Laïs

Laïs, the name of one or, more probably, two Greek courtesans, celebrated for extraordinary beauty. The elder is believed to have been born at Corinth, and flourished during the Peloponnesian war. She was supposed to be the most graceful woman of her time in Greece, but in character she was capricious, and greedy of money, and in her old age she gave way to intemperance.—The younger appears to have been born in Sicily, but came to Corinth when still a child. She sat as a model to the painter Apelles, and is said to have been stoned to death by some Thessalian women whom she had made jealous.