Phryne

View of the Colonna Venus, ancient replica of the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles. (Phryne is thought to be the model.)

Phryne (Φρύνη) was a famous hetaera (courtesan) of Ancient Greece (4th century BC).

Early life

Her real name was Mnesarete (Ancient Greek Μνησαρετή (commemorating virtue)), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne (toad), a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens. She acquired so much wealth by her extraordinary beauty that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great (336 BC), on condition that the words destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne the courtesan, were inscribed upon them. The authorities turned down her offer.

Notoriety

She was famously beautiful. On the occasion of a festival of Poseidon at Eleusis, she laid aside her garments, let down her hair, and stepped nude into the sea in the sight of the people, thus suggesting to the painter Apelles his great picture of Aphrodite Anadyomene (also portrayed at times as this Venus Anadyomene), for which Phryne herself sat as model, and other works of art from the period are alleged to be modeled after Phryne.

Due to her beauty, she also inspired the much later painting by artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, Phryné devant l'Areopage, (Phryne before the Areopagus, 1861) as well as other works of art throughout history. She was also (according to some) the model for the statue of the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles.

In literary world, Charles Baudelaire in his poems Lesbos and La beauté and Rainer Maria Rilke in his poem Die Flamingos were inspired by beauty and fame of Phryne.

From a musical point of view, Phryné was the subject of an opera by Camille Saint-Saëns: Phryné (1893).

Trial

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Phryne before the Areopagus, 1861

When accused of profaning the Eleusinian mysteries, she was defended by the orator Hypereides, one of her lovers. When it seemed as if the verdict would be unfavourable, he tore open her robe and displayed her breasts, which so moved her judges that they acquitted her. According to others, she herself removed her clothing. The judges' change of heart was not simply because they were overcome by the beauty of her nude body, but because physical beauty was often seen as a facet of divinity or a mark of divine favor during those times.

Ancient replica of the Aspremont-Leyde/Arles Aphrodite (Phryne is thought to have been the model). The Christian cross and damage in nose and eyes are ancient vandalism to discredit pagan gods.

A statue of Phryne, the work of Praxiteles, was placed in a temple at Thespiae by the side of a statue of Aphrodite by the same artist. Diogenes Laertius narrates a failed attempt Phryne made on the virtue of the philosopher Xenocrates.^[1]

Dimitris Varos, modern Greek poet and writer, wrote a book called Phryne. Witold Jabłoński, Polish fantasy writer, also wrote a book called Phryne the Hetaera.

References

• Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae pp. 558, 567, 583, 585, 590, 591; [2]
• Claudius Aelianus, Varia Historia (Ποικιλη Ιστορια) ix. 32;
• Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia xxxiv. 71.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Phryne

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.