This video combines work from one of my favorite pre-Raphaelite painters, John William Waterhouse, with one of my favorite pieces of classical music, Meditation from Thais, by Jules Massenet. Thais was a celebrated Alexandrian hetaera, a highly cultured Courtesan in Greece.  She apparently managed to beguile Alexander to the extent that he was inspired to burn Persepolis!   The following is a poem written by Robert E. Howard as a tribute to the Courtesan.  He mentions Thais:

The Woman of the ages


Despite your harlot’s guise;


Ah, glory of your bosom,


Ah, starlight of your eyes.

You lifted man from mire;


You taught the gods to love—


And you seduced young Adam


Defaming Eden’s grove.

You laughed among the planets


When Lucifer was hurled


From out the starry realms


To haunt a bestial world.

You sat enthroned by Sargon,


You reigned by Nero’s side,


You knew the couch of Ptolemy,


You were a pharaoh’s bride.

You walked unviolated


Or gave yourself for hire;


You were a vestal virgin,


A prostitute of Tyre.

Ah, Lilith, Phryne, Thais,


I hail you in my rime;

Woman of all world’s women,


The woman of all Time.

From “The Road to Babel”

To read the complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard