The 10 Most Desirable Hetairai – Courtesans of Ancient Greece

 

Hetairai (ancient Greek courtesans), the polite term for a ‘kept mistress’, were beautiful, sophisticated, educated and respected women who were, without a doubt, the most liberated women of ancient Greece.

They were retained by wealthy, aristocratic men, often politicians, to act as either a hostess or elite companion at parties known as symposium, a perk denied ‘respectable’ wives and daughters of ancient Greece, who rarely left their homes and had almost no rights and no political or legal power.

 

 

Hetairai were not ‘ladies of the night’; the oldest profession in the World, paid according to the certain ‘favours’ they undertook but were rather rewarded for their companionship and intellectual stimulation as well as other pleasurable favours.

Many hetairai were also musicians and artists: flute, lute players and dancers, who provided entertainment at the symposium.

 

The Symposium of Ancient Greece

 

 

In ancient Greece, the symposium, from συμπίνειν–sympinein, “to drink together”, was a type of drawn out, after-banquet, wine-drinking extravaganza, often held for special occasions, such as the introduction of young men into aristocratic society, or to celebrate victories in athletic and poetic contests.

In general these Greek get-togethers were men only; it was not seemly for wives and daughters of high regard to attend, however, Hetairai (courtesans) had no such qualms.

 

 

Usually the symposium began in a civilized manner with the recitation of poetry and philosophical debates, more often than not, about the subject of love and were accompanied by the strumming of lutes and the twirling of exotic dancers.

Once a crazy ancient Greek wine-throwing game of kottabos got underway though things beacame much more the merrier!

 

 

Metics – foreigners

 

The hetairai of ancient Greece were, nine times out of ten, women born outside of Athens; known as metics, meaning foreigner, i.e. not an Athenian.

Metics were obliged to pay tax to live in Athens and were not allowed to marry Athenians.

As it was not acceptable to be a single woman in those days, the next best thing was to become mistress to an Athenian; how else was one to pay one’s taxes?

The status of being a metic did have its advantages:

A metic was not burdened by the Athenian laws which applied to married Athenian women, who had little or no social life and were not authorized to own land, nor participate in any financial transactions.

 

 

Below, of the ten most desirable hetairai of ancient Greece I have listed, you will notice the majority are metics: not born in Athens.

 

1. Aspasia of Miletus:

the most famous woman of Ancient Athens

 

 

Aspasia, the most famous woman of Ancient Athens, considered the most beautiful and intelligent hetairai of the city, was born sometime between 470 and 460 BCE in Miletus, Ionian Greece (today, Turkey).

She was companion to Pericles (c. 495 -429 BC); a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens (from 480 to 404 BC).

Aspasia, who, according to ancient Greek legend taught rhetoric, was the ‘it’ girl of her time.

 

 

The most powerful men of Athens vied for an invite to her symposia (dinner parties), where intellectuals and philosophers gathered to debate on such subjects as art, literature, music and the meaning of life.

 

 

Aspasia and the philosopher Socrates were firm friends; it’s even said it was her teachings that influenced him the most.

 

Aspasia and Pericles

 

 

Aspasia met Pericles around c. 450 BCE and after he divorced his wife they lived together as husband and wife for over twenty years.

Pericles treated her as an equal and Aspasia is known to have advised him on matters of state and wrote many of his speeches; he was often condemned for his dependence upon her validation of him.

 Plato, famous ancient Greek philosopher, even went as far to suggest that Aspasia had written Pericles’ most famous speech; ‘The Funeral Oration’ (an official speech for the Athenian soldiers killed at one of the opening battles of the Peloponnesian War).

 

 

Aspasia bore Pericles a son, also called Pericles who, because of their illegal relationship and her status as a metic, was denied Athenian citizenship.

After his legitimate sons died, Pericles did appeal, unsuccessfully, to the Assembly to grant citizenship status to his son. (Not until after his death was his wish fulfilled).

 

Aspasia is blamed for the start of the Peloponnesian War.

 

 

It was Aristophanes, the ancient Greek playwright, who claimed Aspasia, now a wealthy and respected woman, even though she did own a brothel, was to blame for the offset of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC).

He alleged that Aspasia was behind the Megarian decree of Pericles; a set of economic sanctions imposed upon Megara by the Athenians, because the Megarians had stolen prostitutes from her brothel and she wanted them punished.

Aristophanes believed that the decree left the Megarians with no choice but to become allies with Sparta.

War broke out soon afterwards, as Sparta and her allies feared the growing power and influence of Athens.

