Ancient Greece to the End of the Peloponnesian Wars33ter of the statesman Cimon, were well educated.
From a modern perspective, poor and alien women had
more interesting lives. Many worked or sold goods
in the marketplace, activities essential to the survival
of their families that guaranteed them a freedom of
movement unknown to their wealthier sisters. The
price of that freedom was extreme economic and
physical vulnerability.
Segregation of the sexes led to an acceptance of
male extramarital relations with slave and alien women.
Prostitution was common, and at the higher levels of
society, courtesans or hetairaiwere highly valued as
companions at banquets and other social occasions
from which respectable women were excluded. Courte-
sans were often highly educated. Some—such as Aspa-
sia, the mistress of the fifth-century statesman
Pericles—achieved considerable fame and could hold
their own in intellectual discourse, but they were still
regarded as prostitutes. Aspasia ended her days as the
madam of an Athens brothel.
Homosexuality, too, was regarded by many
Greeks as normal, and in some cases praiseworthyIllustration 2.4
Plan of a Typical Greek House.This house was part of a
residential block on the south slope of the Areopagus in Athens.
Drawing A shows its location; drawing B, the probable function
of the rooms. In drawing C the shaded area was used by menonly. Note that the men’s and women’s areas of the house had
separate street entrances (arrows) and that no interior access ap-
pears between them.