Well, I can't keep dodging this. Time to declare myself, once and for all.
Were the hetaírai sex workers or not?
I've read the various arguments, pro- and con-, and have no idea who's right.
But I think purely as a matter of game writing in the 2020s, the hetaírai should not be SWs in my game.
Were the hetaírai sex workers or not?
I've read the various arguments, pro- and con-, and have no idea who's right.
But I think purely as a matter of game writing in the 2020s, the hetaírai should not be SWs in my game.
September 22, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Well, I can't keep dodging this. Time to declare myself, once and for all.
Were the hetaírai sex workers or not?
I've read the various arguments, pro- and con-, and have no idea who's right.
But I think purely as a matter of game writing in the 2020s, the hetaírai should not be SWs in my game.
Were the hetaírai sex workers or not?
I've read the various arguments, pro- and con-, and have no idea who's right.
But I think purely as a matter of game writing in the 2020s, the hetaírai should not be SWs in my game.
making my own ship week with blackjack and hetairai
May 20, 2026 at 8:11 PM
making my own ship week with blackjack and hetairai
Pictured: Hetairai at Haloea festival dancing around a giant phallus (Oedipus Painter, 480 BCE)
December 21, 2024 at 1:55 PM
Pictured: Hetairai at Haloea festival dancing around a giant phallus (Oedipus Painter, 480 BCE)
charlie brown had hetairai
saying that charlie brown had "hoes" is like saying that temple of aphrodite at corinth had "hoes". what was happening there was within its own cultural context, and we should be careful about describing it in modern language
July 1, 2025 at 2:10 AM
charlie brown had hetairai
The hetairai are in the game because I wanted to include everything & everyone relevant to the Mesopotamians, which led to everyone in the Mediterranean being a part of the game.
For the hetairai, a few famous historical hetairai (Phryne foremost among them) came from Thespiae, so I'm turning--
For the hetairai, a few famous historical hetairai (Phryne foremost among them) came from Thespiae, so I'm turning--
September 22, 2026 at 11:25 AM
The hetairai are in the game because I wanted to include everything & everyone relevant to the Mesopotamians, which led to everyone in the Mediterranean being a part of the game.
For the hetairai, a few famous historical hetairai (Phryne foremost among them) came from Thespiae, so I'm turning--
For the hetairai, a few famous historical hetairai (Phryne foremost among them) came from Thespiae, so I'm turning--
This is the perfect MAGA relationship: a grifter and her dummy mark. She's more like hetairai than pornai.
April 22, 2026 at 11:11 PM
This is the perfect MAGA relationship: a grifter and her dummy mark. She's more like hetairai than pornai.
Yeah. As someone putting a game out into the market in the 2020s, I think I can't make the hetairai sex workers. As someone who's read what they can about the hetairai, I think they were charming no-touch escorts who got written about by their male customers as if they were prostitutes.
September 22, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Yeah. As someone putting a game out into the market in the 2020s, I think I can't make the hetairai sex workers. As someone who's read what they can about the hetairai, I think they were charming no-touch escorts who got written about by their male customers as if they were prostitutes.
can I say something. everyone thinks thancred was trained by hetairai in sharlayan but it was actually urianger
April 20, 2026 at 1:52 AM
can I say something. everyone thinks thancred was trained by hetairai in sharlayan but it was actually urianger
That’s hetairai— spellcheck had a stroke.
June 2, 2026 at 5:11 PM
That’s hetairai— spellcheck had a stroke.
#gislore there is no implicit stigma against sex work in the empire but its disdain for hetairai is due to the perception of trickery. if gods are fake, as the argument goes, then the concept of sacred sex work is farce, a deception intended to manipulate people via their basest instincts.
for Gisèle it would probably have been “Meretrix”, the term for a ~high-class~ courtesan, though I need to state it’s with less respect than the irl Roman equivalent as hetairai are viewed with more suspicion and contempt in Garlemald than the average sex worker, due to the religious aspect.
#wolqotd
eline roaille, "the ivy" was sending reports on the warrior of light's activities as part of her spy work for garlemald. what code name would she have assigned your wol/oc?
eline roaille, "the ivy" was sending reports on the warrior of light's activities as part of her spy work for garlemald. what code name would she have assigned your wol/oc?
March 31, 2026 at 5:41 PM
#gislore there is no implicit stigma against sex work in the empire but its disdain for hetairai is due to the perception of trickery. if gods are fake, as the argument goes, then the concept of sacred sex work is farce, a deception intended to manipulate people via their basest instincts.
