List of prostitutes and courtesans of antiquity

The following is a list of prostitutes and courtesans of antiquity mentioned by ancient sources.

Greece and Rome +NameDatesBiographyAbrotonum (Ἀβρότονον), of Thraceearly 5th century BCPlutarch calls her the mother of Themistocles and quotes her epitaph in full.Plut. 753 D and Them. 1; Athen. 13.576. A very similar epitaph is in the Anthologia Graeca.Anth. Gr. 7.306. Plutarch also refers to an Abrotonum in his Dialogue on Love.Plut. Amat. 9. "But you will say, since it may be a man's misfortune to be so hampered, would it not be better to marry some Thracian Abrotonon or some Milesian Bacchis, whom he can get in the market for money and a handful of nuts?" Her name means 'soft tune'.Kapparis 2017, p. 408.Abrotonum (Ἀβρότονον)FictionalCharacter in Menander's Epitrepontes. In Lucian's Dialogues of the Courtesans an hetaera of the same name is also mentioned.Lucian, DMeretr. 1. "Glycera to Thais: Thais, do you remember that soldier, the Acarnanian, who had in the past kept Abrotonum and after that he became my lover, the one who was dressing up, that one with the chlamys, or have you forgotten him?" Also called Habrotonon.Kapparis 2017, pp. 101–4, 408. Acca Larentia8th century BC; mythicalFoster mother of Romulus and Remus.Plut. Rom. 4.4; Zonaras Epit. Hist. 2.88; Eust. Com. Od. 2.275,323. Dionysius of Halicarnassus says she was formerly a prostitute (lupa, 'she-wolf').Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.84.4.Kapparis 2017, p. 386.AcroteleutiumFictionalCharacter in Plautus's Miles Gloriosus. Acroteleutium ('sloppy seconds')Kapparis 2017, p. 387. is a courtesan (meretrix) in Ephesus and owns a maid named Milphidippa.AdelphasiumFictionalCharacter in Plautus's Poenulus. Adelphasium ('little sister') and Anterastilis ('rival lover'),Kapparis 2017, p. 388. taken from Carthage as children and enslaved in Rome, are bought and pimped by Lycus ('wolf'). Hanno the Carthaginian eventually arrives and recognises his long-lost daughters.AnterastylisFictionalCharacter in Plautus's Poenulus. See Adelphasium.Archeanassa (Ἀρχεάνασσα, Ἀρχαιάνασσα), of Colophonearly 4th century BCNative of Colophon, living in Athens as an hetaera during the lifetime of Plato. According to one, probably later account,Kapparis 2017, p. 390. the philosopher as a young man was enamoured of Archeanassa and addressed a four-line epigram to her. This epigram is quoted in full by Diogenes Laërtius in his biography of Plato and by Athenaeus in a survey of famous courtesans.Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Philosophers 3.31; Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 13.589c. A slightly different version is attributed to Asclepiades in the Anthologia Graeca.Anthologia Graeca 7.217. "I hold Archeanassa the courtesan from Colophon even on whose wrinkles sweet Love sat. Ah, ye lovers, who plucked the fresh flowers of her youth in its first piercing brilliance, through what a fiery furnace did you pass!"Archidice (Ἀρχιδίκη)6th century BCHetaera of Naucratis mentioned by Herodotus alongside the earlier and more famous Rhodopis.Hdt. 2.135. "The courtesans of Naucratis seem to be peculiarly alluring, for the woman of whom this story is told became so famous that every Greek knew the name of Rhodopis, and later on a certain Archidice was the theme of song throughout Greece, although less celebrated than the other."Aristagora (Ἀρισταγόρα), of Corinth4th century BCHetaera, and mistress of the orator Hyperides, who apparently kept her in a house on the Piraeus. He later delivered the two orations Against Aristagora, charging her with breaking immigration law by failing to obtain a citizen sponsor, as was required of foreign-born residents (metics) by law in Attica.Hyp. fr. 13–26 Jensen; Hermippus fr. 68a1 Wehrli = Athen. 13.58; Athen. 