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Leaena (‹See Tfd›Greek: Λέαινα, "lioness") is a pseudo-historical figure, supposedly a hetaera and, according to a later tradition,^[1] the mistress of Aristogeiton the Tyrannicide.^[2]

Original versions of the story of Aristogeiton portray him, on the contrary, as the lover of Harmodius, for whom he decided to overthrow the tyrant Hipparchus. Hipparchus had feelings for Harmodius, and he tried to humiliate him after his feelings were rejected.^[3]

In 514 B.C., Harmodius and Aristogeiton, a male couple, overthrew Hippias and Hipparchus at Athens. Hipparchus was murdered, but Hippias escaped, and seized the surviving conspirators. According to later versions of the story, told among others by Plutarch, the hetaera Leaena, lover of Aristogeiton, or Harmodius, or both, was captured. Leaena was tortured to get information about the conspiracy.^[4]

Leaena was commemorated on account of her stubborn resolve under the torture of the tyrant. Athenaeus (who believed Leaena's lover was Harmodius) says: "There was also a courtesan named Leaena, whose name is very celebrated, and she was the mistress of Harmodius, who slew the tyrant. And she, being tortured by command of Hippias the tyrant, died under the torture without having said a word."^[5]

According to Jerome, Leaena rose to the occasion even further; to preserve her silence, and to frustrate her torturers, she bit her tongue off, and so died: "Harmodius and Aristogiton killed the tyrant Hipparchus, and the courtesan Leaena their friend, when compelled with torments, lest she betray her companions, she amputated her tongue with her teeth."^[6]

Therefore, the brass lioness statue at the entrance to the Acropolis was without a tongue: "And Leaena also has a splendid reward for her self-control. She was a courtesan belonging to the group led by Harmodius and Aristogeiton and shared in the conspiracy against the tyrants — with her hopes, all a woman could do; for she also had joined in the revels about that noble mixing-bowl of Eros and through the god had been initiated into the secrets which might not be revealed. When, therefore, the conspirators failed and were put to death, she was questioned and commanded to reveal those who still escaped detection; but she would not do so and continued steadfast, proving that those men had experienced a passion not unworthy of themselves in loving a woman like her. And the Athenians caused a bronze lioness without a tongue to be made and set up at the Propylaea in the Acropolis of Athens, representing by the spirited courage of the animal Leaena's invincible character, and by its tonguelessness her power of silence in keeping a holy secret."^[7]^[8]

The statue was not made by Calamis but by the Athenian sculptor Amphicrates, according to Pliny.^[9]

It is possible that Leaena's story, replacing the account of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as a couple, was invented to explain the existence of the lioness statue with the missing tongue, or perhaps to accommodate the homophobia of writers from late antiquity.^[10]

Notes

^ Konstantinos Kapparis (2018). Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World. De Gruyter. p. 99. ISBN 978-3110556759. The noble tale of homosexual love and honor, as told by Thucydides, is refashioned into a story of endurance and self-sacrifice centered around the hetaira Leaina.
^ Polyaenus, Stratagems, 8.45
^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 6.54.
^ Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III
^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 13.596.f
^ Beginning of the Consuls of the Romans
^ Plutarch, On Talkativeness, Moralia 505.E
^ Polyaenus, Strategems, 8.45
^ Entry Amphicrates Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine at the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
^ Kapparis (2018), p. 100–101. "This story is a revision of the traditional tale in order to explain the bronze lioness with the missing tongue, and probably also to gloss over the uncomfortable feeling of later antiquity audiences over the homosexual relationship of those two most glorious heroes from the Athenian past."

References

Primary sources

Pliny the Elder, Natural History VII.23.87, XXXIV.19.72
Eusebius, Chronicon 106.1-7
Plutarch, Moralia On Talkativeness 505E
Polyaenus, Stratagems 8.45

Secondary sources

Plutarch, The Morals, volume 4, trans. William W. Goodwin w/ Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1878) The Online Library of Liberty
The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens By Eva C. Keuls, p. 194, University of California Press (1993), ISBN 0-520-07929-9
Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III, by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Project Guttenberg
Eusebius, Chronicon, ed R. Helm (Leipzig, Germany 1913), 106.1-7

External links

Media related to Leaena at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Konstantinos Kapparis (2018). Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World. De Gruyter. p. 99. ISBN 978-3110556759. The noble tale of homosexual love and honor, as told by Thucydides, is refashioned into a story of endurance and self-sacrifice centered around the hetaira Leaina.

[2] Polyaenus, Stratagems, 8.45

[3] Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 6.54.

