Phryne of Thespiae : Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

by: McClure, L.

Price: 32,00 EURO

(in stock)

Phryne of Thespiae
Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

Laura McClure

Women in Antiquity

Offers the first comprehensive attempt to reconstruct Phryne's biography
Recovers the story of a female sexual laborer from classical antiquity by utilizing recent research on Athenian prostitution
Situates Phryne's biography within her receptions in literature and art from antiquity through the twentieth century
Offers new evidence and analysis that attempts to disentangle fact from fiction and to understand how some of the more fantastical stories may have had a basis in reality

Description
Although Phryne is considered the most famous of the many Greek courtesans who flocked to Athens during the fourth century BCE, there have been no modern attempts to reconstruct her life. It was not until the eighteenth century that artistic interest in her developed and her stories were continually reimagined and embellished. Artists and writers have recounted again and again how she served as the model for the Praxiteles' Cnidian Aphrodite, the first monumental female nude in Western art, and how the sight of her naked body won acquittal when she was prosecuted for impiety. However, she left no writings in her own words, and only a handful of fragments related to her have survived from her time. Until now, the primary evidence for her life comes down to us from texts composed hundreds of years after her death, all of them written by men, whose works reflect the changing tastes, experiences, and values of Greeks living under Roman rule.

Phryne of Thespiae offers a close analysis of the evidence for sexual labor in classical Athens to find parallels between Phyrne and other Greek courtesans. The result is an innovative biography that examines key moments of Phyrne's life that have been dismissed as male fantasies, arguing that many of them could have plausibly originated in historical events. The portrait that emerges is that of a powerful and socially consequential woman whose wealth and connections helped to shape the society in which she lived.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Her Story, in Quotations
Chapter 2. Precarious Lives, Unstable Identities
Chapter 3. Sex and the Ancient City
Chapter 4. Phryne's Receptions in Greek Art
Chapter 5. The Prosecution of Phryne
Epilogue

Phryne of Thespiae : Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

by: McClure, L.

• ISBN-13: 9780197580851 / 978-0-19-758085-1
• ISBN-03: 0197580858 / 0-19-758085-8
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2024

Price: 32,00 EURO

(in stock)