Heterosexual, geisha, cain and, finally, courtesan - these were the names of the ladies who made seduction of men a kind of art. And real art is not cheap. Unsurprisingly, as many courtesans have become close friends with rich and powerful men, they have not shunned the temptation to steer history.
How did playwives change the world?
The concept of "courtesan" is usually separated from the concept of "prostitute", although in terms of, so to speak, economic, in both cases we are talking about women making a living through sex. Only in the first case we are talking about higher earnings with less "productivity" and more beautiful surroundings accompanying love joys …
A courtesan should not be confused with a kept woman or a favorite, who were forced to remain faithful to one man - a rich man or a monarch. Persistence in this case was indicative of vulnerability. A real courtesan could afford to change a monarch for a financier, a financier for a poor artist, and that one for a politician in order to make history.
Olympian Girlfriend
How the native of Miletus Aspasia (about 470-400 BC), the daughter of the venerable landowner Axiochus, ended up in Athens is unknown. Probably, she arrived in the richest city of Hellas, already being an eminent hetero.
Soon, the famous politician Pericles (nicknamed the Olympian) got into her network, tired of his pious wife Telesippa. Falling in love like a boy, he gave Telesippa a divorce and even found a new spouse for her, after which he began to openly live with Aspasia, whom, however, he never married. This did not bother Hetero, because, unlike other Athenians, instead of doing housework, she organized a secular salon, which was attended by the philosophers Socrates, Anaxagoras and Zeno, the playwright Euripides, the doctor Hippocrates, the sculptor Phidias.
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Opponents of Pericles stated that he sacrificed the interests of his native city for the sake of his mistress. So, in 440 BC. Athens became involved in the conflict between the islands of Samos and Miletus, taking the side of the homeland of Aspasia. However, the war ended in victory, which brought obvious benefits to Athens. Then the enemies brought charges of "impiety" against Aspasia, Phidias and Anaxagoras, the essence of which is unknown. We can only assume that the reason was the image of the "mortals" (probably Aspasia and Anaxagoras) in the form of the gods - the inhabitants of Olympus.
Anaxagoras was expelled from Athens. Phidias was acquitted, but immediately sent to prison on charges of embezzlement of funds allocated for the construction of the temple and was actually taken to the grave.
For Aspasia, Pericles literally begged forgiveness from the popular assembly. Trying to regain his position, in 431 BC. He started the "small victorious" Peloponnesian War, which dragged on for 27 years and ended with the collapse of the Athenian military and political power.
Pericles himself died shortly after the start of the war, having managed to beg for Athenian citizenship for the only son whom Aspasia gave birth to - Pericles the Younger (the poor man was executed in 406 BC for a lost battle, along with five other strategists).
After the death of Pericles, Aspasia began to live with the cattle dealer Lysicles, who, thanks to her efforts, became the new leader of the Athenian democrats. True, only for a year, since soon he either died or died in battle.
Since then, Aspasia has not played any role in Athens.
The best shroud - the imperial mantle
Empress Theodora (about 500-548) ruled the Byzantine Empire for almost a quarter of a century together with her husband Justinian I. And she began as a courtesan.
She lost her father, a certain Akaki, who worked as a bear caretaker in the circus, as a child. Theodora joined the wandering troupe and spent a stormy youth, described by the historian Procopius of Caesarea in the following colors: “She often came to dinner, put together by ten or even more fellows, distinguished by enormous bodily strength and experienced in debauchery, and during the night she gave herself all companions; then, when all of them, exhausted, were unable to continue this occupation, she went to their servants, and there were sometimes up to thirty of them, mated with each of them, but even then she did not feel satiety from this lust.
True, of her lovers, Procopius calls only one name - a certain Gekebol, who was appointed governor of the city of Pentapolis and who took the young circus with him to Africa. Something didn’t stick together, and Theodora had to return to Constantinople. She arrived home with a tidy sum, which indicates her professional growth. In the capital, the courtesan bought a small house and began to lead a virtuous life.
Soon Theodora caught a really "big fish" in her nets in the person of Justinian, the nephew and heir of the Emperor Justin. He fell in love with Theodora so deeply that he decided to marry her legally. But the lovers had to wait several years until the Empress Euphemia, who objected to the wedding, died.
But after the accession in 527 of Justinian to the throne, Theodora demonstrated an enviable grasp. She managed to reconcile the followers of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope, Monophysites, Arians, all sorts of sectarians, who were ready to cut each other. Extinguishing the flames of religious schism for nearly a century.
When the Nika rebellion broke out in 532 and Justinian decided to renounce the throne, it was Theodora's statement that “the best shroud is the imperial mantle” that forced him to fight to the last.
Then there were victories over the Vandals and Ostrogoths, the construction of the Hagia Sophia and the Justinian Code, which became the basis of modern European law.
At the insistence of Theodora, for the first time in the history of jurisprudence, laws appeared on punishment for pimping and child molestation. Thousands of poor people regularly enjoyed the fruits of her charitable work.
In general, she was a real empress, who instilled in her subjects, as necessary, either fear or sacred awe.
Cain's happiness is not about sex
In the Arab East, Cains were called artists who themselves composed poetry and music for their songs.
According to their social status, they were slaves and could belong not only to a rich and noble person, but also, for example, to an urban community.
Caina named Arib, who was born at the end of the 8th century, was the mistress of eight successive caliphs and, in general, lived a life that does not fit well with our ideas about the Muslim East.
