Talk:Hetaira

A note
The link to courtisanerie seems to be misdirected in the context of this article. That article seems to discuss the activities of courtiers, not courtesans. Perhaps a link to courtesan instead? -- April 00:25, 19 Nov 2003 (UTC)


 * The former has been redirected to the latter. Ellsworth 20:50, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

"Physical talents"
What does that term mean? Is it a euphemism for 'sexual talents'? If so, I think we should say the latter. Anchoress · Weigh Anchor · Catacomb 19:28, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I just came to say the same thing. Dance and music are largely physical; certainly they are also mental, but what is not? -Pgan002 (talk) 02:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

NSFW pictures?
Just a question about NSFW pictures - the illustrative picture on this page appears to be close to the line, in that I would be uncomfortable having that pop up on my screen at work. Is there a policy on this and where does this picture fall? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.94.152 (talk) 00:35, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not censored, so the only policy is to use illustrative freely-licensed pictures exactly where they are the most illustrative. Anchoress · Weigh Anchor · Catacomb 00:46, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

public exclusion of wives
Should mention that one of the main foundations of the whole hetaerism system (as opposed to simple prostitution) was that legitimate wives were often forbidden from participating in many public events, including the banquets or "symposia" which often made up such a large part of ancient Greek social life (such exclusion of "virtuous" women seems to have been especially strict in Athens), which made it necessary to have "unvirtuous" women available if men wanted to have female companionship at such events... AnonMoos (talk) 09:46, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Modern parallel?
By the way, a somewhat modern parallel would seem to be Japanese geisha and bar "hostesses" -- just like the socially-active and moderately wealthy citizens of ancient Athens (who spent many hours at convivial feasts or "symposia"), modern Japanese salarymen spend many hours socializing after work with their fellow employees, and in both cases (as a matter of firmly-established custom) their wives can't accompany them to these social occasions, so that they need other female companionship there... AnonMoos (talk) 13:25, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
 * No we should not make the claim that Japanese barpersons are prostitutes without sufficient reliable sources to say that is what they are. ~ R.T.G 13:53, 2 April 2020 (UTC)

Etymology of Hetaera
Why does this article refer to these women as “hetaerae” instead of “hetairai”? The former spelling apparently comes from Medieval Latin, while the latter spelling comes directly from the Ancient Greek. See “Hetaera” Entry in Online Etymology Dictionary as a reference. The “hetairai” spelling might be more appropriate, especially since this article deals primarily with Greek historical figures while referencing Greek primary sources. 67.174.12.194 (talk) 09:34, 29 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Google ngrams shows that 'hetaira' is more common than 'hetaera', being used between 2 and 5 times as often. --ABehrens (talk) 19:33, 1 February 2020 (UTC)