Rhodopis (hetaera)
Rhodopis or Rodopis (
Slavery
According to Herodotus, she was a fellow-
After liberation
Rhodopis continued to live at Naucratis after her liberation from slavery, and she
Tales and legends
Some 400 years after Herodotus, Strabo stated that Sappho called Rhodopis "Doricha". 200 years after Strabo, Athenaeus maintained that Herodotus had confused two separate women.[4]: 15 As "rhodopis" means "rosy cheeks", it was probably a professional pseudonym,[7] but it is unclear whether "Doricha" was her real name. It was the Hellenistic biographical tradition associated with Posidippus that followed the notion of Rhodopis and Doricha being the same individual.[8]
There was a tale current in Greece during Herodotus' time that Rhodopis had caused the construction of "the third pyramid," meaning the
Another tale about Rhodopis, related by Strabo and Aelian makes her a queen of Egypt, and thus renders the likelihood of her being confounded with Nitocris still more probable. It is said that as Rhodopis was bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up one of her sandals, flew away with it, and dropped it in the lap of the Egyptian king as he was administering justice at Memphis. Struck by the strange occurrence and the beauty of the sandal, he did not rest until he had found the fair owner of the beautiful sandal, and as soon as he had discovered her, made her his queen.[1] This story is considered the earliest surviving version of the Cinderella story.
References
- ^ a b c William Smith, ed. "Rhodopis" in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870), vol. 1, p. 268.
- ISBN 978-0-415-93947-8.
- ^ Herodotus. Histories. II.135.: Loeb Library / Harvard University Press. pp. 438–439.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ ISBN 978-0-674-99157-6.
- ISBN 9780253221216.
- ^ "Herodotus: Book II: Chapter 136".
- ISBN 978-0-715-63448-6.
- ISBN 9780198826477.
- ISBN 9783110556759.
- ^ Smith, referencing Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, xxxvi.(17).82
- S2CID 161865691.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "The History and Amours of Rhodopi". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.