13.586–590; Plut. Mor. 849.Kapparis 2017, pp. 112, 121–2, 177, 255–8, 262, 391.Aristagora (Ἀρισταγόρα), of Corinth3rd/2nd century BCMistress of Demetrius (grandson of the more famous Demetrius of Phalerum). The events of her life are recorded by Hegesander (quoted by Athenaeus) as evidence of the voluptuous lifestyle of Demetrius. At the Panathenaea Demetrius reared for Aristagora a platform or scaffold (ἰκρίον) which was taller than the Hermae; and at Eleusis, at the time of the Mysteries, he placed a throne for her beside the temple, after threatening that any who should try to prevent him would regret it.Hegesander (Fragm. Hist. Graec. IV. fr. 8) = Athen. 4.64 (167d, e).Kapparis 2017, p. 391.Aspasia (Ἀσπασία), of Miletusmid 5th century BCBorn at Miletus, but settled in Athens as a metic. According to the conventional understanding of her life in Athens, she worked as a courtesan and then ran a brothel.Kennedy 2014, p. 75. Some scholars have challenged this view.Bicknell 1982, p. 245.Henry 1995, pp. 138–9, n. 9. Glenn contends that she ran an academy for women that became a salon for the great men of the day, including Socrates, Plato, and Pericles,Glenn 1994, p. 184. and Kennedy suggests that the accusations in comedy that she was a brothel-keeper derived from this.Kennedy 2014, p. 77. However, many scholars continue to believe the ancient sources.Kennedy 2014, pp. 75, 87, n. 1. Kapparis argues that the comic attacks made on Aspasia would not have been accepted by the audience had she been a respectable woman, and that it is therefore likely that she did have a history in prostitution before she became the concubine of Pericles.Kapparis 2017, p. 104. Whether or not Aspasia worked as a courtesan, her later life, in which she apparently achieved some degree of power, reputation, and independence, has similarities to the lives of hetaerae such as Phryne.Kapparis 2017, p. 393.Bacchis (Βακχίς), the Flute-Player4th century BCTheopompus says that Bacchis the flautist had been the slave of Sinope the Thracian who brought her establishment of hetaerae from Aegina to Athens, and that she later owned Pythionice, who became the mistress of Harpalus.FGrH 115 F 253; Athen. 13.67. The historian Menetor (quoted by Athenaeus) praises her beauty and freedom from jealousy; see Plangon of Miletus.Athen. 13.66. Bacchis may be the subject of a lost play by Epigenes.Athen. 11.99. Athenaeus mentions by three different titles a drama of Sopater the parodist: Bacchis (Βακχίς),Athen. 4.48, 78. Suitors of Bacchis (Βακχίδος Μνηστῆρσιν),Athen. 4.50, 14.51. and Wedding of Bacchis (Βακχίδος Γάμῳ).Athen. 14.74. Bacchis was a popular name for courtesans. A girl, so named, is one of Alciphron's epistolary correspondents, supposed to be writing about the result of the Phryne trial.Hayward 1926, p. 46.Kapparis 2017, pp. 394–5.Bacchis (Βακχίς), of SamosFictionalCharacter in Plautus's Bacchides.Kapparis 2017, p. 394. Two elderly lovers are delighted with the attentions of the Bacchis sisters, but one of these has previously informed the spectators that what she has to do will be like "kissing a corpse".Hayward 1926, p. xi.Bacchis (Βακχίς), of AthensFictionalCharacter in Plautus's Bacchides.Bilistiche (Βιλιστίχη), of Argos3rd century BCHellenistic courtesan of uncertain origin. According to Pausanias, she was a Macedonian;Paus. 5.8.11. "Afterwards they added races for chariots and pairs of foals, and for single foals with rider. It is said that the victors proclaimed were: for the chariot and pair, Belistiche, a woman from the seaboard of Macedonia; for the ridden race, Tlepolemus of Lycia. Tlepolemus, they say, won at the hundred and thirty-first Festival, and Belistiche at the third before this." according to Athenaeus, an Argive (said to descend from the line of Atreus);Athen. 13.37 (13.596e). according to Plutarch, a foreign slave bought from the marketplace.Plut. Mor. 753e. She was one of Ptolemy Philadelphus's "great many mistresses",Ptolemy Euergetes FGrH 234 F 4 = Athen. 