The University of Wisconsin Press

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Classics / Women's Studies / Ancient History

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Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World Edited by Christopher A. Faraone and Laura K. McClure Wisconsin Studies in Classics William Aylward, Nicholas D. Cahill, and Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, Series Editors “Demonstrates, quite splendidly, how the study of prostitution in the ancient world provides crucial insight into the nature of ancient life, its mores, social practices, and political ideologies and discourses.” —Ellen Greene, author of The Erotics of Domination Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World explores the implications of sex-for-pay across a broad span of time, from ancient Mesopotamia to the early Christian period. In ancient times, although they were socially marginal, prostitutes connected with almost every aspect of daily life. They sat in brothels and walked the streets; they paid taxes and set up dedications in religious sanctuaries; they appeared as characters—sometimes admirable, sometimes despicable—on the comic stage and in the law courts; they lived lavishly, consorting with famous poets and politicians; and they participated in otherwise all-male banquets and drinking parties, where they aroused jealousy among their anxious lovers. The chapters in this volume examine a wide variety of genres and sources, from legal and religious tracts to the genres of lyric poetry, love elegy, and comic drama to the graffiti scrawled on the walls of ancient Pompeii. These essays reflect the variety and vitality of the debates engendered by the last three decades of research by confronting the ambiguous terms for prostitution in ancient languages, the difficulty of distinguishing the prostitute from the woman who is merely promiscuous or adulterous, the question of whether sacred or temple prostitution actually existed in the ancient Near East and Greece, and the political and social implications of literary representations of prostitutes and courtesans. Christopher A. Faraone is professor of classics at the University of Chicago, author of Ancient Greek Love Magic, and coeditor of Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. Laura K. McClure is professor of classics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, author of Courtesans at Table: Gender and Greek Literary Culture in Athenaeus, and editor of Sexuality and Gender in the Ancient World. Praise: “This volume engages provocatively with previous studies on the topic of prostitution in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. The readable style and lively English translations will make this book accessible not only to students and specialists but also to the broader reading public.” —Judith P. Hallett, coeditor of Roman Sexualities Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

January 2006 LC: 2005005455 HQ 496 pp.  6 x 9   1 b/w photo Paper $24.95 a ISBN 978-0-299-21314-5 ADD TO CART   The cloth edition, ISBN 978-0-299-21310-7, is out of print.

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