Hetaira

File:Banqueters Met 1979.11.8.jpg

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

A (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx, Template:Lit; Template:Plural form. , Template:IPAc-en), Latinized as (Template:IPAc-en Template:Plural form Template:IPAc-en), was a type of highly educated female companion in ancient Greece who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist. Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute.

Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from the symposium, but this prohibition did not extend to , who were often foreign-born and could be well-versed in arts, philosophy, and culture. Other female entertainers might appear in the otherwise male domain, but actively participated in conversations, including intellectual and literary discourse.

Summary

File:Banqueters hetaera Louvre Myr272.jpg

Two banqueters and a psalterion-playing sitting together on a klinē. Terracotta from Myrina, Mysia, c. Template:Trim BC. The harp is an angular harp.

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

More recently, historians have questioned the extent to which there was really a distinction between and . The second edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, for instance, held that was a euphemism for any kind of prostitute. This position is supported by Konstantinos Kapparis, who holds that Apollodorus' famous tripartite division of the types of women in the speech Against 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.") classes all prostitutes together, under the term .

A third position, advanced by Rebecca Futo Kennedy, suggests that "were not prostitutes or even courtesans". Instead, she argues, were "elite women ... who participated in sympotic and luxury culture", just as —the masculine form of the word—was used to refer to groups of elite men at symposia.

File:Hetaira playing kottabos - Greek Getty Villa Collection.jpg

Painting, on the inside of a kylix, of a or prostitute playing kottabos, a drinking game played at symposia in which the participants flicked the dregs of their wine at a target.

Even when the term was used to refer to a specific class of prostitute, though, scholars disagree on what precisely the line of demarcation was. Kurke emphasises that veiled the fact that they were selling sex through the language of gift-exchange, while explicitly commodified sex. Leslie Kurke claims that both and could be slaves or free, and might or might not work for a pimp. Kapparis says that were high-class prostitutes, and cites Dover as pointing to the long-term nature of 's relationships with individual men. Miner disagrees with Kurke, claiming that were always free, not slaves.

Along with sexual services, women described as rather than seem to have often been educated, and have provided companionship. According to Kurke, the concept of hetairism was a product of the symposium, where were permitted as sexually available companions of the male party-goers. In Athenaeus' Deipnosophistai, are described as providing "flattering and skillful conversation": something which is, elsewhere in classical literature, seen as a significant part of the hetaira's role. Particularly, "witty" and "refined" were seen as attributes which distinguished from common . are likely to have been musically educated, too.

Free could 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 in brothels, or working as pimps, in order to ensure a continued income as they got older.

Iconography

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.

• A prostitute putting on her himation in front of her client. The lyre shows that she is a musician called for a banquet. Tondo of an Attic cup with red figures. Euphronius v.Script error: No such module "String".490 BC, British Museum.
  A prostitute putting on her himation in front of her client. The lyre shows that she is a musician called for a banquet. Tondo of 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
  Drunken banqueter with a drinking dish, flirting with a musician holding a lyre or barbiton
• Symposium, men on couches, the only woman present is a Script error: No such module "lang"..
  Symposium, men on couches, the only woman present is a .
• 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. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. The Louvre Museum.
  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. Template:Trim. The Louvre Museum.
• Man and Script error: No such module "lang". in symposium
  Man and in symposium
• 19th century interpretation of the Script error: No such module "lang".: Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting Phryne Before the Areopagus depicts the Script error: No such module "lang". Phryne on trial. The sight of her nude body, according to legend, persuaded the jurors to acquit her.
  19th century interpretation of the : Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting Phryne Before the Areopagus depicts the Phryne on trial. The sight of her nude body, according to legend, persuaded the jurors to acquit her.

See also

• List of prostitutes and courtesans of antiquity
• Oiran: class of courtesans in Edo period and Imperial Japan
• Qayna: class of courtesans in pre-modern Islamic world
• Prostitution in ancient Rome
• Hetair-, a Greek linguistic root

Further reading

• An essay on women’s lives in classical Athens
• The hetaerae of Athens - from Book 13 of Athenaeus