Athenaeus - Deipnosophists Book XIIIb
Book XIII. 594 d – 596 b
Harpalus, the Macedonian who plundered large sums from Alexander’s funds and then sought refuge in Athens, fell in love with Pythionice and squandered a great deal on her, though she was a courtesan; and when she died he erected a monument to her costing many talents. “And so, when he bore her to the place of burial,” as Poseidonius declares in the twenty-second book of his Histories, “he escorted the corpse with a large choir of the most distinguished artists, with all kinds of instruments and sweet tones.” And Dicaearchus, in his books On the Descent into the Cave of Trophonius, says: “One would feel the same when going up to the city of Athens by way of the Sacred Road, as it is called, from Eleusis. For there, stationing himself at the point from which the temple of Athena and the citadel are first seen in the distance, he will observe a monument, built right beside the road, the like of which, in its size, is not even approached by any other. One would naturally declare quite positively, at first, that this was a monument to Miltiades, or Pericles, or Cimon, or some other man of noble rank and character and, in particular, that it had been erected by the state at public expense or, failing that, that permission to erect it had been given by the state. But when, on again looking, one discovers that it is a monument to Pythionice the courtesan, what must one be led to expect? Again, Theopompus, when denouncing in his Letter to Alexander the licentiousness of Harpalus, says: “Consider and learn clearly from our agents in Babylon how he ordered the funeral of Pythionice when she died. She, to be sure, was a slave of the flute-girl Bacchis, who in turn was a slave of the Thracian woman Sinope, who had transferred her practice of harlotry from Aegina to Athens; hence Pythionice was not only triply a slave, but also triply a harlot. Now, with the sum of more than two hundred talents he erected two monuments to her; the thing that surprised everyone is t his, that whereas for the men who died in Cilicia defending your kingdom and the liberty of Greece neither he nor anyone else among the officials has as yet erected a proper tomb, for the courtesan Pythionice the monument at Athens and the other in Babylon have already stood completed a long time. Here was a woman who, as everybody knew, had been shared by all who desired her at the same price for all, and yet for this woman the man who says he is your friend has set up a shrine and a sacred enclosure and has called the temple and the altar by the name of Aphrodite Pythionice, by one and the same act showing his contempt for the vengeance of the gods and endeavouring to heap insults on the offices you bestow.” These persons are also mentioned by Philemon in The Man of Babylon: “You shall be queen of Babylon, if luck so falls; you have heard of Pythionice and Harpalus.” And Alexis also mentions her in Lyciscus.
And yet, after the death of Pythionice Harpalus sent for Glycera, who was also a courtesan, to come to him, as Theopompus records, adding that Harpalus forbade anyone to offer him a crown unless he crowned this harlot also. “Further, he has set up a bronze portrait of Glycera in Rhossus, Syria, where he purposes to rear a monument to you and to himself. More, he has given her the privilege of residing in the royal palace at Tarsus, and permits her to be worshipped by the people and hailed as queen and honoured by other emoluments which were more fittingly bestowed upon your mother and your consort.” All this is confirmed by the testimony of the writer who made the little satyric play Agen, which was produced when the Dionysia were celebrated at the Hydaspes river, whether the author was Python of Catana (or Byzantium) or the king himself. The play was produced after Harpalus had fled to the coast and revolted. Pythionice is mentioned as already dead, whereas Glycera is mentioned as living with Harpalus and as creating the accusation against the Athenians of receiving bribes from Harpalus; he says: “A. There is, in the place where this reed grows, a fortress too high for the birds; on the other side, at the left here, is a harlot’s famous temple, which ‘Pallides’ built before he condemned himself to flight because of his plot. There, accordingly, some magi among the barbarians, seeing him in utterly despondent mood, persuaded him that they could lure the spirit of Pythionice to the upper world.” In this passage the writer calls Harpalus “Pallides.” But in the next verses he calls him by his real name and says: B. “I long to learn from you, since I live so far away from there, what fortunes control the Attic land, and what the folk do there. A. At the time when, they alleged, they had taken on a life of slavery, they had enough for dinner; but today they are eating only vetch and fennel, but wheat not at all. B. And yet I hear that Harpalus has sent over to them thousands of bushels of gra in, as many as Agen sent, and so was made a citizen. A. This grain was Glycera’s and it will doubtless turn out to be their death warrant, and not merely a whore’s earnest money.”
