#phryne

[sundayroadkill]

girl godhood is a spectrum 🙏

[wonder-worker]

Phryne before the Areopagus by Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1861

Phryne of Thespiae

"What we “know” of Phryne consists of a random collection of anecdotes, much of which resists efforts to construct a coherent biography. Most of our information comes from late second-century CE Greek writers living in the Roman Empire writing hundreds of years after her floruit, most notably the rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus (late second/ early third cent. CE). His lengthy treatise, Dining Sophists, itself lacks an overt narrative structure, consisting rather of thousands of quotations from earlier texts, many now lost.

From these fragments, we learn that Phryne, a word meaning “Toad,” was her professional name, so-called because of her sallow complexion, but that her original name was Mnesarete, a common name for women in Athens and Attica. She was originally from Thespiae in Boeotia, a city about 80 kilometers from Athens, the daughter of a man named Epicles. Athenaeus distinguishes two Phrynes, one with the epithet Klausigelôs (“Laughing through Tears”) and the other, Saperdion (“Little Fish”), although he does not specify which one haled from Thespiae. She is further differentiated from the Phryne known as Sestos (“Swindler”), because she “fleeced” her clients.

Her childhood was spent in poverty, but eventually she amassed enormous wealth by charging a high price for her body. Phryne’s legendary riches facilitated several public benefactions. She offered to fund the rebuilding of the Theban walls after they had been destroyed by Alexander the Great, but only on the condition that the citizens inscribe the words “Alexander tore them down, but Phryne built them up them again.” Phryne made dedications to her native city, including its major tourist attraction, a statue of Eros by the sculptor Praxiteles (c. 390– 322), with whom she was erotically linked. In return, the Thespians dedicated a gilded statue of the hetaera at Delphi, also wrought by Praxiteles, and installed it between images of the king of Sparta and Philip II (Alexander’s father), with the words “Phryne, the daughter of Epicles of Thespiae” inscribed on its base. Its placement and costliness led the Cynic philosopher Crates (365– 285) to denounce it as a monument to Greek depravity. She rejected those lovers who displeased her, even when they had paid lavishly for her services, and indulged the impecunious. Phryne was a contemporary of several other famous hetaeras mentioned in comedy, including Lais, Plangon, Gnathaena, Myrrhine, and Nannion. She was further known for her caustic and coarse rejoinders made at the drinking parties of men.

Much of the discourse about Phryne, however, revolves around her exceptional beauty and public nudity, particularly in religious and legal contexts. She concealed her body when in public by wearing a close-fitted tunic and avoiding the baths, yet revealed it before all of the Greeks at two religious festivals called the Eleusinia and Posidonia. The sight of her naked body after she stripped and entered the sea inspired Apelles’ painting, Aphrodite Rising from the Sea, a prototype for Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. The pervasive association of the hetaera with the goddess informs the story that Praxiteles used Phryne as the model for his Cnidian Aphrodite, the first life-size female nude in the Western artistic tradition.

But the most shocking display of her body occurs in narratives surrounding her impiety trial, an event that made her famous from the fourth century onward according to a contemporary source, Posidippus’ (c. 315– 260 BCE) comic play, Ephesia (“Woman from Ephesis”): “Before our time, Phryne was far and away the best known courtesan there was; because even if you’re younger than that, you’ve heard about her trial.” Indicted by Euthias (dates known), she was successfully defended by the orator Hyperides (390/ 1– 322 BCE). The only thing that saved her from conviction was a clever stratagem. When the orator’s arguments appeared unpersuasive, he dramatically ripped off her upper garments, exposing her naked breasts to the jurors, a sight that induced not lust but piety: “the jurors fearful of this priestess and temple-attendant of Aphrodite, and to incline toward pity rather than the death penalty.” According to another source, she won acquittal for herself, “just barely — with her tears,” by “taking the jurors’ hands, one by one.” This is all that we “know” of Phryne, and yet it is the product of a literary tradition largely constructed hundreds of years after her death."

— Laura McClure, Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Art nouveau postcard of Phryne by totallymystified Via Flickr: A Durand & Fils was a music publishing company. Phryne was an ancient Greek courtesan about whom Saint-Saëns wrote an opera.

[billiemilou]

It's the last day of Classicstober, can't believe how quickly this month has gone by.

Here's the last three that I couldn't quite finish these last few days due to various reasons. 29. Phryne, an ancient Greek Hetaira best known for her trial for impiety, in which she was defended by the orator Hypereides. 30. Wooden tablets sent to Flavius Cerialis (included translations). 31. Sejanus, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, was a Roman soldier, friend, and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.

[pixalartantfarm]

[fabiansteinhauer]

Ziemlich zierlich schreiben

Der melancholische Schreiber ist an einem Tag der Täter eines Schreibens, das die ganze Welt beschreiben kann, dann dreht sich was in den Details, die ihm immer Boliden sind, und er ist das Opfer eines Schreibens, das die ganze Welt ihn schamlos betrachten lässt. Er ist dann vor seinen Lesern nackt, wie Phryne. Die zwei Beschämungen drehen durch sein Schreiben sich, manchmal glaubt er, dank seines Schreibens sei das der Fall. Er schreibt ziemlich und zierlich, die Linien seines Schreibens sind vague, aber jedes Detail verrät ihn und die Welt, und das auch noch präzise.

[xanaxfarts]

Dangerous Women: Phryne (detail) Franz von Stuck, c. 1917-18

Accused of debauching Athenian girls, the hetaera-courtesan-Phryne, a legendary beauty, was brought to trial, where she was defended by Hyperides. The great orator won the case by presenting the courtesan to the jury naked.

[alyssalenko]

Last Line Meme

I was tagged by @illusivesoul (x4) @charlatron (x2) @commander-krios @starsandskies @a-shakespearean-in-paris(x2) @pikapeppa @kittynomsdeplume to share the last line i wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

In which Phryne is drawing Astarion at camp . :)

"My love, what has you so thoroughly captivated that isn't me?"

I will tag @foofyschmoofer @hunnybadgerv @heroofshield @sinsbymanka @schoute @forlornmelody @sorchacahill @cipherninethousand @orangeflavoryawp and @briarfox13 if you want to play!