Courtesans Reconsidered: Women in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata LAURA MCCLURE University of Wisconsin
[email protected] Scholarship on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata over the last three decades has almost without exception supported the view that the play models its portrayal of the sex-striking wives on hetaeras. Henderson first proposed that the teasing delay tactics of Myrrhine in the seduction scene resemble those of a courtesan1. He subsequently hypothesizes that the play, with its emphasis on female bibulousness, sexual appetites, adornment and depilation, may have been based on the hetaera comedy of Pherecrates2. 1 — Henderson 1987: 177 concludes that her «skillful wheedling, teasing, and coquettishness were surely more characteristic of hetairai than of wives» and further views Cinesias as «a customer bargaining with a bawd for a girl’s services». He believes the original audience would have identified the scene as such due to their familiarity with courtesans. However, Dover 1972: 160 observes that the play conspicuously avoids any mention of non-marital sex, while Stroup 2003: 42 remarks, “it is worth noting that neither the word hetaira, nor indeed the word for any other ‘formally recognized’ sex worker (pornê, aulêtris) appears in this comedy”. I gratefully acknowledge the thoughtful comments of the two anonymous readers which lead to a much improved version of the paper. The Greek text throughout is taken from Henderson’s 1987 edition of the play. 2 — In attempting to explain the origins of the female comic characters in this play, Henderson hypothesizes the hetaera comedy as a prototype and further expands on his view of the young wives as hetaeras, stating «certainly his characterization of the young wives is much closer to the comic EuGeStA - n°5 - 2015 COURTESANS RECONSIDERED 55 Stroup further describes the women as «pseudo-hetaerai» based on the play’s «vivid sympotic imagery and sexual innuendo» (Stroup 2004: 41).