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  • Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

    Phryne of Thespiae by McClure, Laura;

    Courtesan, Muse, and Myth

    Series: Women in Antiquity;

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      • Publisher's listprice GBP 22.99
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    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher OUP USA
    • Date of Publication 24 December 2024

    • ISBN 9780197580851
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages216 pages
    • Size 236x157x13 mm
    • Weight 327 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 26, b/w
    • 708

    Categories

    Short description:

    Although Phryne is considered the most famous of the many Greek courtesans who flocked to Athens during the fourth century BCE, until now there have been no modern attempts to reconstruct her life. Phryne of Thespiae offers 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.

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    Long 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.

    Renowned for her work on women and gender in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Laura McClure untangles the historical reality from the myth of one of the most famous women of ancient Greece in this carefully researched book. By examining the milieu of fourth century BCE Athens, from brothels to artists' studios, and sanctuaries to courtrooms, she considers the difficult experiences and opportunities available for a sex laborer like Phryne. Drawing on texts, visual imagery, and material remains, McClure succeeds in reconstructing a history and legacy for Phryne despite the disparate fragments about her. The book is as much a lesson in mythmaking as it is a history of Phryne.

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    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

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