Sexual Labor in the Athenian Courts

There has been a growing interest in books about the sex trade and prostitution in recent years, including Edward Cohen’s Athenian Prostitution: The Business of Sex (2015) and Konstantinos Kapparis’s Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World (2018). Allison Glazebrook contributes to this subject, approaching sex trade from a different angle. Specifically, her focus is on the “type” of the “sex laborer” in forensic orations and how the “sex laborer” was “problematized in relation to gender, the body, sexuality, the family, urban space, and the polis” (p. 5). Glazebrook situates her current work in modern literature, which relies on the study of Athenian forensic oratory as an invaluable source for the reconstruction of aspects of Athenian attitudes, popular views, and social realities. She focuses on five “key speeches in full” (p. 4) in order to explore “sexual labor” in the Athenian courts (see her introduction). The aim of the book is the in-depth analysis of these key speeches centering on “sex laborers/labor” and exploration of the relationship between sex labor and Athenian society. Her research includes both male and female “sex laborers,” and in this respect she offers a balanced approach to her subject.The introduction concludes with “A Note on Terminology” (pp. 19–20), where Glazebrook explains convincingly her choice of “sexual labor/laborer” as against the terms “sex work/worker.” Yet the terms “sex labor/sexual laborer” are still too broad to capture the rhetorical use of specific terms related to sex trade in the orators. The terms can also blur the legal status of the individuals engaged in the sex trade. Notable examples are the terms pornos-e/-e, hetaira/hetairein and their cognates. But the author is aware of the potential issues arising from her choice of terminology (p. 20) and applying the concept of “sex labor” in action. Inescapably, the precise “prostitute” and “companion” find their place in translating and interpreting the Greek terms (pornos-/e and hetaira/hetairein and their various verbal forms) in Glazebrook’s analysis (e.g., pp. 117, 125 “sexual companion” [hetairekos] and “having prostituted himself” [peporneumenos])—terminology coexisting with the broader terminology of “sex laborer.”1The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the study of the unnamed slave girl in Lysias 4, referred to as “female sex laborer” and “female sex slave” in Glazebrook’s analysis (pp. 22, 23) and as “enslaved sex laborer,”2 the subject of a dispute and violent encounter between the two joint owners of the woman. There is an eloquent analysis of the characteristics of the “laborer” in that she is presented as having some agency over the quarrel between the two men and as being manipulative, despite her legal status as a slave. Glazebrook analyzes in detail the strategy of exploiting common social anxieties around the influence of women in men’s affairs, particularly women as “sex laborers.” Chapter 2 focuses on Isaios 6. This dispute relates to the rightful claim to the estate of Euktemon. Relatives of the deceased Euktemon include Chairestratos, possibly adopted by his uncle Euktemon, and two sons from a second marriage of the deceased with Kallipe. But the legal status of the children of Kallipe is disputed on the grounds that these were children borne by Alke, a former slave and “sex laborer” set up in a brothel. Glazebrook’s main focus in this chapter is to illustrate how Alke’s presentation as a “sex laborer” is interwoven with topography that highlights her transgressions of civic institutions and spaces, and the oikos. Her influence over Euktemon and her agency are excellently highlighted in this chapter.Apollodoros’s much-studied speech Against Neaira is the subject of Glazebrook’s analysis in chapter 3. The author fruitfully considers work already done on the rhetorical analysis of the speech. She focuses her analysis on the character of Neaira (and Phano to some extent) as a “sexual laborer” on the basis of her alien status, a xene who was prosecuted under the laws governing the marriage of citizens. However, Glazebrook misreads the case as a graphe xenias; it was not. The law under which Neaira is prosecuted ([59.]16) concerns illegal marriages between citizens and foreigners apparently for the purpose of enrolling their children as citizens and [59.]52 καθάπερ τῆς ξενίας clearly indicates that this is not a graphe xenias (see Konstantinos Kapparis, Apollodoros “Against Neaira” [Dem.] 59 [Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999], 31–33, 198–206; Konstantinos Kapparis, “Immigration and Citizenship Procedures in Athenian Law,” Revue Internationale des Droits de l’Antiquité 52 [2005]: 78). The body of Neaira, her mobility (as against “stability” of Athenian astai), her slave origin (Glazebrook prefers “enslaved,” e.g., p. 78, though see p. 87, “slave”), her transgression of the boundaries of the oikos and other institutions (such as marriage and citizenship) make Neaira appear as a threat to the social fabric, the oikos, and the polis.Chapters 4 and 5 deal with male “sex labor” and illustrate cases where the orators construct the character of males engaged in the sex trade. Chapter 4 is dedicated to the study of Lysias 3, from the viewpoint of the actions and character of the litigants, as depicted in relation to their association with Theodotos, the “sex laborer” whose status is presented as that of an “enslaved” person (p. 97); nonetheless, the ethnic “Plataian” (3.5) suggests that he is a free individual. The analysis of the portrayal of the litigants on the basis of desire and “Mapping Desire” are convincingly argued in this chapter, while the speech (e.g., 3.12, 3.18) does not confidently support the connections between sexual violence and hybris in the brawls between the two sides. For instance, “dragging” the young Theodotos or attempting to drag him (3.12–18) does not necessarily suggest actions of sexual violence, nor does Theodotos’s “throw[ing] of his cloak and run[ing] away” to escape from the brawl (3.12). Glazebrook’s reading of hybris is attractive but not convincing. Chapter 5 is entitled “Citizen Sex Slaves,” prima facie a bold, even oxymoronic heading, for this chapter that discusses Aeschines 1, concerning Timarchos, an Athenian citizen and political figure. This speech has been extensively studied in modern literature, too. Glazebrook offers a thorough analysis of Timarchos’s character through a variety of themes intersecting with “sex labor,” “including the body, pederasty, citizen privilege and civic community” (p. 149). The chapter offers an elaborate reading of the character of Timarchos as a “sex slave” whose ethos, body, morality, and actions are viewed through the lenses of his (alleged) sexual “labor” and his numerous and frequent visits to households other than his own. The portrayal of Timarchos in relation to space and place is nicely laid out and illustrated with two original figures (pp. 128, 130).In her conclusion, Glazebrook makes a crucial distinction between the portrayals the orators construct and our ability to draw safe conclusions from oratorical texts about the actual life and experiences of the “sex laborer” (pp. 160–61). One naturally asks, are we to imagine Timarchos’s (citizen) and Theodotos’s (“enslaved”) lives similar in any way, in action? Additionally, not all “sex laborers” must be understood as of the same “type”: social and economic status and social mobility made their lives enormously different and diverse.The orators are an indispensable source of information about Athenian society and ideology, but their rhetorical strategies and the nature of their legal cases certainly influenced the portrayal of the “sex laborers” in each case. In her excellently organized and presented book, Glazebrook offers an eloquent and thorough analysis of such characters and many insights on the subject, focusing on the presentation of “sex laborers” to elucidate the complex Athenian ideology on the sex trade and those engaged with it.Glazebrook’s monograph is a valuable contribution to modern literature, especially for scholars working on the Attic orators and researchers working on the sex trade, gender, and sexuality in classical Athens.