Pallakai was the general name given to a prostitute in ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

.

Status of the pallakai

The status of these women was that of slaves, usually captured in war and brought back to Greece, either for the use of their captor, or to be sold. These women were allowed to be bought or sold just as any other slave in the Greek world.

One such account of this appears with Cassandra

Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...

 in Aeschylus

Aeschylus

Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...

' play, where she is brought to Agamemnon

Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...

's palace as a mistress. She is later killed by Clytemnestra, alongside Agamemnon himself, as she has started an affair with Aegisthus

Aegisthus

In Greek mythology, Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes and of Thyestes' daughter, Pelopia....

.

Social acceptability of the pallakai

The pallakai were accepted as part of Greek society. In the oration Against Neaera, Demosthenes

Demosthenes

Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...

 said:

We have hetairai

Hetaera

In ancient Greece, hetaerae were courtesans, that is to say, highly educated, sophisticated companions...

for pleasure, pallakai for the body's daily needs and gunaikes

Wife

A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...

for the bearing of legitimate children and for the guardianship of our houses.

Literature and the pallakai

There are many examples of pallakai in literature and drama.

The most lengthy is the Oration against Neaera, in which Demosthenes is prosecuting a woman called Neaera and her husband for claiming citizen rights falsely, for her and also children she bore to her husband. This was considered a very serious crime, especially in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 where citizenship was restricted to those with a citizen mother and father.

The case made against her alleges that she was a pallake in Corinth

Corinth

Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...

 and other cities, before coming to Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. The defence speech however does not survive, but one such possible defence may have been that she was a mistress rather than a prostitute, which was a normal social practice.

Another such example occurs in the text Against The Stepmother For Poisoning, a speech by Antiphon

Antiphon (person)

Antiphon the Sophist lived in Athens probably in the last two decades of the 5th century BC. There is an ongoing controversy over whether he is one and the same with Antiphon of the Athenian deme Rhamnus in Attica , the earliest of the ten Attic orators...

. In this speech for the prosecution, it is alleged that a pallake was tricked into poisoning her master, who was to sell her to a brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

, by her master's wife.

External links

• Text of the Agamemnon
• Text of the Oration Against Neaera in Greek and English Athenaze, Balme and Lawall, OUP Publishing, USA, 1995