Biography:

Phryne was a 4th century BC Greek courtesan whose real name was Mnesarete.  It is believed that she received the nickname Phryne, the ancient greek word for toad, because of her pale complexion.  She arrived in Athens after Thespiae, the city of her birth, was destroyed.

She had an affair with the artist Praxiteles who was so inspired by her beauty that he sculpted two statues of her.   One of the statues was displayed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and the other was sent to the city of her birth.  It’s also believed that she also modeled for Praxiteles’ sculpture “Cnidian Aphrodite” and Apelles’ painting “Aphrodite Anadyomene.”

Circa 347 Phryne was accused of blasphemy and was brought to court. Hypereides, her lawyer, feared she would be convicted and so brought her before the tribunal and removed her robes. Phryne’s beauty overwhelmed the tribunal and they acquitted her.  In the nineteenth-century, French artist Jean-Léon Gerôme recreated the famous the court scene in the painting Phryne before the Areopagus.