In the ancient Greek world of the fourth century BGC, Praxiteles sculpted the Greek sex goddess Aphrodite human-sized and naked, covering her groin with one hand and reaching for a bath towel with another. That beautiful statue, known as the Aphrodite of Cnidus, became a famous tourist attraction in the ancient world.[1] More significantly, it caused the death of a young man loving with even more insane passion than did Queen Dido of Carthage.
Praxiteles himself ardently loved the wealthy, influential courtesan Phryne. She was the human model for his sculpture of Aphrodite that the Cnidians bought and displayed. The goddess Aphrodite, also called Cypris, thought that Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus realistically depicted her naked:
Cypris, seeing Cypris in Cnidus, said,
“Alas! Alas! Where did Praxiteles see me naked?”{ Ἁ Κύπρις τὰν Κύπριν ἐνὶ Κνίδῳ εἶπεν ἰδοῦσα·
“Φεῦ, φεῦ· ποῦ γυμνὴν εἶδέ με Πραξιτέλης” }[2]
Actaeon and Tiresias suffered harsh punishments for seeing the goddesses Diana and Athena naked. However, some men had seen the goddess Aphrodite naked, as she knew:
Paris saw me naked, as did Anchises and Adonis.
Only those three I know. But how Praxiteles?{ Γυμνὴν εἶδε Πάρις με, καὶ Ἀγχίσης, καὶ Ἄδωνις·
τοὺς τρεῖς οἶδα μόνους· Πραξιτέλης δὲ πόθεν }
Praxiteles might rightly fear that, unlike Paris, Anchises, and Adonis, he wouldn’t escape punishment for seeing a goddess naked — even if he saw Aphrodite naked only through the naked body of his beloved Phryne.
Composed about 200 GC, a fictional letter from Phryne to Praxiteles highlights men’s fear in relation to goddesses. Phryne in her letter seeks to comfort Praxiteles:
Do not be afraid! Has anyone ever made such a very beautiful object? No one!
{ Μὴ δείσῃς· ἐξείργασαι γὰρ πάγκαλόν τι χρῆμα· οἷον ἤδη τίς σοι τῶν πώποτε; οὐδείς· }[3]
Phryne’s reason for Praxiteles not to be afraid makes no sense unless she is speaking as an oracle of the goddess Aphrodite. Phryne seems to believe that because she modeled for Aphrodite, she can also speak for Aphrodite. The goddess Aphrodite might have exempted Praxiteles from punishment for knowing her naked because he beautifully sculpted her. Phryne’s letter shockingly continues:
By the work of your hands, you have established your own courtesan in the sacred precinct.
{τῶν κατὰ χειρῶν πονηθέντων τὴν σεαυτοῦ ἑταίραν ἵδρυσας ἐν τεμένει· }[4]
Praxiteles sculpted a statue of Eros, and perhaps also statues of Aphrodite and Phryne, displayed at Thespiae. The Thespians, not Praxiteles, placed those statues in the sacred precinct that became a prominent tourist attraction.[5] Phryne’s letter, now apparently in the voice of Phryne, suggests that Aphrodite is Praxiteles’s courtesan and honored in the sacred precinct at Thespiae. While courtesans could dominate the men who loved them, such dominance in love is not the categorical dominance of a goddess in relation to a mortal man. Aphrodite being Praxiteles’s courtesan would parallel Aphrodite’s loss of divine supremacy in marrying Anchises.
The speaking voice of Phryne’s letter subsequently switches to the voice of a statue of Phryne and to the voice of Phryne herself. The statue of Phryne proudly associates itself with the much more famous statue of Eros at Thespiae:
In fact, I stand in the middle on the altar together with your Aphrodite and your Eros. And do not begrudge me this honor. In fact, those who have seen us praise Praxiteles, and because I am a product of your art, the Thespians do not count me as unfit to be placed between divinities.
{ μέση γὰρ ἕστηκα ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης καὶ τοῦ Ἔρωτος ἅμα τοῦ σοῦ. μὴ φθονήσῃς δέ μοι τῆς τιμῆς· οἱ γὰρ ἡμᾶς θεασάμενοι ἐπαινοῦσι Πραξιτέλη, καὶ ὅτι τῆς σῆς τέχνης γέγονα οὐκ ἀδοξοῦσί με Θεσπιεῖς μέσην κεῖσθαι θεῶν. }[6]
The flesh-and-blood woman Phryne then makes an outrageous request:
One thing is still lacking in the gift: for you to come to us, so that we may recline together in the sacred precinct. We will not indeed defile the gods whom we ourselves have made.
{ ἓν ἔτι τῇ δωρεᾷ λείπει, ἐλθεῖν σε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἵνα ἐν τῷ τεμένει μετ᾿ ἀλλήλων κατακλινῶμεν. οὐ μιανοῦμεν γὰρ τοὺς θεοὺς οὓς αὐτοὶ πεποιήκαμεν. }
Praxiteles reportedly modeled his naked Aphrodite on Phryne naked. He reportedly modeled his statue of Eros on the erotic desire he felt for Phryne. These circumstances apparently were the basis for Phryne crediting herself as a co-creator of those sculptures.[7] In the context of Praxiteles’s courtesan being in the sacred precinct and the additional gift from a man, Phryne’s request “to recline {κᾰτακλῑ́νω}” together with Praxiteles suggests banqueting and having sex with him. Phryne denies the divinity of the representations of Aphrodite and Eros in the sacred precinct in claiming that it’s permissible for her and Praxiteles to have sex there. Contemporary Greek religious authorities would have regarded such a claim as outrageous.
