Pornikon telos
Pornikon telos ( Greek Πορνικὸν τέλος ) was a tax in ancient Athens that prostitutes of both sexes had to pay for their services.
The main source of the tax is a court speech by the Aeschines against Timarchus, in which Aeschines tries to convince the court that Timarchos prostituted himself in his youth. Like all taxes, the Pornikon telos were leased annually. The respective tenant was called Pornotelones ( πορνοτελώνης ). In the Byzantine lexicon Suda a list of the hetaera is mentioned, which was kept by the Agoranomoi , a kind of market surveillance authority with police force. It is unclear whether this was a list of the permitted prices or the amount of tax to be levied. Presumably, the list served at least to familiarize the tenant, who changes annually, with the taxpayers from whom he had to remedy the taxes personally. Only in the Porneia, the publicly run brothels , did the landlord ( pornoskos ) pay a flat rate for his house.
literature
- Thomas Lenschau : Pornikon telos. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 265.
Remarks
- ^ Aeschines, Against Timarchus 1, 119-124.
- ↑ Philonides in Iulius Pollux 7, 202; 9, 29.
- ↑ Suda , keyword Διάγραμμα , Adler number: delta 529 , Suda-Online
- ↑ See Thomas Lenschau : Pornikon telos. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXII, 1, Stuttgart 1953, Col. 265.