Three officially recognized classes of prostitutes existed in the ancient Greece:
. The lowest class, the dicteriades, worked in brothels called dicteria. At first the dicteria were operated by the municipal government; later they became private enterprises that paid taxes. The dicteriades were educated only in sexual technique and the price charged for their services was small. But these women were immensely popular, and their combined earnings brought substantial revenues to the state.
. The middle class of prostitutes, the auletrides ("flute-players"), were lovely and accomplished musicians, dancers, and strippers. The most famous auletrides charged as much as 50 thousands of dollars for a night's work at an Athenian banquet, and they sometimes so aroused such frenzied passion that their audience literally showevered them with valuable rings and jeweled ornaments. It is known that Lamia, a true beauty and artist of love, was taken with the city by Demetrius of Macedon, and soon ruled Demetrius. And, through him, Athens. The Athenians built a temple in her honor, even deifying her under the name "Aphrodite Lamia".
. The
hetairae were the most important women in Greece, and the most important
sex workers in the entire history of earth. Hetairae were thoroughly educated and free to leave the confines of the home to see plays, attend banquets, or debate
philosophy and politics with the most learned men. Through the ancient writtings and pictures, one can now state conceivably that hetairae have generated more amount of
pleasure than any woman in the world will do until the yr. 2001.
Sources
Heinrich Alexander Stoll: Der traum von Troja. Paul List Verlag (ed). Leipzig, 1978.
Gene Wolfe: Soldier of Arete. Martinez Roca (ed). Barcelona. 1991.
Carl Grimberg, Ragnar Svanström: Världhistoria, Folkens liv och Kultur. Norstedt and Söners (ed). Stockholm. 1997.