 

The death of Pericles

 

 

After the death of Pericles, in 429 BC; a victim of The Plague of Athens 430-427 BC, as were his legitimate sons before him, Aspasia became the companion of his friend Lysicles, originally an uneducated sheep merchant, whom she had helped become an Athenian political leader and general.

Lysicles was killed in the Peloponnesian War’s campaign in Caria of 428-427 BC.

Nothing else is known of Aspasia after the death of Lysicles, not even the year of her death.

 

2. Phryne:

She who bares all

 

 

Phryne, a much sought after Hetaira, was born in Thespiae (Boeotia) in the fourth century BC but spent most of her life in Athens.

Her real name was Mnesarete which in English translates to ‘commemorating virtue’ but she was known as Phryne, meaning toad, owing to the yellow complexion of her skin; a nickname commonly used in ancient Greece for ladies of ill repute.

 

 

Phryne’s extraordinary beauty was the talk of ancient Athens and she is rumoured to have been the model for the famous ancient sculptor; Praxiteles, whom also happened to be one of her lovers.

It is said, one of the most famous ancient Greek statues, created by Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, the first naked female Greek statue and the most copied was modeled on Phryne and this was to be her downfall.

 

 

In ancient Greece, the gods demanded humility and respect from mortals and Phryne’s desire to be represented as a goddess angered the gods.

For the gods to be represented in human form was a sign of their divinity, for a mortal woman to create the image of a goddess in her own likeness however, was a crime.

It was not long before Phryne’s secret was out and all Athens learned she was the model for Praxiteles’ statue of Aphrodite; the goddess of love.

No mortal had ever had the audacity to do this.

Phryne ended up in the courts of ancient Athens, accused of sacrilege.

 

Phryne is accused of sacrilege

 

Phryne is best remembered for the accusation of sacrilege brought against her by the people of Athens.

Sacrilege; a lack of proper respect for something considered sacred was a capital offense, which could result in Phryne, if found guilty, in either exile, slavery or death.

  According to Athenaeus, an ancient Greek rhetorician, Phryne  was defended by her lover of the day: the orator Hypereides.

No doubt the recent public spectacle of Phryne  ripping off her clothes in front of the crowds and walking nude into the sea during the festivals of the sacred Eleusinian mysteries would not help her decedent reputation during her trial

 

 

Pryne’s improper conduct inspired Apelles, one of the most influential painters of ancient Greece, to create his famous picture of Aphrodite (Venus) Anadyomene rising from the Sea, which sadly, today does not exist.

 

 

The Trial of Phryne

 

As the trial progressed, Hypereides realized things were not looking good for Phryne and in what can only be described as a ‘eureka moment’ or moment of madness, tore off Phryne’s dress, baring her breasts to all and sundry, providing proof that her beauty is worthy of a goddess; if any woman can lend her body to Aphrodite; it’s Phryne!

 

 

 The reasoning behind Hypereides’s mad moment was that only the gods could sculpt such a perfect body; killing or imprisoning her would be interpreted as sacrilege and insolence towards the gods!

Hypereides’s inspirational madness worked its magic; Phryne was acquitted and triumphantly walked from court.

 Praxiteles completed his sculpture; the ‘The Aphrodite of Cnidus ( the original is now lost), thought to be the first significant nude of a woman.

 

3. Laïs of Corinth

and

4. Laïs of Hyccara

(One and the same?)

 

 

It is said there were two hetairai (Courtesans) who went under the name of Laïs in ancient Greece:Laïs of Corinth and Laïs of Hyccara.

It was extremely frustrating, trying to distinguish exactly who was who when reading accounts of the two women, from both ancient and modern historians.

The authors have either themselves mixed the two up together or have omitted to indicate which one they were actually referring to.

After researching about the two hetairai named Laïs and reading that they both shared the same lover; Hippostratus and that both were stoned to death at the temple of Aphrodite in Thessaly by the locals, it honestly leads me to believe they were one and the same woman but hey, I’m no historian!

 

Laïs of Corinth

 

‘I Laïs, once of Greece the pride,

For whom so many suitors sighed,

Now aged grown, at Venus’ (Aphrodite’s) shrine

The mirror of my youth resign;

Since what I am I will not see,

And what I was I cannot be.’

Greek Anthology

 

 

Laïs the infamous and much desired, hetaira (courtesan) of ancient Greece, was well known, not only for her extreme beauty but also for her wit and charm; Claudius Aelianus, Roman writer and historian of the 3rd century, even  went as far as to bestow on her the nickname ‘axe head’ owing to her sharpness and her cruelty.

Although active in Corinth, Laïs is thought to have been born in Hyccara, Sicily and was stolen away by the Athenian general Nicias, when Hyccara was conquered by the Athenians in 415 BCE and its entire population sold into slavery.

