Nikarete operated a "bettering" establishment in Corinth, a city famous in antiquity for its prostitution trade.
From Corinth and Greek literature comes the verb korinthiazein, which loosely translated means "to fornicate".
[1] Nikarete bought young girls from the Corinthian slave market and trained them as hetaera, to let them make their own living.
[4] Through a kind of parental relationship Nikarete sought to increase the price her customers had to pay (free women were usually higher in demand).
Nikarete's most famous hetaera Neaira, for instance, whom she bought along with six other girls was marketed as her own daughter so that she commanded higher prices.