimationin front of her client. The lyre shows that she is a musician called for a banquet.Tondoof an Attic cup with red figures. Euphronius v.490 BC, British Museum.
  • Drunken banqueter with a drinking dish, flirting with a musician holding a lyre or barbiton
  • Symposium, men on couches, the only woman present is ahetaira.
  • 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,c. 480 BC.The Louvre Museum.
  • Man andhetairain symposium
  • 19th century interpretation of thehetaira:Jean-Léon Gérôme's paintingPhryne Before the Areopagusdepicts thehetairaPhryneon trial. The sight of her nude body, according to legend, persuaded the jurors to acquit her.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Kurke, Leslie (1997). "Inventing the" Hetaira ": Sex, Politics, and Discursive Conflict in Archaic Greece".Classical Antiquity.16(1):107–108.doi:10.2307/25011056.JSTOR25011056.
  2. ^Seltman, Charles (1953).Women in Greek Society.London. p. 115ff.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link),quoted inDavidson 1998,p. 75
  3. ^Hammond, N.G.L.; Scullard, H.H., eds. (1970).The Oxford Classical Dictionary(2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 512.
  4. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].p. 161.
  5. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].p. 5.
  6. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].pp.422–423.
  7. ^abFuto Kennedy, Rebecca (2014).Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City.New York: Routledge. p. 69.ISBN9781138201033.
  8. ^Futo Kennedy, Rebecca (2014).Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City.New York: Routledge. p. 74.ISBN9781138201033.
  9. ^"Attic Red-Figure Kylix".Getty Museum.Retrieved17 November2024.
  10. ^abKurke, Leslie (1997). "Inventing the" Hetaira ": Sex, Politics, and Discursive Conflict in Archaic Greece".Classical Antiquity.16(1): 108.doi:10.2307/25011056.JSTOR25011056.
  11. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].p. 408.
  12. ^Miner, Jess (2003)."Courtesan, Concubine, Whore: Apollodorus' Deliberate Use of Terms for Prostitutes"(PDF).The American Journal of Philology.124(1): 23.doi:10.1353/ajp.2003.0023.hdl:2152/31252.PMID21966719.S2CID28158600.
  13. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].p. 6.
  14. ^Kurke, Leslie (1997). "Inventing the" Hetaira ": Sex, Politics, and Discursive Conflict in Archaic Greece".Classical Antiquity.16(1): 115.doi:10.2307/25011056.JSTOR25011056.
  15. ^McClure, Laura (2003). "Subversive Laughter: The Sayings of Courtesans in Book 13 of Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae".The American Journal of Philology.124(2): 265.
  16. ^McClure, Laura (2003). "Subversive Laughter: The Sayings of Courtesans in Book 13 of Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae".The American Journal of Philology.124(2): 268.
  17. ^Hamel, Debra (2003).Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece.New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 12.
  18. ^Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999).Apollodoros 'Against Neaira' [D.59].p. 7.
  19. ^McClure, Laura (2024),Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, and Myth,Oxford University Press, pp.41–46,ISBN9780197580882

Further reading

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