The Renowned Courtesan as a Heroine of a Christian Ideological Narrative? Social and Legal Implications

Abstract

A story of Lais of Corinth, the famous ancient Greek courtesan, was made a central part of a Christian ideological tale composed by Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius of Sicca, Athenagoras and Theophilus of Antioch independently of each other. Notwithstanding a little unnatural character of such a tale, these Christian apologists created different versions of ideological “stories” where sinful women, “strumpets” receive the same divine blessing as respected matrons. These “stories” were used by the first Christian communes in pre-Constantine’s time to maintain a social balance of laymen and monastic adepts.