Bilistiche (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Βιλιστίχη; born c. 280 BC) or Belistiche was a

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...

and winner of the 264 BC

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in tethrippon and

synoris Chariot racing (, ''harmatodromía''; ) was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from a very early time. With the institution of for ...

Name

It is generally accepted that the name Bilistiche is a Macedonian dialectal form of a

name. The first element presumably relates to φιλ-, ‘love’; (the ''

phi Phi ( ; uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ; ''pheî'' ; Modern Greek: ''fi'' ) is the twenty-first letter of the Greek alphabet. In Archaic and Classical Greek (c. 9th to 4th century BC), it represented an aspirated voiceless bilabial plos ...

'' turns into ''

beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...

'' in the Macedonian dialect, cf. Pherenice -> Berenice). The most probable full etymological account of her name accordingly construes it as the superlative stem φιλιστ- followed by the productive suffix -ίχα, found in a number of other female names, particularly in

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

(Doricha, Deinicha, Hippicha, etc.).

Origin

According to Pausanias, Bilistiche was a woman from the coast of

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

; Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', 5.8.11. "Later they added a pair of foals and a ridden foal: they say Belistiche, a woman from the coast of Macedonia, won with the pair, and Tlepolemos the Lykian was proclaimed for the ridden foal, Tlepolemos at the hundred and thirty-first Olympics and Belistiche two games before." according to

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

, she was an

Argive Argos (; ; ) is a city and former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the oldest in Europe. It is the largest city in Argolis and a major center in the same pr ...

(said to descend from the line of

Atreus In Greek mythology, Atreus (, ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus), Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His descendants became known collectively as the Atreidae ...

); according to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, a foreign slave bought from the marketplace. If one were to accept Plutarch's information, one might suppose that, as a (former) slave of such origin she was given Macedonian citizenship for her services, although this is considered unlikely.

Olivier Masson Olivier Masson (3 April 1922, Paris – 23 February 1997, Paris) was a French linguist interested in Greek, Cypriot and Phoenician epigraphy, especially with the Cypriot syllabary and Cypriot archaeology in general. He was professor of Greek phil ...

dismissed Plutarch's information as fiction concluding that Plutarch had drawn her from the existing entourage of the Macedonian nobility, as does Daniel Ogden, who notes that Plutarch's information probably originated from

Sotades Sotades (; 3rd century BC) was an Ancient Greek poet. Sotades was born in Maroneia, either the one in Thrace, or in Crete. He lived in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC). The city was at that time a remarkabl ...

' work ''On Bilistiche'' whose contents are unknown, but may have been a polemic against her.

Biography

Bilistiche was born around 280 BC. Her father was named Philon (cf. Athenian architect

Philon Philon (), Athenian architect of the 4th century BC, is known as the planner of two important works: the portico of twelve Doric columns to the great Hall of the Mysteries at Eleusis (work commissioned by Demetrius Phalereus about 318 BC) and, ...

) and was presumably an admiral of

. She won the tethrippon and

horse races in the 264 BC

, and subsequently she became a mistress of

Ptolemy II Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...

. They had a son together named Ptolemy Andromachou.

Death

Her date of death is unknown. After her death, it is known that Ptolemy II deified her as Aphrodite Bilistiche. Fragmentary papyri from Ankyronpolis dated to 239/8 BC indicate that later in life she was a money lender. According to

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

, she was buried under the shrine of

Sarapis Serapis or Sarapis is a Graeco-Egyptian god. A syncretic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis, Serapis was extensively popularized in the third century BC on the orders of Greek Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter, as a means to ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

.Clement of Alexandria. ''Protrepticus'', 4.48.2-3.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Chris Bennett - Bilistiche
* Kosmetatou, Elizabeth. "Bilistiche and the Quasi-Institutional Status of Ptolemaic Royal Mistress". ''Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete''. Volume 50, Issue 1, Pages 18–36, ISSN (Online) 1867-1551, ISSN (Print) 0066-6459, 2004. {{doi, 10.1515/apf.2004.50.1.18 Hellenistic-era people Ptolemaic courtiers Ancient Argives Ancient Macedonian women Ancient Olympic competitors Ancient Macedonian athletes Ancient Greek chariot racers 3rd-century BC Macedonians Hetairai Greek female prostitutes Deified women Sportswomen in antiquity 3rd-century BC Greek women Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen Mistresses of Egyptian royalty