Aspasia enjoyed a high reputation as a teacher of rhetoric. It is said that she instructed Pericles in this art, and that even Socrates admitted to have learned very much from her. The house of Aspasia became the center of the most brilliant intellectual society. Men who were in the advance guard of Hellenic thought, Socrates and his friends included, gathered here. [Illustration: A DANCING LESSON IN THE TEMPLE OF DIONYSOS. After a painting by H. Schneider. ] Another noted courtesan was Phryne, who by her radiant beauty acquired so much wealth that she could offer to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander (335 B. C.), on condition that the restored walls bear the inscription, “Destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne, the hetære.” When the festival of Poseidon was held at Eleusis, she laid aside her garments, let down her hair and stepped into the sea in the sight of the people, thus suggesting to Apelles his great painting of “Aphrodite rising from the sea.” The famous sculptor Praxiteles too used her as a model for his statue “the Cnidian Aphrodite,” which Pliny declared to be the most beautiful statue in the world. Anteia, Isostasion, Korinna, Phonion, Klepsydra, Thalatta, Danae, Mania, Nicarete, Herpyllis, Lamia, Lasthenia, Theis, Bachis and Theodota are the names of other courtesans, who became widely known for their relations with prominent men of Hellas and acquired enormous wealth. Sappho, the famous poetess, whom Plato dignified with the epithets of “the tenth Muse,” “the flower of the Graces,” and “a miracle,” most probably belonged likewise to this class. It is said that she established in Mytilene a literary association of women of tastes and pursuits similar to her own, and that these women devoted themselves to every species of refined and elegant pleasure, sensual and intellectual. Music and poetry, and the art of love, were taught by Sappho and her older companions to the younger members of the sisterhood. Hierarchical prostitution prevailed in Hellas. It was connected with the service of Aphrodite, the Greek counterpart of the Babylonian Mylitta. Strabo states, that in her temple of Corinth more than one thousand courtesans were devoted to the service of this goddess. The amount of money, earned by these girls and flowing into the priest’s treasury, was so enormous that Solon, the great statesman and law maker, envying the temples for such rich income, founded the Dikterion, a brothel of great style, the income of which went into the treasury of the state.