[Demosthenes] 59: Against Neaira

Neaira was probably born around the year 400 B.C. Her heredity is uncertain; perhaps she was an abandoned child or from an outlying area of Greece, such as Thrace. Around 390 BC she was purchased by Nikarete, a madam from Corinth. Nikarete operated a "better" establishment in Corinth, a city famous in antiquity for its flourishing prostitution trade. From the name Corinth comes the ancient Greek verb korinthiazein, which means "to fornicate".

Nikarete called Neaira and the other prostitutes who worked for her her "daughters" and provided for their training as prostitutes. Through this "parental" relationship Nikarete sought to increase the price her customers had to pay: it was usual for free women to demand higher prices for their services.[2]

Several girls of different ages lived in the brothel besides Neaira: Metaneira, Anteia, Stratola, Aristokleia, Phila, and Isthnias. They were probably all very prominent in their time. Several dramas were dedicated to Anteia at the time, and the poet Philetairos mentions three of Nikaretes's girls (Neaira, Phila, and Isthmias) in his work The Huntress. Customers belonged to the upper class, for the most part. Sometimes they came from beyond Corinth - the city owed its status as a commercial center to its location on an isthmus. Notable customers included politicians, athletes, philosophers, and well-known poets, among them the poet Xenokeides and the actor Hipparchos.[3]

The orator Lysias was a prominent guest in Nikarete's brothel and a regular customer of Metaneira. To show his appreciation to Nikarete and his mistress, Lysias paid for a trip to Eleusis in the mid-380s, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries at his expense. Lysias and Metaneira were accompanied not only by Nikarete, but also by Neaira. It was probably Neaira's first stay in Athens.[4]

In 378 BC, Neaira again went to the city, this time to the Panathenaic Games, where she was in the company of her madam and regular customer...