[4] Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III

[5] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 13.596.f

[6] Beginning of the Consuls of the Romans

[7] Plutarch, On Talkativeness, Moralia 505.E

[Polyaenus-8] Polyaenus, Strategems, 8.45

[9] Entry Amphicrates Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine at the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

[10] Kapparis (2018), p. 100–101. "This story is a revision of the traditional tale in order to explain the bronze lioness with the missing tongue, and probably also to gloss over the uncomfortable feeling of later antiquity audiences over the homosexual relationship of those two most glorious heroes from the Athenian past."

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|Hetaera (0600-0500)}}
+{{for|the spider genus|Arctosa}}
 [[File:Leaina Before the Judges, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|''Leaina Before the Judges'', by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], ''c.''&nbsp;1517–18]]
-'''Leaina''' ({{lang-grc-gre|Λέαινα}}, "lioness") was a [[hetaera]] and the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of [[Aristogeiton the Tyrannicide]].<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#45.1 Polyaenus, ''Stratagems'', 8.45]</ref>
+'''Leaena''' ({{lang-grc-gre|Λέαινα}}, "lioness") is a pseudo-historical figure, supposedly a [[hetaera]] and, according to a later tradition,<ref>{{cite book|page=99|title=Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World|author= Konstantinos Kapparis|year=2018|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3110556759|quote=The noble tale of homosexual love and honor, as told by [[Thucydides]], is refashioned into a story of endurance and self-sacrifice centered around the hetaira Leaina.}}</ref> the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of [[Aristogeiton the Tyrannicide]].<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#45.1 Polyaenus, ''Stratagems'', 8.45]</ref>
+Original versions of the story of Aristogeiton portray him, on the contrary, as the lover of Harmodius, for whom he decided to overthrow the tyrant Hipparchus. Hipparchus had feelings for Harmodius, and he tried to humiliate him after his feelings were rejected.<ref>Thucydides, ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]'', 6.54.</ref>
-When [[Anaxandridas II]] was king of Sparta in the 6th century BC, [[Harmodius and Aristogeiton]] were inspired to overthrow the tyranny of [[Hippias (son of Pisistratus)|Hippias]] and [[Hipparchus (son of Peisistratos)|Hipparchus]] at Athens.
-Hipparchus was murdered, but Hippias escaped, and seized the surviving conspirators. Among those captured was the hetaera Leaina, lover of Aristogeiton, or Harmodius, or both. Leaina was tortured to get information about the conspiracy.<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6156/6156-h/vol1.htm Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III]</ref>
+In 514 B.C., [[Harmodius and Aristogeiton]], a male couple, overthrew [[Hippias (son of Pisistratus)|Hippias]] and [[Hipparchus (son of Peisistratos)|Hipparchus]] at Athens. Hipparchus was murdered, but Hippias escaped, and seized the surviving conspirators. According to later versions of the story, told among others by [[Plutarch]], the hetaera Leaena, lover of Aristogeiton, or Harmodius, or both, was captured. Leaena was tortured to get information about the conspiracy.<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6156/6156-h/vol1.htm Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III]</ref>
+Leaena was commemorated on account of her stubborn resolve under the torture of the tyrant.  [[Athenaeus]] (who believed Leaena's lover was Harmodius) says: "There was also a courtesan named Leaena, whose name is very celebrated, and she was the mistress of Harmodius, who slew the tyrant. And she, being tortured by command of Hippias the tyrant, died under the torture without having said a word."<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus13c.html#596 Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophists'', 13.596.f]</ref>
-According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], the [[Athenians]] later set up a statue of a bronze lioness on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]] in her memory: "When Hipparchus died, Hippias tortured Leaena to death, because he knew she was the mistress of Aristogeiton, and therefore could not possibly, he held, be in ignorance of the plot. As a recompense, when the tyranny of the Peisistratidae was at an end, the Athenians put up a bronze lioness in memory of the woman, which they say Callias dedicated and Calamis made."<ref>Pausanias [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.23.1 1.23.1&ndash;2].</ref>
+According to Jerome, Leaena rose to the occasion even further; to preserve her silence, and to frustrate her torturers, she bit her tongue off, and so died: "Harmodius and Aristogiton killed the tyrant Hipparchus, and the courtesan Leaena their friend, when compelled with torments, lest she betray her companions, she amputated her tongue with her teeth."<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm Beginning of the Consuls of the Romans]</ref>
-Leaina was commemorated on account of her stubborn resolve under the torture of the tyrant.  Athenaeus (who believed Leaina's lover was Harmodius) says: "There was also a courtesan named Leaena, whose name is very celebrated, and she was the mistress of Harmodius, who slew the tyrant. And she, being tortured by command of Hippias the tyrant, died under the torture without having said a word." <ref>[http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus13c.html#596 Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophists'', 13.596.f]</ref>
