Sexual life in ancient Greece : with thirty-two full-page plates

DANCE AND BaLLt-GamMEs

accustomed harem, they made them come to the inn after their arrival. This, according to Plutarch (Demetrius, 26), was what Demetrius, for many years ruler of Athens, did when he quartered himself in the Parthenon on the Acropolis ; and the fact was thrown in his teeth in a satirical song often sung at the time: “He made the Acropolis his hotel, and brought hetairze into the temple of the Maiden.”

The more as time went on, communication by travelling developed, the more the number of guests increased, of course in all gradations, so that, as Plutarch (De Vitioso Pudore, 8) says, there was ample choice; later, we hear also of very comfortably arranged hotels, in which, according to Epictetus (Dissert., ii, 23, 36; Strabo, 801d), one might like to stay even longer than was absolutely necessary. ‘his is especially true of the north African city of Canopus in the Nile delta, whose inhabitants were well known for their luxury, which expressed itself in numerous noisy festivities. Strabo tells us: “On the canal, which runs between Alexandria and Canopus, the traffic of the ships journeying backwards and forwards never ceases by night and day. Men and women dance, totally unembarrassed, with the utmost licentiousness, some of them on the ships, others in the inns on the side of the canal, which seem to be made for such riotous and voluptuous proceedings.”

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