3. Both citizens and non-citizens were permitted to own prostitutes
The lowest level on the social scale for prostitutes was men and women-owned by pornoboskos, or pimps. The pimps were male or female, citizen or non-citizen (metics), who collected a percentage of the fees earned. In turn, they paid the state. The prostitutes (pornai) at this level were considered to be slaves, and were accorded the same protections the state provided to all slaves. In Athens, it was illegal for an owner to beat slaves, or otherwise abuse them. Daughters of citizens renounced or abandoned by their fathers could be made slaves, after being “adopted” by the state and forced into one of the state-sanctioned brothels, which flourished in varying areas of the cities.
At a level above the pornai were streetwalkers, who were not owned by a pimp or the state, and selected their own clientele. Pornai who had been able to buy their freedom often continued to work as prostitutes independently. They typically charged more than those found in brothels, and some became quite wealthy. It is known from Aristotle that musicians who provided entertainment at banquets and feasts were also hired for their services in sexual entertainment, negotiated as part of their overall, shall we say, performance. Prostitution was sanctioned and supported as a means of supporting population control and was widely practiced in the city-states.