Praxiteles surely knew that if he had illicit sex with Aphrodite, or even had illicit sex with Phryne in the presence of the naked Aphrodite, he might be shamefully punished. The god Ares’s humiliation after having illicit sex with Aphrodite was commonly sung throughout the ancient Greek world. Ares was a passionate god most associated with horrific violence against men. Pursing an alternate, more humane expression of masculine passion, Ares gave many gifts to Aphrodite, the wife of the lame, yes-dearing Hephaestus. She consented to have sex with him secretly and so cuckold her husband.
Having illicit sex with Aphrodite worked out badly for Ares. The furious Hephaestus arranged to trap them together in bed in a web of chains. Hephaestus explained to Aphrodite’s father Zeus:
Yes, you will see where those two sleep in love
after having gone into my bed. I, looking on, am grieved.
But I think they won’t want to lie that way much longer,
even though they much love each other. Soon, soon, both
will not wish to sleep. Yes, my snare and bonds will restrain both,
until her father pays back to me the bride-gifts, all of them,
all that I gave to him for that shameless bitch, that young woman.
His daughter is beautiful, but not in control of her desires.{ ἀλλ᾽ ὄψεσθ᾽, ἵνα τώ γε καθεύδετον ἐν φιλότητι
εἰς ἐμὰ δέμνια βάντες, ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὁρόων ἀκάχημαι.
οὐ μέν σφεας ἔτ᾽ ἔολπα μίνυνθά γε κειέμεν οὕτως
καὶ μάλα περ φιλέοντε: τάχ᾽ οὐκ ἐθελήσετον ἄμφω
εὕδειν: ἀλλά σφωε δόλος καὶ δεσμὸς ἐρύξει,
εἰς ὅ κέ μοι μάλα πάντα πατὴρ ἀποδῷσιν ἔεδνα,
ὅσσα οἱ ἐγγυάλιξα κυνώπιδος εἵνεκα κούρης,
οὕνεκά οἱ καλὴ θυγάτηρ, ἀτὰρ οὐκ ἐχέθυμος. }[8]
Underscoring historically entrenched lack of concern for men’s paternity interests and trivialization of men being cuckolded, the gods laughed uncontrollably at Hephaestus being cuckolded and Ares being shamefully snared. Ares, however, wasn’t castrated or killed for committing adultery. He only had to pay the cost of Hephaestus’s bride-gifts to Aphrodite. Surely Praxiteles would fear such punishment or worse if he had sex in a sacred precinct with a woman who looked like Aphrodite.[9]
Fear of punishment didn’t restrain some highly passionate men in relation to Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus. Apparently in the second century GC, the sober thinker Lycinus visited the temple holding the Aphrodite of Cnidus. He reported:
In the middle of that temple sits the goddess, a most beautiful statue of Parian marble. Arrogantly smiling a little, she has a grin parting her lips. With no encompassing garment, her body is stripped bare and all her beauty uncovered, except for her genitals that she conceals with one hand as a secret. So great was the power of the sculptor’s art that the hard, unyielding marble did justice to her every limb. Charicles then, frenzied and wild, cried out this, “Happiest of the gods,” he said, “was Ares who was enchained because of her!” And, as he spoke, he ran up to the statue. Stretching out his neck as far as he could, he started to kiss the goddess with importunate lips.
{ ἡ μὲν οὖν θεὸς ἐν μέσῳ καθίδρυται — Παρίας δὲ λίθου δαίδαλμα κάλλιστον — ὑπερήφανον καὶ σεσηρότι γέλωτι μικρὸν ὑπομειδιῶσα. πᾶν δὲ τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς ἀκάλυπτον οὐδεμιᾶς ἐσθῆτος ἀμπεχούσης γεγύμνωται, πλὴν ὅσα τῇ ἑτέρᾳ χειρὶ τὴν αἰδῶ λεληθότως ἐπικρύπτειν. τοσοῦτόν γε μὴν ἡ δημιουργὸς ἴσχυσε τέχνη, ὥστε τὴν ἀντίτυπον οὕτω καὶ καρτερὰν τοῦ λίθου φύσιν ἑκάστοις μέλεσιν ἐπιπρέπειν. ὁ γοῦν Χαρικλῆς ἐμμανές τι καὶ παράφορον ἀναβοήσας, Εὐτυχέστατος, εἶπεν, θεῶν ὁ διὰ ταύτην δεθεὶς Ἄρης, καὶ ἅμα προσδραμὼν λιπαρέσι1 τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἦν δυνατὸν ἐκτείνων τὸν αὐχένα κατεφίλει· }[10]
Men too willingly accept being enchained in love. The fate of an even more passionate man was worse. Looking at the Aphrodite of Cnidus, Lycinus stated: “we saw on one thigh a blemish like a stain on a dress {ἐπὶ θατέρου μηροῦ σπίλον εἴδομεν ὥσπερ ἐν ἐσθῆτι κηλῖδα}.” Lycinus at first thought that the blemish was a natural defect in the marble. He soon learned otherwise:
The temple attendant standing near us passed along a strange story with unbelievable words. She said that a young man of a not undistinguished family — though his deed has caused him to be left nameless — often visited the precinct. He was so unfortunate as to fall in love with the goddess. He would spend all day in the temple. At first he gave the impression of pious awe, for in the morning he would leave his bed long before dawn to go to the temple and only return home reluctantly after sunset. All day long would he sit facing the goddess with his eyes fixed uninterruptedly upon her, whispering indistinctly and carrying on lover’s complaints in secret conversation. …
And now, as his passion grew more aroused, every wall came to be inscribed and the bark of every tender tree proclaimed “Aphrodite is beautiful.” Praxiteles was honored by him as much as Zeus and every beautiful treasure that the young man’s home held he offered to the goddess. In the end, the violent tension of his desires turned to desperation, and he found in audacity a procurer for his lusts. When the sun was sinking to its setting, quietly and unnoticed by those present he slipped in behind the door. Standing invisibly in the inmost part of the temple room, he kept still, hardly even breathing. When the attendants closed the door from the outside in the usual way, this new Anchises was locked in. But why do I chatter on and tell you in every detail the reckless deed of that unmentionable night? The blemish from his amorous embrace was seen when dawn came. The goddess had that blemish to prove what she had endured. According to the popular story, the young man is said to have hurled himself over a cliff or down into the waves of the sea and to have vanished utterly.
