Astyanassa

Astyanassa

According to late Greek sources on classical mythology, Astyanassa (Ancient Greek: Ἀστυάνασσα) was Helen of Troy's maid. The 10th century scholar Photius, citing Ptolemy Chennus, mentions the story that Aphrodite lent her magical embroidered band (kestos himas) to Helen, to ensure that Paris would fall in love with her, and that Astyanassa stole it.[1] The Byzantine dictionary Suda adds the legend that Astyanassa was the first erotic author (in a tradition that included two other women writers, Philaenis and Elephantis): she wrote a book about sexual positions.[2]


Notes

  1. Photius, Bibliotheca 190.149a
  2. Suida, Suda Encyclopedia s.v. Astyanassa

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Astyanassa, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.