Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

tIETAERAE. HETAERAE. 605
whatever. Marriage, indeed, produced on the a tax (lropvaKbp EXAos, Aesch. c. TilnarecT. p. 131,
whole a change in this mode of living of young &c.), and the collecting of this tax was every year
men, but in innumerable instances even married let by the senate to such persons (TeXIrai, or
men continued their intercouse with hetaerae, 7ropworeXpCOat, Philonides, a]). Pollzte. vii. 202)
without drawing upon themselves the censure of as were best acquainted with those who had to pay
public opinion; it seems, on the contrary, evident it. The hetaerae were under the superintendence
from the manner in which Demosthenes (c. ATeaer. of the &yopavyetoL (Suidas, s. v. ALd-ypetea), and
p. 1351, &c.) relates the history of Lysias the their places of abode were chiefly in the Cerameisophist, that such connections after marriage were cus. (Hesych. s. v. KepalcsIEds.)
not looked upon as anything extraordinary or in- The number of private hetaerae, or such as did
consistent, provided a man did not offend against not live in a 7ropve7?o, was very great at Athens.
public decency, or altogether neglect his legiti- They were, however, generally not mere prostimate wife and the affairs of his household, as tutes, but acted at the same time as flute or cithara
was the case with Alcibiades. (Andoc. c. Alcib. p. players, and as dancers, and were as such fre177.) This irregular condition of private life quently engaged to add to the splendour of
among the Greeks seems to have arisen chiefly fiamily sacrifices (Plaut. Epid. iii. 4. 64), or to enfroml two causes; first from the great love of sen- liven and heighten the pleasures of men at their
sual pleasures, which the Greeks appear to have symposia. Their private abodes, where often two,
possessed in as high a degree as most other three, and more livedtogether, were also frequently
southern nations; and, secondly, from the gene- places of resort for young men. (Isocrat. Areopacy.
rally prevailing indifference between husbands and p. 202, Bekker.) Most of these hetaerae not only
wives. As regards the latter point, matrimo- took the greatest care to preserve their physical
nial life in the historical times of Greece was very beauty, and to acquire such accomplishments as we
different from that which we find described in the just mentioned, but also paid considerable attention
heroic age. HIow this change was brought about to the cultivation of their minds. Thus the Areais not clear; but it can scarcely be doubted dian Lastheneia was a disciple of Plato (Athen.
that, generally speaking, the Greeks looked upon xii. p. 546), and Leontion a disciple of Epicurus
marriage merely as a means of producing citizens (Athen. xiii. p. 588); Aspasia is even said to have
forthe state. (Dem. c. Neaer. p.1386; Becker, Cza- instructed Socrates and Pericles. Whatever we
ridles, vol. ii. p. 215, &c.) The education of women may think of the historical truth of these and simiwas almost entirely neglected; they were thought lar reports, they are of importance to the historian,
a kind of inferior beings, less endowed by nature, inasmuch as they show in what light these hetaeand incapable of taliing any part in public affairs rae were looked upon by the ancients. It seems
ancd of sympathising with their husbands. In an to have been owing, especially to their superiority
intellectual point of view, therefore, they were not in intellectual cultivation over the female citizens,
fit to be agreeable compainions to their husbands, that men preferred their society and conversation
who consequently sought elsewhere that which to those of citizens and wives, and that some
they did not find at home. It is true the history hetaerae, such as Aspasia, Lais, Phryne, and
of Greece furnishes many pleasing examples of do- others, formed connections with the most eminent
imestic happiness, and well-educated women, but men of their age, and acquired considerable iinfluthese are exceptions, and only confirm the general ence over their contemporaries. The free. and unrule. A consequence of all this was, that women restrained conduct and conversation, which were
were bound down by lules which men might vio- not subject to the strict conventional rules which
late with impunity; and a wife appears to have had honest women had to observe; their wit and
no right to proceed against her husband, even if humour, of which so many instances are recorded;
she could proVe that lie was unfaithful (Plaut. Meoe- were well calculated to ensnare young men, and to
cat. iv. 6. 3), although she herself was subject to draw the attention of husbands away fronm their
severe punishment if she was detected. The wives. Women, however, of the intellect and
isolated testimony of a late writer like Alciphron character of Aspasia were exceptions: and even
(Epist. i. 6), who represents a wife threatening Athenian citizens did not scruple to introduce
her husband, that unless he would give up his dis- their wives and daughters to her circles, that they
solute mode of living, she would induce her father might learn there the secrets by which they might
to bring a charge against him, can, as Becker gain and preserve the affections of their husbands.
(Clarsikles, vol. i. p 1 i2) observes, prove nothing, The disorderly life of thenmajority of Greek hetaerae
inasmuch as a neglect of family affairs might, in is nowhere set forth in better colours than in the
this case, have been the ground for accusation. works of the writers who belong to the so-called
But to return to the hetaerae; the state not school of the middle comedy, and in the plays of
only tolerated, but protected them, and obtained Plautus and Terence; with which may be compared
profit from them. Solon is said to have established Demosth. c. Neaer. p. 1355, &c., and Athen. book
a 7ropes7ov (also called,rarr-aoKE7o,, ip-yae-Trpmov xiii. It was formerly supposed that at Athens
or oskrvua), in which prostitutes were kept (Athen. a peculiar dress was by law prescribed to the
xiii. p. 569), and to have built the temple of Aphro- hetaerae, but this opinion is without any foundadite Pandemos with the profit which had been tion. (Becker, Cisarikles, vol. i. p. 126, &c.)
obtained from them. At a later period the num- The town most notorious in Greece for the nunuber of such houses at Athens was increased, and her of its hetaerae, as well ias for their refinled manthe persons who kept them were called rsoppooo- ners and beauty, was Corinth. (Plato, De Rep.
KoL, lenones. The conduct of the hetaerae in these iii. p. 404; Dio Chrysost. Orat. xxxvii. p. 119,
houses is described in Athenaeus (xiii. p. 568). Reiske; Aristoph. Plott. 149, with the Schol.;
All the hetaerae of such houses, as well as indivi- and Schol. ad Lysistr. 90; Athen. xiii. p. 573, &c
duals who lived by themselves and gained their MUller, Dot-. ii. 10. ~ 7.) Strabo (viii. p. 378)
livelihood by prostitution, had to pay to the state states that the temple of Aphrodite in tlis to'm-n