1st Edition

Freewomen, Patriarchal Authority, and the Accusation of Prostitution

By Stephanie Lynn Budin Copyright 2021
328 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

328 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

328 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Examining freewomen in Mesopotamian society, ancient Greek hetaira , Renaissance Italy courtesans, historical and modern Japanese geisha , and the Hindu devadāsī of India, Stephanie Lynn Budin makes a wide-ranging study of independent women who have historically been dismissed as prostitutes. The purpose of this book is to rectify a well-entrenched misunderstanding about a category of... Read more

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Ḫarīmtu

Chapter 3: Hetaira

Chapter 4: Cortigiana: The (so-called) cortigiana onesta

Chapter 5: Geisha

Chapter 6: Devadāsī

Biography

Stephanie Lynn Budin is an ancient historian who focuses on gender, religion, sexuality, and iconography in ancient Greece and the Near East. Her published works include Women in Antiquity: Real Women Across the Ancient World (Routledge 2016), Artemis (Routledge, 2015), Images of Woman and Child from the Bronze Age (2011), The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity (2008), and The Origin of Aphrodite (2003), as well as numerous articles on ancient religion, gender, and iconography. She has lectured throughout North America, Europe, the Near East, and Japan.

"Freewomen is impressive in its scope and forcefully argued. Budin deftly moves between premodernity and the contemporary world, across several different cultures, without losing focus on the source material and the texts in the original languages. She brings her philological and historical training to bear throughout the book, such that it speaks not only to an audience interested in feminist history, but also specialists in each field." - Rhea Classical Reviews