Meaning of Phryne | Babel Free

Definitions

An Ancient Greek courtesan of the 4th century BC, reputedly the model for Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Cnidus and famously tried for the capital charge of impiety, during which trial she allegedly bared her breasts before the judges.

historical

Examples

“The suffrages were recently divided between Mademoiselle Lange and Madame Tallien — the Helen and Phryne of the nation.”

“But in the first of these instances, an impediment may be supposed to be insurmountable, which Dryden has only surmounted by the substitution of matchless beauties of his own! He wins his cause, like Phryne pleading before the Areopagus.”

“The Roman-period stories that circulated about Phryne have to do with her beauty, her nudity, and her forwardness.[…]Alciphron also crafts a letter that Phryne writes to Praxiteles; in it, Phryne toys with the theological implications of Praxiteles' use of her as a model for Aphrodite, and her statuary appearance at a sanctuary to Eros at Thespiai.”

CEFR level