{ ἡ δὲ παρεστῶσα πλησίον ἡμῶν ζάκορος ἀπίστου λόγου καινὴν παρέδωκεν ἱστορίαν· ἔφη γὰρ οὐκ ἀσήμου γένους νεανίαν — ἡ δὲ πρᾶξις ἀνώνυμον αὐτὸν ἐσίγησεν — πολλάκις ἐπιφοιτῶντα τῷ τεμένει σὺν δειλαίῳ δαίμονι ἐρασθῆναι τῆς θεοῦ καὶ πανήμερον ἐν τῷ ναῷ διατρίβοντα κατ᾿ ἀρχὰς ἔχειν δεισιδαίμονος ἁγιστείας δόκησιν· ἔκ τε γὰρ τῆς ἑωθινῆς κοίτης πολὺ προλαμβάνων τὸν ὄρθρον ἐπεφοίτα καὶ μετὰ δύσιν ἄκων ἐβάδιζεν οἴκαδε τήν θ᾿ ὅλην ἡμέραν ἀπαντικρὺ τῆς θεοῦ καθεζόμενος ὀρθὰς ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν διηνεκῶς τὰς τῶν ὀμμάτων βολὰς ἀπήρειδεν. ἄσημοι δ᾿ αὐτῷ ψιθυρισμοὶ καὶ κλεπτομένης λαλιᾶς ἐρωτικαὶ διεπεραίνοντο μέμψεις. …
ἤδη δὲ πλέον αὐτῷ τοῦ πάθους ἐρεθιζομένου τοῖχος ἅπας ἐχαράσσετο καὶ πᾶς μαλακοῦ δένδρου φλοιὸς Ἀφροδίτην καλὴν ἐκήρυσσεν· ἐτιμᾶτο δ᾿ ἐξ ἴσου Διὶ Πραξιτέλης καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι κειμήλιον εὐπρεπὲς οἴκοι φυλάττοιτο, τοῦτ᾿ ἦν ἀνάθημα τῆς θεοῦ. πέρας αἱ σφοδραὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ πόθων ἐπιτάσεις ἀπενοήθησαν, εὑρέθη δὲ τόλμα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας μαστροπός· ἤδη γὰρ ἐπὶ δύσιν ἡλίου κλίνοντος ἠρέμα λαθὼν τοὺς παρόντας ὄπισθε τῆς θύρας παρεισερρύη καὶ στὰς ἀφανὴς ἐνδοτάτω σχεδὸν οὐδ᾿ ἀναπνέων ἠτρέμει, συνήθως δὲ τῶν ζακόρων ἔξωθεν τὴν θύραν ἐφελκυσαμένων ἔνδον ὁ καινὸς Ἀγχίσης καθεῖρκτο. καὶ τί γὰρ ἀρρήτου νυκτὸς ἐγὼ τόλμαν ἡ λάλος ἐπ᾿ ἀκριβὲς ὑμῖν διηγοῦμαι; τῶν ἐρωτικῶν περιπλοκῶν ἴχνη ταῦτα μεθ᾿ ἡμέραν ὤφθη καὶ τὸν σπίλον εἶχεν ἡ θεὸς ὧν ἔπαθεν ἔλεγχον. αὐτόν γε μὴν τὸν νεανίαν, ὡς ὁ δημώδης ἱστορεῖ λόγος, ἢ κατὰ πετρῶν φασιν ἢ κατὰ πελαγίου κύματος ἐνεχθέντα παντελῶς ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι. }[11]
That young man tragically died from his passionate love for Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus.[12] Men’s ardent love for women should be recognized and cherished. Men’s safety and men’s welfare should be among the highest public priorities.
For nearly two thousand years, the racist, imperialistic, highly privileged Queen Dido of Carthage has been widely mourned as a martyr of love. The young man who died from his passionate love for Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus differs enormously from Dido in status. Few of his contemporaries were told his name. Over the past millennia, few persons have learned about his death. He has been completely marginalized. Among the specialist readers who know about this most unfortunate man, none to this day has had any sympathy for him.[13] That’s shameful. Men’s lives should matter. Literary studies must better serve men.
