Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An ancient Greek courtesan or concubine, especially one who was highly educated or refined.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In ancient Greece, a woman, particularly a slave or a foreigner, devoted to public or private entertainment, making a profession of flute-playing, dancing, etc., and in some cases rising to high consideration for learning, talents, and the social arts; hence, a courtezan; an avowed concubine or female paramour. At Athens only daughters of full citizens could become, under the law, wives of citizens; thus, Aspasia of Miletus, the accomplished companion of Pericles, was, as a foreigner, classed as a hetæra. Also written
hetaira , plural hetairai.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Gr. Antiq.) A female paramour; a mistress, concubine, or harlot.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
mistress , especially a highly cultivatedcourtesan in ancient Greece.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Roman hetaera, relief, around 2nd century — head is missing.
Archive 2008-02-01 2008
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Roman hetaera, relief, around 2nd century — head is missing.
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Pericles' celebrated hetaera, Aspasia, came from Miletos.
Miletos Tristesse Walter Jon Williams 2009
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Pericles' celebrated hetaera, Aspasia, came from Miletos.
Archive 2009-04-01 Walter Jon Williams 2009
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The godlike Xenocrates showed this by the firmness of his reason, who was declared by the famous hetaera Phryne to be a statue and not a man, when all her blandishments could not shake his resolve, as Valerius Maximus relates at length.
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He owned a shield factory and was wealthy enough to have a hetaera, a high-class prostitute, if that's what Aspasia was.
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You see, a friend of mine, wife of another friend and they were both close to me-as a special gift she introduced me to another hetaera, a great beauty, and arranged for me a holiday with her-paid for by my friends; they could afford it, she is wealthy.
Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973
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I'm not speaking of technique; I suspect that any high-priced hetaera in New Rome is as skilled as any famous courtesan in history.
Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973
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A great hetaera never proposes a contract and usually won't listen if a man is bold enough to propose one himself.
Time Enough For Love Heinlein, Robert A. 1973
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Not a slut, but what is a hetaera; and not a hetaera, but what is well-nigh Kypris herself!
Yama: the pit Bernard Guilbert Guerney 1904
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