Dialogues of the Courtesans [ 3–1-2. ]

From 300 b.c. on, a type of comedy known as Greek New Comedy flourished throughout the Greek-speaking world. It had an almost fixed cast of characters, prominent among whom was the courtesan. Lucian has deliberately given his courtesans the same names as the girls in the plays and has occasionally put them in the same situations. But here the resemblance ends: the courtesans of Greek New Comedy were onstage; in these dialogues we are backstage.