* * * * *
Read more:
- Livy’s gender critique: men show war wounds, women show breasts
- Tibullus with Parthenius against Gallus on gender in love & war
- Priapus against dildos and men being sexually objectified
Notes:
[1] Praxiteles {Πραξιτέλης} of Athens was the son of Cephisodotus the Elder. Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus is also known as the Aphrodite of Knidos. Knidos was a Greek-speaking city on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea. Praxiteles probably sculpted the Aphrodite of Cnidus / Knidos about 361 BGC. Leading citizens of Knidos apparently purchased it shortly thereafter. Corso (2007) p. 187. It seems to have been intended to provide “the most adequate echoes possible of absolute beauty.” Id. p. 192. The statue became the focal point of the Temple of Aphrodite Euploia in Knidos. The ancient Greek term “Euploia {Ευπλοια}” means “Happy Voyage.” At least 192 ancient reproductions of the Aphrodite of Cnidus has survived. It was probably “the most copied statue in Antiquity.” Id. p. 175.
In the broad context of art and literary history, modern critics have over-estimated the importance of the nakedness of the Aphrodite of Cnidus. On the historical context of the Aphrodite of Cnidus, Corso (1997) and Corso (2007). On the art historiography of this statue, Havelock (1995) and Sterba (2023). Venus is the Roman equivalent for Aphrodite. The earliest literary reference to the Aphrodite / Venus of Cnidus is about 70 BGC, when Cicero refers to the Cnidians’ marble Venus. Cicero, Verrine Orations 2.4.60.135, cited as first in Havelock (1995) p. 135.
Although scholars differ significantly about when the Aphrodite of Cnidus became famous, it was a famous tourist attraction in the ancient Mediterranean world. Havelock (1995) Chapter 3, Corso (2007) pp. 189-90. Writing about 75 GC, a well-informed Roman author reported:
Superior to all not only by Praxiteles, but truly around the whole earthly globe, is his Venus. Many persons have sailed to Cnidus to see it. … With this statue, Praxiteles made Cnidus famous.
{ ante omnia est non solum Praxitelis, verum in toto orbe terrarum Venus, quam ut viderent, multi navigaverunt Cnidum. … illo enim signo Praxiteles nobilitavit Cnidum. }
Pliny the Elder, Natural History {Naturalis Historia} 36.20 (section 4), Latin text from Eichholz (1962), my English translation, benefiting from that of id. A work written probably late in the second century GC recounted:
We decided to anchor at Cnidus to see the temple of Aphrodite, which is famed as possessing the most truly lovely example of Praxiteles’ skill.
{ δόξαν ἡμῖν Κνίδῳ προσορμῆσαι κατὰ θέαν καὶ τοῦ Ἀφροδίτης ἱεροῦ — ὑμνεῖται δὲ τούτου τὸ τῆς Πραξιτέλους εὐχερείας ὄντως ἐπαφρόδιτον }
Lucian of Samosata (questionably attributed), Affairs of the Heart / Loves / Amores / Erotes {Ἔρωτες} 11, ancient Greek text and English translation (modified slightly) from MacLeod (1967). Within the uncovered area of the sacred precinct were couches shaded by trees:
for festivals the city common folk all gathered there, enjoying Aphrodite.
{ ἀθρόος δ᾿ ὁ πολιτικὸς ὄχλος ἐπανηγύριζεν ὄντως ἀφροδισιάζοντες }
Amores 12, sourced as previously. This statement encompasses a double entendre:
The word ἀφροδισιάζοντες is equivocal: although it here intends to indicate devotion to the goddess, it primarily means ‘have sexual intercourse’.
Bottenberg (2020) p. 119.
Writing about 445 GC, the Christian scholar and bishop Theodoret of Cyrus scornfully argued against followers of traditional Greco-Roman religion:
They worship statues fashioned according to myths. The posture of Aphrodite, for example, is more disgraceful than any call girl standing in a brothel. Indeed, who has ever seen a prostitute standing naked in the marketplace without even a tunic or a girdle?
{ τὰ γὰρ δὴ κατὰ τοὺς μύθους κατεσκευασμένα ξόανα προσκυνοῦσι· πάσης μὲν γὰρ ἑταίρας ἐπὶ τέγους ἑστώσης ἀναιδέστερον τῆς ᾿Αφροδίτης τὸ σχῆμα. τίς γάρ τοι χαμαιτύπην γυμνὴν ἐπ᾿ ἀγορᾶς ἄτερ χιτῶνος καὶ διαζώματος ἑστῶσαν ἐθεάσατο πώποτε }
A Cure for Pagan Maladies {Graecarum affectionum curatio} 3.79-80, ancient Greek text from Raeder (1904), English translation (modified) from Halton (2013).
[2] Greek Anthology {Anthologia Graeca} / Palatine Anthology {Anthologia Palatina} 16.162 (On the statue of Aphrodite at Knidos {Εἰς ἄγαλμα Ἀφροδίτης τῆς ἐν Κνίδῳ}), ancient Greek text and English translation (modified slightly) from Paton (1918). The subsequent quote above is similarly from Greek Anthology 16.168. On closely related epigrams concerning Praxiteles’ statues, Gutzwiller (2004).
Clement of Alexandria stated that the model for Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus was “his beloved {ἡ ἐρωμένη}” Cratine {Κρατίνη}, not Phryne. Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus / Exhortation to the Greeks {Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας} 4.47p. Perhaps Cratine and Phryne referred to the same woman, and Clement didn’t understand that they had a common referent.
