Κιθαρίστρια (Kitharistria)
(‘The female kithara-player’)

121

Discussion Meineke 18391.371; 1840 III.171; 1847. 579; Bothe 1855. 422; Kock
188411.143; Edmonds 1959 11.54—5; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.249; Wilson 2002. 62;
Sanchis Llopis et al. 2007. 250
Title Anaxandrides is the only comic poet known to have written a Κιθα-
ρίστρια, although Antiphanes and Menander both wrote a Κιθαριστής and nu-
merous poets a Κιθαρωδός (e. g. Clearchus; see K.-A. ad loc. for a complete list);
cf. Αύλητρίς (Antiphanes; Menander; Diodorus); Αύλητρίδες (Phoenicides);
Όρχηστρίς (Alexis; see Arnott 1996 ad loc.\, Ποιήτρια (Alexis; but see Arnott
1996 ad loc. for the suggestion that this refers to a contriver rather than a po-
etess). Wilson 2002. 62 sees these titles as indicating a contemporary ‘thematic
fascination with music and its practitioners.’
The κιθαριστής, and thus presumably the κιθαρίστρια as well, differs from
the κιθαρωδός in that the former is a musician only, while the latter sings
to his own accompaniment; cf. Ammon. 271 (citing Aristox. fr. 102 as his
authority); Σ Aeschin. 1.89a, b (on 41). Kitharistriai are generally assumed
to have been hired for performances at symposia, where they may also have
performed sexual favours; see Power 2010. 59-60 with n. 136 for speculation
on whether they actually performed music and, if so, on what instrument.
Goldhill 2005. 276 characterizes the kitharistria as ‘a cheap, hired entertainer
on the edge of, if not actively engaged in, what we would call prostitution’;
cf. Ter. Phorm. 80-84; Wilson 1999. 83-5 (on auletrides). For the prostitutes
(however designated) commonly present at symposia, see Olson-Sens 1999
on Matro frr. 1.121 (SH 534); 6.2 (SH 539); Gomme-Sandbach 1973 and Furley
2009 on Men. Epitr. fr. 1.2; J. Davidson 1997. 81-2, 92-7. The employment of
kitharistriai, at a rate of not more than two drachmas (not a small sum), fell
under the jurisdiction of the astynomoi ([Arist.] AP 50.2). Stephanis 1988 offers
five known examples of female cithara-players, three of them in religious con-
texts, although the anonymous Rhodian of Din. 1.23 may simply be attending
the Eleusinia rather than playing a formal role there. For female kitharodoi
(eight examples in Stephanis 1988), see Goldhill 2005 (arguing that nearly all
are slaves or hetairai)·, Power 2010. 57-71.
A cithara had two arms projecting from a sound-box and joined at the
top by a crossbar; strings of equal length ran from the crossbar down over a
bridge on the sound-box and were fastened at the base. The normal number
of strings may have been seven, but greater numbers are occasionally attested
(e. g. Ar. fr. 467; Pherecr. fr. 155.25). The normal function of the cithara was to