Hilo de #EtimologíasconArte. Hoy: PORNO.
En un célebre fragmento del Discurso contra Neera, de Demóstenes, el arconte Apolodoro hace esta clasificación de mujeres: “cortesanas para los placeres (ἑταίρᾱί hetairai), concubinas para el servicio diario de nuestros cuerpos (παλλᾰκαί pallakai), y esposas👇🏻
En un célebre fragmento del Discurso contra Neera, de Demóstenes, el arconte Apolodoro hace esta clasificación de mujeres: “cortesanas para los placeres (ἑταίρᾱί hetairai), concubinas para el servicio diario de nuestros cuerpos (παλλᾰκαί pallakai), y esposas👇🏻
May 6, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Hilo de #EtimologíasconArte. Hoy: PORNO.
En un célebre fragmento del Discurso contra Neera, de Demóstenes, el arconte Apolodoro hace esta clasificación de mujeres: “cortesanas para los placeres (ἑταίρᾱί hetairai), concubinas para el servicio diario de nuestros cuerpos (παλλᾰκαί pallakai), y esposas👇🏻
En un célebre fragmento del Discurso contra Neera, de Demóstenes, el arconte Apolodoro hace esta clasificación de mujeres: “cortesanas para los placeres (ἑταίρᾱί hetairai), concubinas para el servicio diario de nuestros cuerpos (παλλᾰκαί pallakai), y esposas👇🏻
why sacred sex work wrt nald’thal and not, say, menphina? it is the world’s oldest profession and he rules over commerce. each of the twelve have hetairai, including her, but he is considered patron of sex work and workers as a whole. they pray to him for wealth but also for fair treatment in trade.
February 19, 2026 at 3:39 AM
why sacred sex work wrt nald’thal and not, say, menphina? it is the world’s oldest profession and he rules over commerce. each of the twelve have hetairai, including her, but he is considered patron of sex work and workers as a whole. they pray to him for wealth but also for fair treatment in trade.
I recently tried to update my LinkedIn bio to reflect my academic research on the literary portrayal of Greek sex workers (hetairai) in Imperial Graeco-Roman literature.
@linkedin.com wouldn’t let me use the term “sex worker”, even in a clearly academic and respectful context.
@linkedin.com wouldn’t let me use the term “sex worker”, even in a clearly academic and respectful context.
April 12, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I recently tried to update my LinkedIn bio to reflect my academic research on the literary portrayal of Greek sex workers (hetairai) in Imperial Graeco-Roman literature.
@linkedin.com wouldn’t let me use the term “sex worker”, even in a clearly academic and respectful context.
@linkedin.com wouldn’t let me use the term “sex worker”, even in a clearly academic and respectful context.
for Gisèle it would probably have been “Meretrix”, the term for a ~high-class~ courtesan, though I need to state it’s with less respect than the irl Roman equivalent as hetairai are viewed with more suspicion and contempt in Garlemald than the average sex worker, due to the religious aspect.
#wolqotd
eline roaille, "the ivy" was sending reports on the warrior of light's activities as part of her spy work for garlemald. what code name would she have assigned your wol/oc?
eline roaille, "the ivy" was sending reports on the warrior of light's activities as part of her spy work for garlemald. what code name would she have assigned your wol/oc?
March 31, 2026 at 5:30 PM
for Gisèle it would probably have been “Meretrix”, the term for a ~high-class~ courtesan, though I need to state it’s with less respect than the irl Roman equivalent as hetairai are viewed with more suspicion and contempt in Garlemald than the average sex worker, due to the religious aspect.
(Also, they are reading @kataplexis.bsky.social's work on citizen women and hetairai for the seminars!)
April 16, 2024 at 9:48 AM
(Also, they are reading @kataplexis.bsky.social's work on citizen women and hetairai for the seminars!)
coincidence into something else. (Thespiae, in a game where the gods & magic are real, would become a very special place and would eventually start training women to become hetairai, as that's the best role for them to play as spies and assassins).
September 22, 2026 at 11:26 AM
coincidence into something else. (Thespiae, in a game where the gods & magic are real, would become a very special place and would eventually start training women to become hetairai, as that's the best role for them to play as spies and assassins).