Like Praxiteles, Phryne lived in the fourth-century BGC and reportedly was from Thespiae in Boeotia. Many of the literary works concerning her are of questionable historical veracity. However, Phryne clearly was extraordinarily privileged in wealth and status relative to almost all the men living in the ancient Greek world of her time.
Working dutifully to bolster dominant gynocentrism, a scholar with comic, earnest concern concluded a publicity piece for her book:
As we read about the glamourous beauty who stunned a courtroom, we might also use such an anecdote to consider the vulnerability of real sex workers in fourth-century Athens; later narratives work hard to elide that uncomfortable reality in order to create the dream version of Phryne the glamourous beauty. In her own lifetime, a woman like Phryne defied easy categorization and didn’t follow ideals of women’s behaviour, but afterward, her challenging narrative could be broken down into easily consumable anecdotes as the idea of Phryne accrued the kind of cultural capital that the real woman never could.
Funke (2024). Such writing works to obscure the uncomfortable reality that real men throughout history never could earn enormous wealth and elite status in the way that Phryne did.
[3] Alciphron, Letters 4, Letters of the Courtesans {Επιστολαι Εταιρικαι} 1, Phyrne to Praxiteles {Φρύνη Πραξιτέλει} ll. 1-2, ancient Greek text from Granholm (2012), my English translation, benefiting from those of id. and Brenner & Fobes (1949). Here’s Granholm’s English translation.
[4] Alciphron, Letters 4.1, ll. 2-3, sourced as previously. Regarding ll. 1-3, “this passage is problematic and possibly corrupt.” Granholm (2012) p. 150. The edition of Brenner & Fobes (1949) more emphatically declares the extraordinary work separately from the reference to the courtesan:
Do not be afraid, because you have worked out a very beautiful object, such as indeed no one has ever seen before among all things made by human hands. You have established your own courtesan in the sacred precinct.
{ μὴ δείσῃς· ἐξείργασαι γὰρ πάγκαλόν τι χρῆμα, οἷον δή τι οὐδεὶς εἶδε πώποτε πάντων τῶν διὰ χειρῶν πονηθέντων, τὴν σεαυτοῦ ἑταίραν ἱδρύσας ἐν τεμένει. }
Alciphron, Letters 4.1, ll. 1-3, ancient Greek text of Brenner & Fobes (1949), my English translation, benefiting from that of id. For the rest of Phryne’s letter to Praxiteles, the ancient Greek texts of Brenner & Fobes (1949) and Granholm (2012) don’t differ except in punctuation, which is editorial.
The subsequent two quotes above are similarly from Alciphron, Letters 4.1.
[5] Writing about 70 BGC, Cicero noted that Praxiteles sculpted the statue of Cupid (Eros) at Thespiae. According to Cicero, Thespiae was a tourist destination because of Praxiteles’s Eros “for the sake of which people go to see Thespiae, for there is no other reason to see that place {propter quem Thespiae visuntur; nam alia visendi causa nulla est}.” Cicero, Against Verres {In Verrem} (oration) 2.4.4, Latin text of Peterson (1917), my English translation.
Writing about a half-century later, Strabo stated:
Thespiae was formerly well-known for the Eros of Praxiteles. It was sculpted by him and dedicated by Glycera, the courtesan to the Thespians (she had received it as a gift from the artist). since she was a native of the place. In earlier times travelers would go up to Thespiae to see the Eros, as otherwise the city was not worth seeing.
{ αἱ δὲ Θεσπιαὶ πρότερον μὲν ἐγνωρίζοντο διὰ τὸν Ἔρωτα τὸν Πραξιτέλους, ὃν ἔγλυψε μὲν ἐκεῖνος, ἀνέθηκε δὲ Γλυκέρα ἡ ἑταίρα Θεσπιεῦσιν, ἐκεῖθεν οὖσα τὸ γένος, λαβοῦσα δῶρον παρὰ τοῦ τεχνίτου. πρότερον μὲν οὖν ὀψόμενοι τὸν Ἔρωτά τινες ἀνέβαινον ἐπὶ τὴν Θέσπειαν, ἄλλως οὐκ οὖσαν ἀξιοθέατον }
Strabo, Geography {Γεωγραφικά} 9.2.25, ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) from Jones (1927). On the temple of Eros at Thespiae, Gutzwiller (2004).
An epigram implausibly attributed to Praxiteles tells of the statue’s origin and its effects:
Praxiteles perfectly portrayed the Eros that he suffered,
taking the model from his own heart,
and giving me to Phryne in payment for myself. And I engender desire
no longer by shooting arrows, but by intense gazing.{ Πραξιτέλης ὃν ἔπασχε διηκρίβωσεν Ἔρωτα
ἐξ ἰδίης ἕλκων ἀρχέτυπον κραδίης,
Φρύνῃ μισθὸν ἐμεῖο διδοὺς ἐμέ. φίλτρα δὲ τίκτω
οὐκέτι τοξεύων, ἀλλ᾿ ἀτενιζόμενος. }
Greek Anthology 16.204 (On the Eros of Praxiteles {Εἰς τὸν Πραξιτέλους Ἔρωτα}), ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) from Paton (1918). On Praxiteles giving his statue of Eros to Phryne, see also Pausanias, Description of Greece {Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις} 1.20.1 (Attica).
[6] Only one other textual source indicates that Praxiteles sculpted statues of Aphrodite and Phyrne that also stood in the temple at Thespiae:
Here too at Thespiae are statues made by Praxiteles himself, one of Aphrodite and one of Phryne, both Phryne and the goddess being of stone.
