Hetairas: The Pre-Feminist Empowered Womenof the Western Antiquity

Abstract

Women being equal to men is a rare episode in antiquity. However, the existence of hetairas proves that the oppression of women throughout history cannot be steadily maintained as the sole relationship between the sexes, where men always dictate the dynamics of power. The strategic utilization of their sexuality enabled hetairas to participate in the intellectual, political, and artistic fields; such experience of a select group of women should be seen as a nuanced exposition of women’s history before the advent of the feminist movement. The hetaira, whose identity was associated with the elite sympotic culture, was antithetical to both the prostitute and the wife in terms of her privilege for self-definition and economic independence. With her capability to navigate the spaces dominated by men, a hetaira may seemingly appear empowered by not being commodified, just like a prostitute or a wife who was unable to live outside the sanctity of marriage. However, her ‘glory’ is at the mercy of the attention and material benefits she receives from her male patrons.