13.37.Kapparis 2017, pp. 69, 332, 396. and was posthumously venerated in Egypt as Aphrodite-Bilistiche.Pomeroy 1990, pp. 53–5.Demo (Δημώ)3rd century BCFamous hetaera, named for one of the mythological daughters of Celeus.Hom. Hymn Dem. 109 ff. Her name means 'of the people'.Kapparis 2017, p. 400. Athenaeus (quoting Ptolemy, son of Agesarchus) says Demo was the mistress of Antigonus Monophthalmus, and Mania was the mistress of his son and heir, Demetrius Poliorcetes.Athen. 13.40. Plutarch conflates the two women when describing the cowardly "hospitality" of the Athenians to Demetrius, who once housed his many mistresses on the Acropolis at great expense and shame to the Athenians.Plut. Dem. 27.1.Kapparis 2017, pp. 117–9, 400. See Lamia, of Athens. Demo (Δημώ)FictionalSeveral characters in the Anthologia Graeca.Anth. Gr. 5.115, 160, 172, 173, 197, 244; 6.174; 7.711; 12.173.Kapparis 2017, pp. 91, 400.DorichaSee Rhodopis.FloraMythicalThe early Christian writers, whose object it was to bring the Roman religion into contempt, relate that Flora had been, like Acca Laurentia, a courtesan, who accumulated a large property, and bequeathed it to the Roman people, in return for which she was honoured with the annual festival of the Floralia.Lactant. i. 20. But her worship was established at Rome in the very earliest times, for a temple is said to have been vowed to her by king Tatius,Varro, de. L. L. v. 74. and Numa appointed a flamen to her. The resemblance between the names Flora and Chloris led the later Romans to identify the two divinities. Her temple at Rome was situated near the Circus Maximus,Tac. Ann. ii. 49. and her festival was celebrated from 28 April till 1 May, with extravagant merriment and lasciviousness.Glaphyra (Γλαφύρα)1st century BCHetaera. Her marriage to Archelaus II of Cappadocia gave her political power. Her later affair with Mark Antony allegedly occasioned a vulgar poem by Octavian.Glycera (Γλυκέρα), of Sicyonearly 4th century BCPausias of Sicyon painted a celebrated picture of Glycera, a flower girl of his native city, whom he loved when a young man. The combined force of his affection for his mistress and for his art led him to strive to imitate the flowers, of which she made the garlands that she sold. The effort turned him into a very able flower painter.Plin. HN. His picture of Glycera with a garland was known in Pliny's time as the Stephaneplocos ('garland-weaver')Plin. HN. 21.3. or Stephanepolis ('garland-seller'). A copy of this picture (apographon) was bought by Lucullus at the Dionysia at Athens for the great sum of two talents.Smith 1869, p. 162.Glycera (Γλυκέρα), of Thespiae / Atticalater 4th century BCDaughter of the hetaera Thalassis. Mistress of Harpalus (after the death of Pythionice),Theopomp. FGrH 115 F 254a = Athen. 13.50, 68. and perhaps also of Menander.Ath. 13.66 (13.586, 595, 605, &c.); Alciphr. 4.2, 14, 18, 19. Her name means 'the sweet one'. Also called by the pet name Glycerium.Kapparis 2017, p. 405.Kapparis 2017, pp. 113–6, 143–6; 151, 179, 332, 405–6. See also Terence's Andria.Glycera (Γλυκέρα)FictionalCharacter in Menander's Periceiromene.Gnathaena (Γνάθαινα)4th century BCAthenian hetaera.Athen. 13.558, 567, 577, 578. Her most famous lover was the comic playwright Diphilus.Kapparis 2017, pp. 406–7.Laïs (Λαΐς, Λαΐδα), of Corinthlate 5th – early 4th century BC Often confused with the younger Lais. Also called Axine ('axe-head') for the sharpness of her cruelty.Kapparis 2017, pp. 416–17.Laïs (Λαΐς, Λαΐδα) the Younger, of Hyccara / Athensfirst half of the 4th century BCShe was the daughter of Timandra (or Damasandra, according to Athenaeus).Athen. 13.34.Kapparis 2017, p. 418. An anecdote from an otherwise lost work of Sotion (Κέρας Ἀμαλθείας, 'The Horn of Plenty') about the courtesan Lais and the orator Demosthenes is preserved by Aulus Gellius in his Attic Nights. Gell. 1.8.3–6; Macrob. Sat. 2.2.11.