{ ἐνταῦθα καὶ αὐτοῦ Πραξιτέλους Ἀφροδίτη καὶ Φρύνης ἐστὶν εἰκών, λίθου καὶ ἡ Φρύνη καὶ ἡ θεός. }
Pausanias, Description of Greece {Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις} 9.27.5 (Boeotia), ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) from Jones (1935). Pausanias wrote in the second century GC. A coin from the first century GC Thespiae also suggest two female statues stood there. Gutzwiller (2004) p. 387.
According to Athenaeus, Praxiteles produced a gold statue of Phryne that was displayed in Delphi on a Pentelic marble base. That marble base bore the inscription: “Phryne the daughter of Epicles of Thespiae {Φρύνη Ἐπικλέους Θεσπική}.” Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Learned Banqueters / Deipnosophistae {Δειπνοσοφισταί} 13.591bc (59). For a similar description of this statue, Claudius Aelianus / Aelian, Historical Miscellany / Various History {Ποικίλη ἱστορία} 9.32.
Pliny the Elder attributed a statue of Phryne to Praxiteles:
Two of Praxiteles’s statues expressing opposite emotions are admired, his Matron Weeping and his Merry Courtesan. The latter is believed to have been Phryne. Connoisseurs detect in the figure the artist’s love of her and the reward she received by the expression on the courtesan’s face.
{ spectantur et duo signa eius diversos adfectus exprimentia, flentis matronae et meretricis gaudentis. hanc putant Phrynen fuisse deprehenduntque in ea amorem artificis et mercedem in vultu meretricis. }
Pliny the Elder, Natural History {Naturalis Historia} 34.70 (section 4), Latin text and English translation (modified slightly) from Eichholz (1962).
[7] According to Athenaeus:
The sculptor Praxiteles, who was in love with Phryne, used her as the model for his Aphrodite of Cnidus. On the pedestal of his Eros, which stood below the stage in the Theater, he placed the inscription:
Praxiteles produced an exact replica of the Eros he suffered,
drawing his model from his own heart
and offering me to Phryne as a price for me. I no longer cast
love-spells by shooting arrows, but by being stared at.{ Πραξιτέλης δὲ ὁ ἀγαλματοποιὸς ἐρῶν αὐτῆς τὴν Κνιδίαν Ἀφροδίτην ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς ἐπλάσατο καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἔρωτος βάσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ θεάτρου ἐπέγραψε·
Πραξιτέλης ὃν ἔπασχε διηκρίβωσεν Ἔρωτα
ἐξ ἰδίης ἕλκων ἀρχέτυπον κραδίης,
Φρύνῃ μισθὸν ἐμεῖο διδοὺς ἐμέ· φίλτρα δὲ βάλλω
οὐκέτ᾿ ὀιστεύων, ἀλλ᾿ ἀτενιζόμενος. }
Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Learned Banqueters / Deipnosophistae {Δειπνοσοφισταί} 13.591a (59), ancient Greek text and English translation (modified slightly) from Olson (2006-2012). Athenaeus also commented:
Phryne was actually most beautiful in the parts of her body that were not seen.
{ ἦν δὲ ὄντως μᾶλλον ἡ Φρύνη καλὴ ἐν τοῖς μὴ βλεπομένοις. }
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 13.591f (59), sourced as previously. Men have long regarded women’s vulvas as very beautiful. Phryne’s breasts alone were sufficiently beautiful to absolve her from a serious criminal charge. Men’s lack of control of desires does as much damage as does women’s lack of control of desires.
A modern scholar has taken seriously Phryne’s claim of credit for Praxiteles’s sculptures:
Phryne usurps the creative power previously attributed to Praxiteles alone, and claims that they both have “created” the gods. … She seems to imply that acting as a model counts for more in the act of artistic creation than the craftsman’s skill, as if she were the all-important Muse and he merely the obedient assistant.
Rosenmeyer (2001) p. 257. Phryne didn’t create herself. Id. seems to imply that Phryne’s outrageous claim for credit is normal and reasonable. Phryne also apparently claims credit for Alciphron, Letters 4.1 and the epigrams written about her. Id. p. 257, apparently supporting these claims. Rosenmeyer’s interpretation, which focuses on power and control, uses her own authorial power and control to dominate the meaning of Alciphron’s letter.
[8] Homer (traditional attribution), Odyssey 8.306-320, ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) of Murray (1919). The bard Demodocus sings this story in the court of Alcinous, ruler of the Phaiacians on the island of Scheria. It occurs between exhibits of men dancing and in the context of the love of lovely princess Nausicaa for Odysseus.
The ancient Greek word κυνώπιδος is the genitive form of the nominalized adjective κυνῶπις. It means literally “dog-eyed” one, with the implication of shamelessness. That term is commonly used in Homeric epic in disparagement and self-disparagement of Helen of Troy. See note [7] in my post on Hector and Helen goading Paris to fight Menelaus. I’ve taken the translation “shameless bitch” above from Fagles (1996).