+Therefore, the brass lioness statue at the entrance to the Acropolis was without a tongue: "And Leaena also has a splendid reward for her self-control. She was a courtesan belonging to the group led by Harmodius and Aristogeiton and shared in the conspiracy against the tyrants — with her hopes, all a woman could do; for she also had joined in the revels about that noble mixing-bowl of Eros and through the god had been initiated into the secrets which might not be revealed. When, therefore, the conspirators failed and were put to death, she was questioned and commanded to reveal those who still escaped detection; but she would not do so and continued steadfast, proving that those men had experienced a passion not unworthy of themselves in loving a woman like her. And the Athenians caused a bronze lioness without a tongue to be made and set up at the [[Propylaea (Acropolis of Athens)|Propylaea in the Acropolis of Athens]], representing by the spirited courage of the animal Leaena's invincible character, and by its tonguelessness her power of silence in keeping a holy secret."<ref>Plutarch, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_garrulitate*.html#T505e ''On Talkativeness''], [[Moralia]] 505.E</ref><ref name="Polyaenus">[http://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg0616/tlg001/1st1K-grc1/8.45 Polyaenus, Strategems, 8.45]</ref>
-According to Jerome, Leaina rose to the occasion even further; to preserve her silence, and to frustrate her torturers, she bit her tongue off, and so died: "Harmodius and Aristogiton killed the tyrant Hipparchus, and the courtesan Leaena their friend, when compelled with torments, lest she betray her companions, she amputated her tongue with her teeth." <ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm Beginning of the Consuls of the Romans]</ref>
+The statue was not made by Calamis but by the Athenian sculptor Amphicrates, according to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]].<ref>Entry [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0158.html Amphicrates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012050811/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0158.html |date=2012-10-12 }} at the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</ref>
-Therefore, the brass lioness statue at the entrance to the Acropolis was without a tongue: "And Leaena also has a splendid reward for her self-control. She was a courtesan belonging to the group led by Harmodius and Aristogeiton and shared in the conspiracy against the tyrants — with her hopes, all a woman could do; for she also had joined in the revels about that noble mixing-bowl of Eros and through the god had been initiated into the secrets which might not be revealed. When, therefore, the conspirators failed and were put to death, she was questioned and commanded to reveal those who still escaped detection; but she would not do so and continued steadfast, proving that those men had experienced a passion not unworthy of themselves in loving a woman like her. And the Athenians caused a bronze lioness without a tongue to be made and set up in the gates of the Acropolis, representing by the spirited courage of the animal Leaena's invincible character, and by its tonguelessness her power of silence in keeping a holy secret. "<ref>Plutarch, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_garrulitate*.html#T505e ''On Talkativeness''], [[Moralia]] 505.E</ref>
+It is possible that Leaena's story, replacing the account of Harmodius and Aristogeiton as a couple, was invented to explain the existence of the lioness statue with the missing tongue, or perhaps to accommodate the [[homophobia]] of writers from late antiquity.<ref>Kapparis (2018), p. 100–101. "This story is a revision of the traditional tale in order to explain the bronze lioness with the missing tongue, and probably also to gloss over the uncomfortable feeling of later antiquity audiences over the homosexual relationship of those two most glorious heroes from the Athenian past."</ref>
-The statue was made by not by Calamis but by the Athenian sculptor Amphicrates, according to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]].<ref>Entry [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0158.html Amphicrates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012050811/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0158.html |date=2012-10-12 }} at the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</ref>
 ==See also==
@@ Line 33: / Line 35: @@
 === Secondary sources ===
 * Plutarch, ''The Morals,'' volume 4, trans. William W. Goodwin w/ Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1878) [http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1214&layout=html The Online Library of Liberty]
-* The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens By Eva C. Keuls, p.&nbsp;194, University of California Press (1993), ISBN 0-520-07929-9
+* The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens By Eva C. Keuls, p.&nbsp;194, University of California Press (1993), {{ISBN|0-520-07929-9}}
 * Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Volume I, Book II, Chapter III, Section III, by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/b010w10.txt Project Guttenberg]
 * [[Eusebius]], [[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]], ed R. Helm (Leipzig, Germany 1913), 106.1-7
@@ Line 41: / Line 43: @@
 __NOTOC__
-[[Category:Courtesans of antiquity]]
-[[Category:6th-century BC Greek people]]
+[[Category:Hetairai]]
-[[Category:6th-century BC women]]
+[[Category:6th-century BC Athenians]]
-[[Category:Ancient Athenians]]
+[[Category:6th-century BC Greek women]]
-[[Category:Rebels]]
+[[Category:Greek rebels]]
 [[Category:Greek torture victims]]
-[[Category:Ancient Greek women]]
+[[Category:Ancient Athenian women]]
+[[Category:Ancient rebels]]
+[[Category:Greek female prostitutes]]
+[[Category:People whose existence is disputed]]