Prostitutes in Ancient Athens
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Ancient Athens was a highly polarized society in which citizenship meant everything. Citizenship permitted individuals to not only participate in the democratic
government but also gave them access to all the rights and splendors of the city. A
citizen controlled influence over slaves, foreigners and most importantly women.
Athenian women were relegated to the status of child bearers and keepers of the household. There was no room for personal expression or freedom and the strict
moral code in many cases restricted these women from even leaving their homes. There was a select group of women however who overcame these obstacles to achieve greater sexual, economical, and social freedom. They were the prostitutes.
The freedom which prostitutes enjoyed would be better understood only after first assessing the status of "respectable" women in Athens. Girls were raised from an early age to learn domestic affairs and were to be wed even as early as the age of fourteen (Just 1989: 40).
