This owner could be a citizen, for this activity was considered as a source of income just like any other: one 4th-century BC orator cites two; Theophrastus in Characters lists pimp next to cook, innkeeper, and tax collector as an ordinary profession, though disreputable. In the classical era of ancient Greece , pornai were slaves of barbarian origin; starting in the Hellenistic era the case of young girls abandoned by their citizen fathers could be enslaved.
They were considered to be slaves until proven otherwise. Pornai were usually employed in brothels located in "red-light" districts of the period, such as Piraeus port of Athens or Kerameikos in Athens. The classical Athenian politician Solon is credited as being the first to institute legal public brothels. He did this as a public health measure, in order to contain adultery.
The poet Philemon praised him for this measure in the following terms: [Solon], seeing Athens full of young men, with both an instinctual compulsion, and a habit of straying in an inappropriate direction, bought women and established them in various places, equipped and common to all.
The women stand naked that you not be deceived. Look at everything. Maybe you are not feeling well. You have some sort of pain. The door is open. One obol. Hop in. There is no coyness, no idle talk, nor does she snatch herself away. But straight away, as you wish, in whatever way you wish. You come out. Tell her to go to hell.
She is a stranger to you. One obolus is one sixth of one drachma , the daily salary of a public servant at the end of the 5th century BC. By the middle of the 4th century BC, this salary was up to a drachma and a half. In the same light, Solon used taxes he levied on brothels to build a temple to Aphrodite Pandemos literally "Aphrodite of all the people". It is difficult to assess whether this was the actual price or a proverbial amount designating a "good deal".
