quals of the upper-class intellectual males of that century. Well-read, beautiful, and learned in the areas of poetry, politics, and debate, the courtesans were wanted by all the men and admired and envied by all of the women. While most of them did not actively choose the life of a prostitute, they decided to use that career to enjoy the freedom and liberty denied to the rest of the women of that time. Surviving on their beauty, wit, and intelligence alone, they strived for the only thing that they could truly call their own, their independence....