Laïs ended up in Corinth, one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, with a population of 90,000 in 400 BC, where she possibly spent her early years as a slave before blossoming into her famous beauty, which went a long, long way in helping her achieve status as one of the most revered courtesans of ancient Greece.

 

 

Companions of high standing

 

We do know she kept company with notable men of high regard; intellectuals, politicians and philosophers.

 Aristophanes, ancient Greek playwright mentions in his play ‘Wealth’ that she was kept for a time, by Philonides; an Athenian poet, a close friend of his and the philosopher Aristippus, mentions her affectionately in a couple of his writings.

Mad dog Diogenes of Sinope: ancient Greek philosopher and the sculptor Myron of Eleutherae, are both known to have enjoyed her company (if you get my meaning!).

She had the reputation for being an extravagant, indulgent, costly ‘asset’, one example being that she insisted on having a perfume created exclusively for herself.

Demosthenes, Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens, famously refused to be entertained byLaïs after hearing the exorbitant amounts of money she demanded.

In her later years it’s said she hooked up with a younger man; Hippostratus and moved to Thessaly, where she was stoned to death by jealous locals and buried on the banks of the river Pineio in around 340 BC.

However there seems to be some confusion here as Pausanias, Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD, who seems to think there was only one Laïs, states in his “Descriptions of Greece” (a sort of ancient Greek tourist handbook), the following:

“[2.2.4] As one goes up to Corinth are tombs, and by the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks surname the Dog. Before the city is a grove of cypresses called Craneum. Here are a precinct of Bellerophontes, a temple of Aphrodite Melaenis and the grave of Lais, upon which is set a lioness holding a ram in her fore-paws.

[2.2.5] There is in Thessaly another tomb which claims to be that of Lais, for she went to that country also when she fell in love with Hippostratus. The story is that originally she was of Hycara in Sicily. Taken captive while yet a girl by Nicias and the Athenians, she was sold and brought to Corinth, where she surpassed in beauty the courtesans of her time, and so won the admiration of the Corinthians that even now they claim Lais as their own.”

(Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.)

 

 

Was Laïs laid to rest on the banks of the River Pineio?

Or was she laid to rest in pomp and glory in the wealthy town of Corinth (today ancient Corinth as opposed to modern Corinth) in a tomb ‘upon which is set a lioness holding a ram in her fore-paws’?

More food for thought, when trying to unravel the conundrum of whether Laïs of Corinth and Laïs of Hyccara are one and the same, are coins found in ancient Corinth depicting the tomb of Laïs, with a lioness atop the capital of a Doric column, holding a ram between its paws.

 

 

 

After many hours of research, I was none the wiser as to which Laïs was which and if indeed, there really were two of them, my logic tells me no, there was only one; the extravagant, self-indulgent and expesive to maintain Hetaira: Laïs of Corinth.

Just for the record I’ll add what little I discovered about Laïs of Hyccara.

 

Laïs of Hyccara

 

 

Laïs of Hyccara was ‘probably’ born in Hyccara, Sicily (modern Carini) and died in Thessaly, was a legendary hetaira (courtesan) of Ancient Greece said to be extremely beautiful, extremely charming and extremely expensive.

Laïs of Corinth allegedly met Hippostratus when she moved from Corinth to Thessaly and Laïs of Hyccara is said to have travelled to Thessaly with him.

Laïs of Hyccara was also rumoured to have consorted with Mad dog Diogenes of Sinope: ancient Greek philosopher, who, by the way, lived and died in Corinth.

Demosthenes, Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens, offered to pay 1,000 Greek drachmas for a night with her.

Claudius Aelianus, Roman writer, teacher and historian of the 3rd century tells us Laïs of Hyccara of was known as Axine (axehead), for the sharpness of her cruelty.

Laïs of Hyccara died around 340 BC in Thessaly; stoned to death by the locals.

We could be talking about Laïs of Corinth here, are they one and the same?

 I’ve made my decision, I’ll let you make your own!

 

5. Thaïs:

Companion to Alexander the Great

 

 

 

Thaïs; a fourth century Hetaira of ancient Greece and a favourite of Alexander the Great; king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon was most likely from Athens.

She was one of the few hetaira who was not a metic.

When Alexander fist met up with Thaïs she is said to have been having a fling with Ptolemy I; a Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.

After the death of Alexander, Ptolemy became ruler of Egypt and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty who turned Egypt into a Hellenistic kingdom and the city of Alexandria into a center of Greek culture.

Athenaeus; a Greek rhetorician of the third century AD, also tells us Thaïs and Ptolemy had three children together and that she may even have become the queen of Egypt.

