Hetarai

In ancient Greece, where women were treated a little better than dirt and a little worse than commodities, the Hetarai were the only ones who could walk down the streets with their heads held high because they were the only ones who could own property in their name and in a way, needed no man to affirm their existence in the world.
From the moment she was born she knew she was no ordinary child, she was too beautiful to be ordinary and hence had to be great. Indeed her beauty was such that her parents could often be found standing by her cot admiring her beauty and she could set hearts a flutter with just the tiniest ghost of a smile. Her parents and everyone who knew her would do anything in their power just to see her smile and she knew it from the moment she was born. No one could bear to make her cry. But alas, when one is born with such power, one soon realises that one has to pay for it. And so, it was without suprise that she soon found herself orphaned at the age of 10 and the 'accident' had left her quite without love and money. A distant aunt took her in and raised her as her own.
It was from her aunt that she learnt about the Hetarai and the power they held over men and in a society which did not and could not tolerate women. Her aunt was such a woman and everything she owned she paid for with her own talent and so she brought her niece up to be just as self sufficient, for with beauty like that, the girl could own the world.