[9] Willingness to endure punishment for having sex with Aphrodite became a literary motif following the gods’ trivialization of the affair of Ares and Aphrodite in the Odyssey. There Apollo jests with Hermes:
Hermes, son of Zeus, guide, giver of good things,
would you be willing, even though ensnared with strong bonds,
to lie on a couch beside golden Aphrodite?{ Ἑρμεία, Διὸς υἱέ, διάκτορε, δῶτορ ἑάων,
ἦ ῥά κεν ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐθέλοις κρατεροῖσι πιεσθεὶς
εὕδειν ἐν λέκτροισι παρὰ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ }
Odyssey 8.335-7, sourced as previously. Hermes replies:
Would that this might happen, lord Apollo, far-shooter —
that three times as many ineluctable bonds might clasp me about
and you gods, and all the goddesses too, might look on,
but that I might sleep beside golden Aphrodite.{ αἲ γὰρ τοῦτο γένοιτο, ἄναξ ἑκατηβόλ᾿ Ἄπολλον·
δεσμοὶ μὲν τρὶς τόσσοι ἀπείρονες ἀμφὶς ἔχοιεν,
ὑμεῖς δ᾿ εἰσορόῳτε θεοὶ πᾶσαί τε θέαιναι,
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν εὕδοιμι παρὰ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ. }
Odyssey 8.339-43, sourced as previously. In the story itself, the goddesses modestly refrained from looking at Ares and Aphrodite ensnared while having adulterous sex.
In Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods, Hermes declares that the “funniest things {γελοιότατα}” that he ever saw was Ares and Aphrodite displayed to the gods as a couple snared in adultery:
They’re lying there bound together naked, hiding their faces and blushing, and I must say I found it a most delightful spectacle. Why, they’re almost in the act!
{ οἱ δὲ γυμνοὶ ἀμφότεροι κάτω νενευκότες ξυνδεδεμένοι ἐρυθριῶσι, καὶ τὸ θέαμα ἥδιστον ἐμοὶ ἔδοξε μονονουχὶ αὐτὸ γινόμενον τὸ ἔργον. }
Hermes then confesses in a way parallel to his jesting statement in the Odyssey:
Personally, if truth must be told, I envied Ares for having committed adultery with the most beautiful of the goddesses and even for being bound with her. … Just come and have a look. If you don’t make the same wish when you’ve seen them, you’ll earn my praise.
{ ἐγὼ μέντοι, εἰ χρὴ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἐφθόνουν τῷ Ἄρει μὴ μόνον μοιχεύσαντι τὴν καλλίστην θεόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεδεμένῳ μετ᾿ αὐτῆς. … ἰδὲ μόνον ἐπελθών· ἐπαινέσομαι γάρ σε, ἢν μὴ τὰ ὅμοια καὶ αὐτὸς εὔξῃ ἰδών. }
Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods {Θεῶν Διάλογοι} 21 (Apollo and Hermes {Απολλωνοσ και Ερμου}), ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) from MacLeod (1961). MacLead translated “committed adultery with {μοιχεύω}” as “made a conquest of.” That latter translation reflects bias toward brutalizing men’s sexuality and criminalizing men seducing women. Lucian’s The Dream or the Cock {Ονειροσ η Αλεκτρυων} refers to the affair of Aphrodite and Ares, as well as Alectryon’s involvement. Alectryon was a young man whom Ares charged with preventing others from detecting his sexual affairs.
[10] Lucian (questionably attributed), Affairs of the Heart / Loves / Amores / Erotes {Ἔρωτες} 13, ancient Greek text and English translation (modified) from MacLeod (1967). Charicles here reproduces Hermes’s willingness to be enchained in adultery with Aphrodite. The two subsequent quotes above are similarly from Lucian, Amores 15-6.
[11] This story of passionate love seems to cite implicitly Ovid. In one of his lyrical poems, Ovid describes himself and his mistress Corinna naked in bed at mid-day. The poem concludes:
Why should I refer to each feature? I saw nothing not praiseworthy,
and I pressed her naked body right up to mine.
Who wouldn’t know what followed? Tired, we both rested.
May to me come often such mid-days!{ Singula quid referam? nil non laudabile vidi
et nudam pressi corpus ad usque meum.
Cetera quis nescit? lassi requievimus ambo.
proveniant medii sic mihi saepe dies! }
Ovid, Loves {Amores} 1.5.23-26, my English translation. In the story in Lucian’s Amores quoted above, the rhetoric includes an element of horror:
But why do I chatter on and tell you in every detail the reckless deed of that unmentionable night?
{ καὶ τί γὰρ ἀρρήτου νυκτὸς ἐγὼ τόλμαν ἡ λάλος ἐπ᾿ ἀκριβὲς ὑμῖν διηγοῦμαι? }
That rhetoric of horror contrasts sharply with the passionate young man’s subjective sexual pleasure with the Aphrodite of Cnidus.
[12] The story of the young man dying in insane love for the Aphrodite of Cnidus is also cited in Lucian, Essays in Portraiture {Εικονεσ} 4. Pliny cites two similar stories that juxtapose men’s sexual love for statues of Cupid (Eros) and Venus (Aphrodite):
To Praxiteles belongs another naked Cupid at Parium, a colony on the Sea of Marmara. That statue matches the Venus of Cnidus in its renown and in being wronged. Alcetas, a man from Rhodes, fell in love with it and left upon it a similar vestige of his passion.
{ eiusdem et alter nudus in Pario colonia Propontidis, par Veneri Cnidiae nobilitate et iniuria; adamavit enim Alcetas Rhodius atque in eo quoque simile amoris vestigium reliquit. }
Pliny, Natural History 36.20, Latin text from Eichholz (1962), my English translation. With its presentation of alternate sexual orientations and its concern with naming the wrongdoer, Pliny’s account seems particularly within the literary stream that also encompasses Lucian’s Amores.