 

Alexander burns down Persepolis

 

Thaïs entertained Alexander throughout his campaigns in Asia and was first noted in history, when, in 330 BC, after a wild drinking party (symposium), she gave a speech which convinced Alexander, who at the time was rather in his cups, to burn down the palace of Persepolis.

 

 

Other ancient writers seem to think he would have done the deed anyway without encouragement from Thaïs; intending it as a payback for Xerxes (Persian King of the Achaemenid Empire, famous for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC), who burnt down the Temple of Athena on the Acropolis, which stood on the site where today the Parthenon stands.

 

 

The date of Thaïs’s death, or of what became of her, is unknown; some say that after the death of Alexander, she again hooked up with Ptolemy.

 

6. Thargelia of Miletus:

The Mata Hari of Ancient Greece

 

 

Beautiful, clever and charming Thargelia, an ancient Greek Hetaira from the Ionian Greek city-state of Miletus, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, according to Plutarch; Greek Platonist philosopher born around 46AD, was so seductive that no man could resist her.

Said to have been married fourteen times (there is no evidence of with whom or for how long), Thargelia’s suitors included Antiochus; the king of Thessaly and Cyrus the Great; Persian conqueror and founder of the first Persian Empire, for whom it is said, she was a spy.

She was a pro-Persian Greek which did not go down well as the Greeks and the Persians had been enemies for centuries; The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC.

 

 

It’s said Thargelia had the ability to draw information from her pro-Persian Greek lovers which she then passed on to the Persians and for this she came to be known as a conspirator and enemy of Greek freedom.

To the ancient Greeks her name became synonymous with ‘traitor’.

 

7. Neaira:

Child slave

 

 

Neaira, meaning “Fresh One”, was a Hetaira who lived in the 4th century BC in ancient Greece.

It’s not known where she was born but what we do know is that the poor young girl was bought by Nikarete, owner of a popular brothel in Corinth, who trained girls to be hetairai (courtesans).

 She was brought to trial between 343 and 340 BC accused of marrying an Athenian citizen illegally and trying to pass off her daughter as an Athenian citizen.

If not for the prosecution speech delivered by Apollodoros no one would ever have heard of Neaira.

 

Neaira attends the Eleusinian Mysteries

 

 

When Neaira was around twelve years old she met Lysias, a speech-writer, one of the ten Attic orators of ancient Greece and one of Nikarete’s regular clients, who, in reward for Neaira‘s services, arranged for her to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries; Nikarete tagged along.

 

Bought and shared between two men:

And Freedom with Phrynion

 

 

Around 376 BC, two men; Timanoridas of Corinth and Eukrates of Lefkada, jointly bought Neaira from Nikarete, paying way over the going rate for her.

When Timanoridas and Eukrates both married, they thought it was about time to allow Neaira to buy her freedom and so Neaira, accompanied by Phrynion, a Greek from Athens, left Corinth for Athens and with his help and by using gifts and loans from her former customers, Neaira managed to buy her freedom.

 

Neaira leaves Phrynion

 

Things seemed to be going well for Neaira until Phrynion took her to party given by the general Chabrias, to celebrate his victory in the Pythian Games of 373 BC, where she claimed Phrynion made no move to help her when she was assaulted by the guests and slaves of Chabrias.

This was the last straw; she’d had enough of being mistreated by Phrynion and decided to leave him and head for a new life in Megara, taking with her all of her possessions, including a few of Phrynion’s, and a couple of maids.

 

Stephanus: A new Love in Megara

 

In Megara Neaira met Stephanus who offered to become her patron on the condition that she would return with him to Athens.

Neaira’s return to Athens resulted in her being taken to court by Phrynion, who upon hearing she was back in Athens, begged her to leave Stephanus; she refused and so, he was out for revenge.

 Stephanus, who delivered the defense, claimed that as Neaira was a free woman Phrynion had no right to accuse her of anything.

Phrynion took his chance and went ahead anyway.

 

The Trial of Neaira and Stephanus

 

 

The tribunal declared that Neaira; charged of falsely representing herself as a free Athenian woman by pretending to be married to a citizen was indeed a free woman, an unexpected decision for the time.

 However, there was a stipulation; she was to divide her time between the two men; Stephanus and Phrynion.

 

‘Against Neaira’

 

 

‘Against Neaira’ is a prosecution speech delivered by Apollodoros of Acharnae, an Athenian politician, against Neaira and Stephanus, said to have been written by Demosthenes, a Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens.

It is actually thought though to have been written by Apollodoros himself.

Stephanus had a history of legal disputes with the prosecutor Apollodorus and was alleged to have arranged for Neaira to lure men to his house and then bribe them.

