int
them. He painted a portrait which represented her seated with a flower
wreath; it was so excellent that the Roman general Lucullus, after the
Mithridatic War, when he was making a collection of statues and
paintings, paid two talents for a copy.

It is not strange that many of the hetaerae, noted for their superlative
beauty and for their cultivation of art and literature and the
refinements of life, should attain historical celebrity and, as
heroines of the demi-monde, should influence for weal or woe the
destinies of Greece. We shall briefly notice important incidents in the
careers of a few of the members of this prominent class.

Gnathaena, daughter of the panderess Sinope, was one of the most
keen-witted and clever of Athenian hetaerae. She was noted for her happy
play on words. She also devised a set of rules for the conduct of
dinners and banquets, which lovers had to observe when they visited her
or her daughter, Gnathaenion. In this she imitated the most cultured
hosts of Athens, and exhibited a regard for social forms which throws a
commendable light on the deportment of the more cultivated hetaerae.
Gnathaenion, the daughter, was for some time the favorite of the comic
poet Diphilus, and he had many a brilliant passage of repartee with the
mother on the occasion of his visits to the daughter.

Melitta was another famous hetaerae, beloved for her beautiful figure and
voice as well as for her pleasing conversation and sprightliness. As
each of her lovers said, "the fair Melitta was his madness," she was
also called Mania. She was one of the many favorites of Demetrius the
Besieger. More celebrated, however, than Melitta as a favorite of
Demetrius was the beautiful Lamia, the most renowned flute player of
antiquity. She was the daughter of a prominent Athenian citizen, by name
Cleanor, and, choosing to follow the independent life of a hetaerae, she
made her native city the first scene of her exploits. From here she
journeyed to Alexandria, where by her art and her beauty she speedily
won recognition at the court of Ptolemy. Accompanying Ptolemy Soter in
his naval war against Antigonus and Demetrius, she fell a prisoner into
the hands of the latter. Although her youth and beauty were already on
the wane, she succeeded in captivating Demetrius, who was much younger
than herself, so that, as Plutarch states, he appeared to be actually
her lover, while with other women he was only the object of love. Lamia
ru