Gisèle was already rather famed in Ul’dah as a temple courtesan of Nald’thal before she joined the Scions and not only are there are no stigmas against sex work there (it’s a trade as respected as any other), hetairai are specifically revered as sacred. As such, she is used to a degree of openness,
A #wolqotd from me;
How do your OC's handle talking about their sex lives amongst friends and mutuals? Do they avoid it? Relish, and embellish? Are they shy, or afraid of being judged for their proclivities of those around them?
I'll start-
How do your OC's handle talking about their sex lives amongst friends and mutuals? Do they avoid it? Relish, and embellish? Are they shy, or afraid of being judged for their proclivities of those around them?
I'll start-
March 11, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Gisèle was already rather famed in Ul’dah as a temple courtesan of Nald’thal before she joined the Scions and not only are there are no stigmas against sex work there (it’s a trade as respected as any other), hetairai are specifically revered as sacred. As such, she is used to a degree of openness,
Introduction To The Sacred Hetairai Experience 🫦
premium.chat/TheMysticalD...
#TheMysticalDiva #EbonyDomme #GFE #FemDom #SensualDomination #EbonyGoddess #GoddessWorship #Hetairai
premium.chat/TheMysticalD...
#TheMysticalDiva #EbonyDomme #GFE #FemDom #SensualDomination #EbonyGoddess #GoddessWorship #Hetairai
Introduction To The Sacred Hetairai Experience
✨START✨
“ In Ancient Greece, there lived a collective of divine femininity who were revered in company and companionship in philosophy, intellectual conversation, and arts—these women were called heta...
premium.chat
April 26, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Introduction To The Sacred Hetairai Experience 🫦
premium.chat/TheMysticalD...
#TheMysticalDiva #EbonyDomme #GFE #FemDom #SensualDomination #EbonyGoddess #GoddessWorship #Hetairai
premium.chat/TheMysticalD...
#TheMysticalDiva #EbonyDomme #GFE #FemDom #SensualDomination #EbonyGoddess #GoddessWorship #Hetairai
Hetairai are treated as vessels of divine will is why. The particulars vary from order to order, culture to culture, but Gilded Companions are specifically held as Nald’thal’s most cherished treasures. (Their leader’s title translates to “heavenly treasure”, literally). So harming one is heresy.
April 14, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Hetairai are treated as vessels of divine will is why. The particulars vary from order to order, culture to culture, but Gilded Companions are specifically held as Nald’thal’s most cherished treasures. (Their leader’s title translates to “heavenly treasure”, literally). So harming one is heresy.
i have reached the part of the hetairai doc abt his order is why this is coming up suddenly. he likes to pop into their sexy initiation rites. also the closest thing they have to a leader is always the most senior one and has the title of Windrider and that should be self-explanatory.
April 19, 2026 at 10:47 PM
i have reached the part of the hetairai doc abt his order is why this is coming up suddenly. he likes to pop into their sexy initiation rites. also the closest thing they have to a leader is always the most senior one and has the title of Windrider and that should be self-explanatory.
maybe I’ll work more on the lore today to keep the horrors at bay. at least on the Gilded Companions, that doc is almost done. the bigger one on the hetairai in general is going to be a while still just because I decided to go into each of the currently operating orders
April 30, 2026 at 2:46 PM
maybe I’ll work more on the lore today to keep the horrors at bay. at least on the Gilded Companions, that doc is almost done. the bigger one on the hetairai in general is going to be a while still just because I decided to go into each of the currently operating orders
Also, unrelated, but it won't leave my mind:
Charlie Brown had hetairai
Charlie Brown had hetairai
October 25, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Also, unrelated, but it won't leave my mind:
Charlie Brown had hetairai
Charlie Brown had hetairai
2000+ years of sex workers and art 🏺 - cosi’s odyssey - cosisodyssey.substack.com/p/2000-years...
2000+ years of sex workers and art 🏺
From hetairai on Ancient Greek drinking cups to Sinéad O'Dwyer's latest fashion show ❤️🔥
cosisodyssey.substack.com
October 2, 2024 at 6:19 PM
2000+ years of sex workers and art 🏺 - cosi’s odyssey - cosisodyssey.substack.com/p/2000-years...
Kylenne/Aurora/Elfyourmother. She's ripping off Kushiel's Dart (and its series) by Jacqueline Carey for her hetairai or whatever they're called. Like, she's doing this shit 1:1 and acting like it's her own creation.
July 8, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Kylenne/Aurora/Elfyourmother. She's ripping off Kushiel's Dart (and its series) by Jacqueline Carey for her hetairai or whatever they're called. Like, she's doing this shit 1:1 and acting like it's her own creation.