Gnathaena

According to Athenaeus, Gnathaena was famous for her lavish parties and witty repartee, and even wrote a treatise on proper conduct at her symposiums entitled, "Rules for Dining in Company".

[4] However, this definition of what hetairai did is contested by the Oxford Classical Dictionary (second edition) as well as by the lawyer Apollodorus in his prosecution speech "Against Neaera".

Being a part of the hetairai class afforded Gnathaena the luxury of becoming highly educated, controlling her own finances, and additionally hosting banquets and symposiums of her own that were attended by the wealthy men with whom she consorted.

Women of Athens traditionally had a limited ability to hold land or participate in their own financial decisions, and were not particularly involved socially in the way that men were, past some religious festivals such as the Thesmophoria.

Some scholars believe that this is a testament to how well-respected she was in her time and an indication of the higher status afforded to hetaira, as Gnathaena made the rules for her own household and was not beholden to a man in the way that most Athenian women were.

"Gnathaena is described extensively by Athenaeus as being "very witty and prompt in repartee" and having multiple lovers (some named, some unnamed) to whom she provided both intellectual and emotional companionship as well as sexual relations.

Athenaeus gives examples of a few of what he considers to be her wittiest phrases in his work Deipnosophistae:[1] Once, when a man came to see her, and saw some eggs on a dish, and said, "Are these raw, Gnathaena, or boiled?"