The story of the insanely loving man attempting to have sex with the Aphrodite of Cnidus has parallels in earlier literature. Writing in the second century GC, Clement of Alexandria stated:
There was also an Aphrodite in Cnidus, made of marble and beautiful. Another man fell in love with this statue and had intercourse with the marble, as Posidippus relates.
{ Ἀφροδίτη δὲ ἄλλη ἐν Κνίδῳ λίθος ἦν καὶ καλὴ ἦν, ἕτερος ἠράσθη ταύτης καὶ μίγνυται τῇ λίθῳ· Ποσείδιππος ἱστορεῖ }
Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus / Exhortation to the Greeks {Προτρεπτικὸς πρὸς Ἕλληνας} 4.50-51p, ancient Greek text and English translation (modified slightly) from Butterworth (1919).
Writing about 300 GC, Arnobius similarly attributed such a story to Posidippus:
Similarly, Posidippus, in the book that he mentions to have been written about Cnidus and about its affairs, relates that a young man not of ignoble birth — but he conceals his name — was carried away with love of the Venus that makes Cnidus is famous. He joined himself also in amorous lewdness to the statue of the same deity in the way of the marriage bed and enjoyed the resulting pleasures.
{ Consimili ratione Posidippus in eo libro, quem scriptum super Cnido indicat superque rebus eius, adulescentem haud ignobilem memorat — sed vocabulum eius obscurat — correptum amoribus Veneris, propter quam Cnidus in nomine est, amatorias et ipsum miscuisse lascivias cum eiusdem numinis signo genialibus usum toris et voluptatum consequentium finibus. }
Arnobius, Disputes against the pagans {Disputationes adversus gentes} 6.22, Latin text from Migne (1844) and English translation (modified) from the Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 6.
Posidippus, who may have been the epigrammatist Posidippus of Pella, apparently wrote early in the third century BGC. The work About Knidos {Περὶ Κνίδου} is attributed to Posidippus of Pella. Posidippus, fr. 147 in Austin & Bastianini (2002), also as Supplementum Hellenisticum 706. Perhaps Posidippus’s Περὶ Κνίδου included reference to this story. That’s reasonably speculative, particularly in light of Arnobius’s attribution. Cf. Corso (2007) p. 192, which doesn’t indicate any doubt.
Ancient Greco-Roman literature includes on the order of ten (not necessarily independent) accounts of agalmatophilia {ἄγαλμαφιλία} — sexual attraction to a statue or doll. The most famous story is Ovid’s story of the love of the sculptor Pygmalion of Cyprus for a statue he created. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.148-73. On that story, Elsner (1991). In regard to ancient Greco-Roman agalmatophilia more generally, Weedle (2006). “Clearly the theme was popular in antiquity.” Elsner (1991) p. 158. For additional citations to ancient textual accounts, id. p. 167, n. 26. Prior to modern universities and otiose intellectual life, ordinary persons profoundly engaged with art and literature.
[13] Some academics have gone even as far as to charge the unfortunate young man with “rape of the statue.” Rosenmeyer (2001) p. 258. Even worse, he has been charged with “rape of the goddess.” Elsner (1991) p. 158. Inanimate objects, e.g. dildos, cannot reasonably be characterized as victims of rape. Ignorance and anti-men gender bigotry in discussing rape isn’t just a problem among classicists. Grotesquely unjust treatment of men and boys who are raped is a general social injustice.
[images] (1) Roman copy of Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Cnidus. Preserved as Inv. 8619 in Museo Nazionale Romano di Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy). Credit: Ludovisi Collection. Source image thanks to Jastrow (2006) and Wikimedia Commons. Here’s an image of the full statue. An additional view.
(2) Statue of Pygmalion looking with desire at the beautiful, naked woman Galatee he sculpted. Sculpted by Étienne Maurice Falconet in 1763. Preserved in the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia). Source image thanks to Alex Bakharev and Wikimedia Commons.
(3) Painting of Pygmalion awe-struck at the beauty of the naked woman that he sculpted. Painting by Franz Stuck. Preserved in the Villa Stuck Museum (Munich, Germany). Source image thanks to Wikimedia Commons.
(4) Oil painting of Pygmalion embracing an unfinished marble statue. Painted by Guido Calori, probably made early in the twentieth century. Source image thanks to Lanfranco Cascioli and Wikimedia Commons.
References:
Austin, Colin, and Guido Bastianini, eds. 2002. Posidippi Pellaei Quae Supersunt Omnia. Milano: LED – Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto. Review by Susan Stephens.
Bottenberg, Laura. 2020. “Pseudo-Lucian’s Cnidian Aphrodite: A Statue of Flesh, Stone, and Words.” Millennium. 17 (1): 115–38.
Butterworth, G. W., trans. 1919. Clement of Alexandria. The Exhortation to the Greeks. The Rich Man’s Salvation. To the Newly Baptized. Loeb Classical Library 92. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Corso, Antonio. 1997. “The Cnidian Aphrodite.” Chapter 11 (pp. 91-98) in Ian Jenkins and Geoffrey B. Waywell, eds. Sculptors and Sculpture of Caria and the Dodecanese. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Press.
Corso, Antonio. 2007. “The Cult and Political Background of the Knidian Aphrodite.” Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens. 5: 173-197.
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