He was also charged with illegally marrying off Naeira’s daughter; Phano; twice, to Athenian citizens, therefore using both his ‘wife’ and his ‘daughter’ for personal profit.

This speech is the only surviving record of the trial; the outcome is unknown, as is the fate of Neaira after the trial.

 

8. Philaenis:

The Ancient Art of Love

 

 

Philaenis of Samos, a fourth century BC ancient Greek Hetaira (courtesan), rose to fame after writing a manual on the correct way to go about courting a member of the same or opposite gender (Focusing more on same gender partners).

Her handbook was extremely popular indeed even though people publicly condemned it, probably not because of its racy content but rather because it was written by a woman, in fact, the poet Aeschrion of Samos, is claimed to have defended Philaenis’s reputation by insisting it was not she who wrote the book but the Athenian sophist; Polycrates.

A few extracts of the handbook, including the introductory words, have been discovered among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth century by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt).

 

 

What little we do know of the writings of Philaenis is what later authors have alluded to in their own works.

The terms Sapphic and lesbian did not exist in ancient times before people began to connect love and desire between women with the sixth century BC poet Sappho from the Greek island of Lesbos. (The two words derive from her name and the name of her island respectively).

 

 

In her day, Sappho, whose works focused on the beauty of women and her love for girls, was regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the ‘Tenth Muse’ and ‘The Poetess’.

Sappho’s poetry is still considered exceptional and continues to influence writers.

Philaenis’s book looked at the art of love systematically beginning with the technique of seduction and included positions, ancient Greek aphrodisiacs, how to rid oneself of an unwanted pregnancy and the beneficial uses of cosmetics.

It has been rumoured that the writings of Philaenis, well known throughout classical antiquity, may have even influenced Ovid’s ‘Ars Amatoria’ (The Art of Love), an instructional series of three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid, written in 2 AD.

On the other hand, many modern academics consider “Philaenis” to be a fictional character, used as a pen name by a variety of erotic writers.

 

9. Gnathaena:

The code of conduct

 

 

Gnathaena was a fourth century Athenian hetaira, envied for her opulent symposiums and witty conversation.

Her status as hetairai gave Gnathaena the privilege of education, the right to  control her own finances and to host banquets and symposiums of her own that were attended by the most prestigious and wealthy men of ancient Athens.

 To be certain her parties would go down in history as the most successful in all of Athens, Gnathaena wrote a code of conduct for proper manners at her symposiums called ‘Rules for Dining in Company’.

Some historians believe this was confirmation as to how well-respected she was and an indication of the higher status designated to hetairai; Gnathaena made her own rules and was beholden to no man as were most Athenian women of her day.

 

 

Gnathaena’s rules stated which men were allowed to attend the symposiums she hosted as well as how the men should conduct themselves once they were there.

According to Athenaeus; an ancient Greek rhetorician, her most notable lover was Diphilus, an Athenian New Comedy playwright, whom Gnathaena loved to ridicule though he is described as; ‘a man above her other lovers beloved by her’.

Gnathaena is known to have had many daughters who helped their mother host her symposiums and entertain the guests.

 

10. Archeanassa of Colophon:

The allure of the older woman

 

 

Archeanassa of Colophon, an ancient city in Ionia, Anatolia, today Turkey, was a hetaira of a certain age, living in Athens in the late 5th century BC.

According to biographies about Plato, even though mature, Archeanassa still had the looks, charm and seductiveness with which to magnetize men.

Apparently Plato the philosopher, as a young man, had fallen under her spell and was deeply in love, if not obsessed with her.

 

 

Diogenes Laërtius in his biography of Plato quotes a love poem, written by the young love struck Plato, to Archeanassa:

Version one:

 ‘I have a mistress, fair Archeanassa of Colophon

 On whose very wrinkles sits hot love

 O hapless ye who met such beauty on its first voyage

 What a flame must have been kindled in you’

Version two:

‘I hold Archeanassa, the courtesan from Colophon

 Sweet Eros sits even on her wrinkles.

 Ah, lovers who plucked the fresh flower of her youth when it was first budding 

 what a pyre you came through’

The same poem is also found in a Byzantine compilation called ‘Anthologia Palatina’ and although still addressed to Archeanassa it was thought to be the work Asclepiades not Plato.

 Most modern day academics now accept that it was written by Plato.

 

Greek women – An Endless Mystery

 

The topic of Ancient Greek women is endless; full of mystery and intrigue, both in mythology and ancient history; we have temptresses, muses, philosophers wicked Greek witches, goddesses and most importantly the woman who started it all; Pandora the first mortal woman on earth: the bane of mankind.