Prostitutes Solon
Prostitution in ancient Athens was a complex institution. The legendary lawmaker Solon is credited with creating state-run brothels featuring regulated prices around the 6th century BCE. This system involved both sexes differently, with distinct social strata emerging. The “Dark Truth” reveals that prostitution largely involved non-citizens, primarily slaves, metics (foreign residents), or freed persons. It wasn’t universally true that all slaves became prostitutes, nor that all free women entering prostitution were forced, but economic hardship and limited options played significant roles. Scholars like Ruschenbusch (1966) and Davidson (1997) have explored these nuances.
Legal Framework and Taxation
Solon’s laws regulated brothels and established a prostitution tax (pornikon). This tax was collected from prostitutes themselves or their managers (pornoboskoi). Prostitution was legal in Athens as long as it wasn’t practiced by an Athenian citizen, meaning prostitutes were typically slaves, foreigners, or freed individuals. While sex work was seen as a necessary social function, it carried significant stigma, especially for citizens.
Social Hierarchy and Classes
Athenian prostitution featured a hierarchy. The lowest class, the dicteriades, worked in state-licensed brothels (dicteria). Above them were auletrides (flute girls/entertainers), and at the top were the hetairai (courtesans), who offered companionship alongside sex and enjoyed more social freedom. Male prostitution existed but carried different legal and social consequences for citizens involved.
Regulatory Intent and Legacy
Solon reportedly instituted penalties for citizens engaging in male prostitution. The laws aimed to protect citizen families and property.
Solon’s regulations, including the brothels, were partly intended to control male sexual behavior and safeguard citizen wives and daughters.
Unfaithful citizen wives faced severe penalties. While capital punishment was rare for prostitutes, their lives were often harsh and controlled. After Solon’s death, some legal adjustments were made, like allowing dicteriades to solicit on the streets. The institution was controversial even then. Philosophers debated it, and sources often conflated prostitutes with other marginalized groups.
*TAGS* – dicteriades brothels, pornikon tax, hetairai courtesans, Solon’s prostitution laws, ancient sexual hierarchy