Her mother was the concubine of the vizier Jafar ibn Yahya, the "prime minister" of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, known from the tales of The Thousand and One Nights.
Father was executed in 803 for being too smart. Arib became the property of the dignitary al-Marakibi, fascinated by her grace and talent.
After another feast, the beauty ran away with his guest - a certain al-Hasin - captivated by his blue eyes. Then, however, she was disappointed and returned back, and the owner did not even squeal about any punishment, but, on the contrary, expressed his joy in every possible way.
Caliph al-Amin, who heard about Arib, sent for her and, appreciating her talent, wanted to buy her from the owner, but did not have time, as he was killed.
Arib bought the next caliph - al-Mamun, he paid 50,000 dirhams for it. And after his death, it was acquired by his successor al-Mutasim for 100,000 dirhams, who then gave her freedom. Then there were al-Wasik, al-Mutawakkil, al-Muntasir, al-Mutazz - colorful characters who knew how to appreciate art and eliminate competitors.
When Arib seduced the last of them, she was over 60. By the way, she liked him the most in bed. However, her exactingness in sexual terms is characterized by the statement that "in sex, only the firmness of an erection and fresh breath are important, and if a man is also handsome, then this is already a pleasant addition."
Of the long-term lovers, Arib is distinguished by the poet, intellectual and high-ranking official al-Mudabbir, with whom she often exchanged poetic messages. How often she intervened in politics is difficult to judge, but if such whims got into her head, it is obvious that she achieved her goal.
Madame Thermidor
Teresa Talien (1773-1835) was the daughter of the Spanish finance minister Francisco Cabarrus and Maria Galaber, who came from a family of French industrialists.
Teresa Talien every turn of history met in bed the next lover, who became more powerful and richer!
At the age of 14, she became the mistress of Alexander Labor, the son of a financial tycoon, but due to friction between families, her father chose to marry her off to the red-haired and ugly Marquis de Fontenay. In due time, she gave birth to a boy who looked like her lover.
With the beginning of the French Revolution, her husband emigrated, and Teresa divorced him in absentia, which did not save her from imprisonment. But Jean-Lambert Talien, appointed commissioner in Bordeaux, saved her from the guillotine and did not flood the city with blood at all.
The de facto dictator of France, Robespierre, decided that it was a matter of bad female influence, and Teresa was arrested a second time. From prison, she sent Talien a note: "I am dying because I belong to a coward."
After that Talien became the "engine" of the Thermidorian coup, which cost Robespierre himself.
The freed Teresa married Talien, gave birth to a daughter and became the owner of the salon, in which all the non-guillotined French celebrities gathered.
It was she who introduced Josephine Beauharnais to the disgraced General Bonaparte and promoted the career of the future emperor through her lover (whom she shared with Josephine), the politician Paul Barras.
She also brought into fashion transparent muslin dresses worn over the naked body.
Her husband's political influence, meanwhile, tended to zero. Even before the divorce from him (in 1803), Teresa became the mistress of the banker Gabriel Uvrar, to whom she gave birth to four children.
Napoleon remembered that Teresa brought him good luck, but as the main courtesan of France, she annoyed him.
Realizing that free revolutionary morals were a thing of the past, "Madame Thermidor" in 1805 married the venerable Count de Caraman, to whom she gave birth to two sons and a daughter.
For the last 30 years of her life, she was known as a well-behaved person.
One step away from the throne
Matilda Kshesinskaya (1872-1971) went down in art history as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century, despite the fact that contemporaries perceived her more as a "hunter for the great princes."
The first of the representatives of the House of Romanov to fall into her network could potentially become her largest prey. We are talking about Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Nikolai II, the last Russian emperor.
Perhaps their acquaintance was initiated by Alexander III, who wanted the heir to the throne to gain experience in intimate matters.
The Tsarevich himself by that time had already laid eyes on the Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. However, flirting with a pretty ballerina in 1893 left the platonic phase, so at one time Nikolai Alexandrovich seemed to be thinking about marriage. But he still married Alice, who adopted the name of Alexander Fedorovna in Orthodoxy. But Kshesinskaya became the prima ballerina of the imperial theaters.
After parting with Nicholas II, he was replaced by the Tsar's brother George (according to another version, she maintained relations with Nicholas and George at the same time), to whom the title of Tsarevich also passed. In 1899, he died of tuberculosis, and was succeeded by the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich, Through Sergei Mikhailovich Kshesinskaya, who headed the artillery department in the First World War, helped the distribution of large orders among the "right" companies for a considerable bribe.
Sergei Mikhailovich was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918 in Alapaevsk.
When his body was taken out of the mine, a medallion with a portrait of Kshesinskaya and the signature "Malia" was found in a clenched fist.
She married Andrei Vladimirovich in 1921, already in exile.
The question of which of the two great dukes was the father of her only son, Vladimir, remains open.
Andrei Vladimirovich's brother Kirill in exile became the locum tenens of the throne, bestowing on Matilda the title of "Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya".
She died near Paris.
Her brother, dancer and choreographer Iosif Kshesinsky died in 1942 in besieged Leningrad.
I wonder how the history of Russia would develop if instead of the prim and not beloved by her subjects Alexandra Feodorovna, a cheerful Polish ballerina became the Empress of Russia?
Dmitry MITYURIN