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Image:Leaena and lioness.jpg

Leaena ("lioness"), probably Greek, was a prostitute and the mistress of the tyrant Hipparchus.[1]

When Anaxandridas II was king of Sparta in the 6th century BC, Harmodius and Aristogeiton were compelled to overthrow the tyranny of Hippias and Hipparchus. Among those captured in the plot to murder Hipparchus was Leaena who Aristogeiton was in love with.[2] She was tortured to get information about the perpetrators' involvement. Leaena then rose to the occassion to be virtuous, in spite of her "occupation", and bit her tongue off so she would not be capable of revealing detrimental information.[3] According to Pausanias, the Athenians set up a bronze lioness on the Acropolis in her memory.[4]

[edit] See Also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Deipnosophists of Athenaeus of Naucratis, Book XIII Concerning Women
  2. ^ Athenaeus: Deipnosophists - Book 13(c)
  3. ^ Beginning of the Consuls of the Romans
  4. ^ Pausanias 1.23.1–2.

[edit] References

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)
  • Eusebius, Chronicon (Jerome translation), edition of R. Helm (Leipzig, 1913), 106.1-7
  • Pliny the Elder, Natural History VII.23.87, 34.19.72
  • Plutarch, De garrulitate 505E

[Category:Prostitution]]