| Description |
1 online resource (xix, 243 pages) |
| Contents |
Introduction -- Aphrodite's workers in democratic Athens -- Prostitution as a liberal profession -- (commercial) sex and the city : restrictions on prostitutes as political leaders -- "Prostitution pursuant to contract" -- Beyond legalization : laws affecting prostitutes -- Mothers and daughters in a family business -- The costs, and rewards, of sexual services |
| Summary |
This is a study that examines the sale of sex in classical Athens from a commercial (rather than from a cultural or moral) perspective. As a mercantile activity, however, prostitution was not untouched by elite Athenian antagonism toward business; as the "business of sex," prostitution further evoked negativity from segments of Greek opinion uncomfortable with any form of carnality. Yet ancient sources also adumbrate another view, in which the sale of sex, lawful and indeed pervasive at Athens, is presented alluringly. The book explores the high compensation earned by female sexual entrepreneurs who often controlled prostitutional businesses that were perpetuated from generation to generation on a matrilineal basis, and that benefited from legislative restrictions on pimping. The author juxtaposes the widespread practice of "prostitution pursuant to written contract" with legislation targeting male prostitutes functioning as governmental leaders, and explores the seemingly contradictory phenomena of extensive sexual exploitation of slave prostitutes (male and female) coexisting with Athenian society's pride in its legislative protection of slaves and minors against sexual outrage |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from home page (viewed on November 3, 2015) |
| Subject |
Sex -- Greece -- Athens -- History
|
|
Prostitution -- Greece -- Athens
|
|
Manners and customs
|
|
Prostitution
|
|
Sex
|
| SUBJECT |
Athens (Greece) -- Social life and customs
|
| Subject |
Greece -- Athens
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780190275945 |
|
0190275944 |
|
9780190275938 |
|
0190275936 |
|
