Phryne the Courtesan

Phryne came from Thespiae in Boeotia. She became, in particular, the mistress of the great Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, who used her as a model for his statues of Aphrodite. He actually erected one of his sculpted works of her between those of the goddess and Eros in a temple at Thespiae. Her real name—Mnesarete—means that “she who remembers virtue”, though it seems an odd way of describing a future courtesan. The word phryne means “toad”. Her clients called her Phryne because of her yellowish complexion. But whatever the color of her skin—which she may have improved with white lead—she had a splendid figure. In Hellas (the ancient Greece), the Greeks attributed more importance to this feature than to the face.

In the fourth century B.C., the beauty of Phryne became the talk of Athens since, supposedly, she never appeared in public except completely veiled. At the Eleusinian festival and again on the feast of the Poseidonia, however, she took off her clothes in the sight of all, let down her hair, and bathed in the sea. For a time she loved and inspired Praxiteles, and posed for his “Aphrodites”. From her, too, Apelles created his famous Aphrodite Anadyomene.

If you want to know about the ancient Greeks DVD of 1999 production, click the above picture. A new window will appear.

Phryne grew so rich that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes if the Thebans would inscribe her name on the structure, which they stubbornly refused to do. Some believe that Phryne asked too large an honorarium from Euthias (a councilor of Thebes), who took revenge by indicting her on a charge of impiety. But a member of the court turned out one of her clients. So did Hypereides—the orator, who became one of her devoted lovers and defended her not only with eloquence but by opening her tunic and revealing her gorgeous bosom to the court. Impressed by the soul-snatching sight, the judges vindicated her impiety.

Some say, however, it is not Euthias but one of Phryne’s rivals who sued her for impiety. This episode is described later.

The representation of sensuous beauty and grace came to perfection in Praxiteles. All the Greeks knew that he courted Phryne, and gave a lasting form to her loveliness, but no one knew when he was born and when he died. About 360 B.C., Cos commissioned him to curve an “Aphrodite”. With Phryne’s help he came up with a marvelous work, but the Coans found the goddess quite nude. Praxiteles mollified the conservative citizens by making another Aphrodite, clothed, while Cnidus bought the first. King Nicomedes of Bithynia offered to pay the heavy public debt of the city in return for the statue, but Cnidus preferred immortality. Tourists came from every nook of the Mediterranean to see the work. Collecting the fees, the city eventually paid off the debt. The contemporary critics pronounced it the finest statue yet made in Greece.

As Cnidus achieved fame through the Aphrodite, so the little town of Thespiae in Boeotia, birthplace of Phryne, attracted travelers because Phryne had dedicated there a marble “Eros” by Praxiteles. Why Eros? Here’s the story. Phryne once asked Praxiteles, “What is the most beautiful work in your studio?”
      “Why asking me?”
      Phryne told him about her intention.
      “What do you think is the best?”
      “I’m asking you.”
      “Well, I’d rather leave the choice to you.”

However, Phryne wanted to discover his own estimate. So, a couple of days later, she ran to him with news that his studio caught fire. Hearing this, he cried out, “Oh, no! I am lost if my Satyr and my Eros are burned.”

Phryne chose the Eros, and gave it to her native town. Later, Nero had it brought to Rome, where it perished in the conflagration of A.D. 64. Eros, once the creator god of Hesiod, became in Praxiteles’ conception a delicate and dreamy youth, symbolizing the power of love to capture the soul. Eros had not yet become the mischievous and sportive Cupid of Hellenistic and Roman art.

If you want to know about Athens and ancient Greece VHS video of 1994 production, click the above picture. A new window will appear.

Once Demosthenes, the Athenian statesman, offered to pay Phryne for her favors an amount equal to a man’s annual wages. She refused his offer, yet gave them freely to the penniless philosopher—Diogenes. Phryne became so sought-after that she had no need to display herself naked, as others did, to bring in business. As a concession to widespread curiosity, she made an exception for the annual religious festivals. To honor the sea-god Poseidon, she enacted the role of Aphrodite emerging from the sea, performing a pious strip-tease at the water’s edge. The fame she won by such exhibitions inspired a deplorable jealousy among the rivals, one of whom lodged a formal complaint that her performance profaned the sacred mysteries—a capital offence.

When her case almost lost, her defence counsel Hyperides again tore off her clothes to reveal her naked beauty to the judges.

      “How could a festival in honor of the gods be desecrated by beauty,” asked Hyperides, “which the gods themselves had bestowed?”
      The point appeared incontestable, and the evidence remained overwhelming all the same. The case dismissed. But the judges now insisted, “From now on, you’d better not reveal her beauty for her defense. It’s getting just too much for us.”
      Accordingly, the court banned nudity for defense.

Far from being disrespectful, however, the hetairai such as Phryne, Lais and Thais played an important and respected part in Greek social life. The dramatists portrayed them on stage, and the writers described them in their books. Those women became legends in their own lifetime, and death only heightened their mystique.

Related Links

• When did women start to put on panties?
  
  
• Fertility Rituals at Asukaza Shrine
  and Dithyrambos
  
  
• When did gentlemen start to prefer blondes?
  
  
• The mystery of Ape Stone
  
  
• Ditzy Blonde