Chrysis (or Chryseis, grc, Χρυσίς or ) was the priestess of Hera at the ancient Greek sanctuary of Hera at Argos at the time of the

Peloponesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention ...

. She is known for having inadvertently caused a fire that led to the destruction of the temple.

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scient ...

mentions in book 2 of his history of the Peloponesian War that at the outbreak of the war, in 431 BC, Chrysis was in the 48th year of her tenure as head priestess of Argos. The burning of the temple, in the summer of 423 BC, is mentioned in book 4 of the same work. According to Thucydides, Chrysis placed a light near a curtain and then fell asleep. She survived the fire and fled from Argos to the nearby city of

Phlius Phlius (; grc-gre, Φλιοῦς) or Phleius () was an independent polis (city-state) in the northeastern part of Peloponnesus. Phlius' territory, called Phliasia (), was bounded on the north by Sicyonia, on the west by Arcadia, on the east by ...

.Thucydides, ''Peloponesian War'' 4.133.2
/ref> According to

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: * Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of ...

,Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 2.17.7
/ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 3.5.6
/ref> her flight led her to

Tegea Tegea (; el, Τεγέα) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit ...

, where she found asylum at the sanctuary of

Athena Alea Alea (Ancient Greek: ) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, prominent in Arcadian mythology, under which she was worshiped at Alea, Mantineia and Tegea. Alea was initially an independent goddess, but was eventually assimilated with Ath ...

. Pausanias also mentions that in his time a statue of Chrysis still stood at Argos. The catastrophe of Argos was later mentioned by the Christian theologians Clemens of Alexandria and

Arnobius Arnobius (died c. 330) was an early Christian apologist of Berber origin during the reign of Diocletian (284–305). According to Jerome's ''Chronicle,'' Arnobius, before his conversion, was a distinguished Numidian rhetorician at Sicca Ven ...

(who, unlike Thucydides, assumed that Chrysis herself had perished in the fire), as perceived examples of the powerlessness of heathen gods. Her case is the topic of an entry in

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Historica ...

's '' Dictionnaire historique et critique'' of 1695.Pierre Bayle, ''Historisches und kritisches Wörterbuch'', transl. and ed. by G. Gawlick and L. Kreimendahl. Felix-Meiner-Verlag, 2003. p.40f.

References

{{authority control 5th-century BC Greek people Ancient Greek priestesses People of the Peloponnesian War Ancient Argives 5th-century BC Greek women 5th-century BC clergy