Plutarch, De Pythiae oraculis
Frank Cole Babbitt, Ed.

When we had passed the house of the Acanthians and Brasidas, the guide pointed out to us the site where iron spits of Rhodopis the courtesan were once placed,¹ at which Diogenianus indignantly said, ‘So, then, it was the province of the same State to provide Rhodopis with a place where she might bring and deposit the tithes of her earnings, and also to put to death Aesop,² her fellow-slave.’

‘Why,’ said Sarapion, ‘are you indignant over this, my good sir ? Look up there and behold among the generals and kings Mnesaretê wrought in gold, who, as Crates said, stands as a trophy to the licentiousness of the Greeks.’ ³

The young man accordingly looked at it and remarked, ‘Then it was about Phrynê that this statement was made by Crates ?’

‘Yes,’ said Sarapion, ‘she was called Mnesaretê, but she got the nickname of Phrynê⁴ because of her sallow complexion. In many instances, apparently, nicknames cause the real names to be obscured. For example, Polyxena, the mother of Alexander, they say was later called Myrtalê and Olympias and Stratonicê. [p. 297] Eumetis of Rhodes most people call, even to this day, Cleobulina⁵ from her father; and Herophilê of Erythrae, who had the gift of prophecy, they addressed as Sibyl. You will hear the grammarians assert that Leda was named Mnesinoë and Orestes Achaeus. . . . But how,’ said he, with a look at Theon, ‘do you think to demolish this charge of guilt against Phrynê ?’