Bilistiche
Bilistiche (Greek: Βιλιστίχη;[1] born c. 280 BC) or Belistiche was a Hellenistic courtesan of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and winner of the 264 BC Olympic Games in tethrippon and synoris.
Name
It is generally accepted that the name Bilistiche is a Macedonian dialectal form of a Greek name.[2] The first element presumably relates to φιλ-, ‘love’; (the phi turns into beta in the Macedonian dialect, cf. Pherenice -> Berenice). The most probable full etymological account of her name accordingly construes it as the superlative stem φιλιστ- followed by the productive suffix -ίχα, found in a number of other female names, particularly in Boeotia (Doricha, Deinicha, Hippicha, etc.).[2]
Origin
According to Pausanias, Bilistiche was a woman from the coast of Macedonia;[3] according to Athenaeus, she was an Argive (said to descend from the line of Atreus);[4] according to Plutarch, a foreign slave bought from the marketplace.[5] If one were to accept Plutarch's information, one might suppose that, as a (former) slave of such origin she was given Macedonian citizenship for her services, although this is considered unlikely.[2]
Olivier Masson dismissed Plutarch's information as fiction concluding that Plutarch had drawn her from the existing entourage of the Macedonian nobility,[6] as does Daniel Ogden, who notes that Plutarch's information probably originated from Sotades' work On Bilistiche whose contents are unknown, but may have been a polemic against her.[2]
Biography
Bilistiche was born around 280 BC. Her father was named Philon (cf. Athenian architect Philon) and was presumably an admiral of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.[2] She won the tethrippon and synoris horse races in the 264 BC Olympic Games,[3] and subsequently she became a mistress of Ptolemy II. They had a son together named Ptolemy Andromachou.[7]
Death
Her date of death is unknown. After her death, it is known that Ptolemy II deified her as Aphrodite Bilistiche.[8] Fragmentary papyri from Ankyronpolis dated to 239/8 BC indicate that later in life she was a money lender.[9] According to Clement of Alexandria, she was buried under the shrine of Sarapis in Alexandria.[10]
References
- ^ Belistiche in Pausanias; Belestiche in Plutarch; Blistichis in Clement (Protrepticus 4.42); Philistaikhus in Eusebius (Chronikon); Bilistiche in pCairZen 2.59289.
- ^ a b c d e Ogden, Daniel (2008). "Bilistiche and the Prominence of Courtesans in the Ptolemaic Tradition". In McKechnie, Paul R.; Gillaume, Philippe (eds.). Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his World. BRILL. pp. 353–385. ISBN 978-90-04-17089-6.
- ^ a b Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.8.11. "Later they added a pair of foals and a ridden foal: they say Belistiche, a woman from the coast of Macedonia, won with the pair, and Tlepolemos the Lykian was proclaimed for the ridden foal, Tlepolemos at the hundred and thirty-first Olympics and Belistiche two games before."
- ^ Athenaeus. Deipnosophists, 13.596e.
- ^ Plutarch. Moralia, 753e.
- ^ Masson, Olivier (1985). "Sur le nom de Bilistiché, favorite de Ptoléméé II". Arctos – Acta Philologica Fennica (in French): 109–112. ISSN 2814-855X.
- ^ Ptolemy Andromachou by Chris Bennett
- ^ Pomeroy 1990, pp. 53–55; Golden 2008, pp. 18–19.
- ^ The Hibeh Papyri II 261-262
- ^ Clement of Alexandria. Protrepticus, 4.48.2-3.
Sources
- Golden, Mark (2008). Greek Sport and Social Status. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71869-2.
- Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1990). Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2230-1.
External links
- Chris Bennett - Bilistiche
- Kosmetatou, Elizabeth. "Bilistiche and the Quasi-Institutional Status of Ptolemaic Royal Mistress". Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete. Volume 50, Issue 1, Pages 18–36, ISSN (Online) 1867-1551, ISSN (Print) 0066-6459, 2004. doi:10.1515/apf.2004.50.1.18