Book XIII. 603 a – c
King Alexander also was madly devoted to boys. Dicaearchus, at any rate, in his book On the Sacrifice at Ilium says that he was so overcome with love for the eunuch Bagoas that, in full view of the entire theatre, he, bending over, caressed Bagoas fondly, and when the audience clapped and shouted in applause, he, nothing loath, again bent over and kissed him. But Carystius in Historical Notes says: “Charon of Chalcis had a beautiful boy who was dear to him. But when Alexander, at a drinking-party in the house of Craterus, praised the boy, Charon bade him kiss Alexander; and he said, “Not so! For that will not delight me so much as it will pain you.” For, passionate as this king was, he was in like measure self-controlled when it came to the observance of decency and the best form. When, for example, he had taken captive the daughters of Darius and his wife as well, a woman of very distinguished beauty, he not only kept his hands off them, but he even refrained from letting them know that they were captives, and ordered that everything be done for them just as if Darius were still king. Therefore Darius on learning this, raised his arms and prayed to the Sun that either he or Alexander might be king.”
Book XIII. 604 f - 605 c
Theopompus in his treatise On the Funds plundered from Delphi says that Asopichus, the favourite of Epameinondas, had the trophy erected at Leuctra pictured on his shield, and that he risked extraordinary dangers; this shield was dedicated as a votive offering in the colonnade at Delphi. In the same treatise Theopompus says that Phayllus, the tyrant of Phocis, was fond of women, Onomarchus, of boys; and from the treasures of Apollo the latter gave the offerings of the Sybarites, four golden strigils, to…, the son of Pythodorus of Sicyon, who had come to Delphi to dedicate his shorn locks,* and who, being beautiful, had accorded his favours to Onomarchus. To the flute-girl Bromias, daughter of Deiniades, Phayllus gave a sliver karchesion, a votive offering of the Phocaeans, and an ivy wreath of gold, the offering of the Peparethians. “This girl,” Theopompus says, “would even have played the flute accompaniment to the Pythian Games had she not been prevented from doing so by the populace. And (he adds) to Physcidas, the son of Lycolas of Trichoneium, a beautiful boy, Onomarchus gave a laurel wreath of gold, votive offering of the Ephesians. This boy was taken to Philip by his father and was there prostituted, and afterwards dismissed without reward.
* A ceremony performed by boys on attaining their majority (at the age of eighteen), by girls when they were married.
Book XIII. 606 c – d
There is a story in Iasus that a dolphin fell in love with a boy, as Duris records in his ninth book. He is talking about Alexander, and his account follows: “He summoned also the boy of Iasus. For near this city lived a boy named Dionysius who, in company with the other boys of the wrestling-school, went to the seashore and began to dive in. A dolphin came up to him out of the sea, and taking him on his back swam off with him a very great distance, setting him down again safely on the shore.”
Book XIII 607 f – 608 a
Even princes were often excited over flute-girls and harp-girls, as is made clear by Parmenio in the Letter to Alexander dispatched to him after the capture of Damascus, when he came into possession of Darius’s household goods. Having caused an inventory to be made of the captured stuff, he writes also the following: “I discovered concubines of the king who played musical instruments, to the number of 329; men employed to weave chaplets, 46; caterers, 277; kettle-tenders, 29; pudding-makers, 13; bartenders, 17; wine-clarifiers, 70; perfume-makers, 14.
Book XIII. 609 b – c
Very beautiful, also, was Pantica of Cyprus, concerning whom Phylarchus says, in the tenth book of his Histories, that when she was living at the court of Olympias, Alexander’s mother, she was demanded in marriage by Monimus, the son of Pythion. But since the woman was licentious, Olympias said to him: “You poor fool, you are marrying with your eyes and not with your reason.”