Lamia of Athens
Lamia (c. 340 BC; † after 303 BC) was a famous Athenian courtesan and mistress of the Hellenistic ruler and Diadochen Demetrius I Poliorketes.
Life
Lamia was the daughter of unspecified Athenian named Kleanor. First, exercised the profession of a flute player and gained by her talent here shown great fame. They also went to the profession of a courtesan. It should have been a lover of the Greek politician and philosopher Demetrius of Phalerum. From her a stay in Egypt is attested, for it was on board the fleet of King Ptolemy I. and fell after its defeat in the Battle of the Cypriot city of Salamis in the hands of the victorious young monarch Demetrius Poliorketes (306 BC ). Despite their not so young age, she could gain less by their appearance as sparkling through their mind the love of the Diadochi and claim several years. Some traditional witty sayings of Lamia show their spirited personality.
Lamia accompanied Demetrios to Athens and was treated like a princess by the inhabitants of the city because of their position of power, which they owed their great influence on the ruler. That assessment went so far that the Athenians built their own temple where she was worshiped as the goddess Aphrodite, and later the Thebans imitated this example after. Demetrios said to have financed the costly ostentation of his beloved once with 200 talents, which he had collected by the Athenians or the Thessalians. They also hosted luxurious banquets, are widely known soon. Even after Sicyon, she accompanied the Demetrius when he moved 303 BC the city on a hill and renamed Demetria. With a portion of their donated by Demetrios riches Lamia funded the construction of a magnificent Stoa Poecile ( portico ) to beautify the newly created settlement. When she died, is unknown.
A living from n in the 2nd century BC sophist Alciphron of traditional, allegedly originating from Lamia letter she allegedly wrote to Demetrius should not be a fake, but yet have been written by people who witnessed what was then happening in Athens itself had; Therefore, he probably represents an important historical document for the personalities of the courtesan and her royal lover dar.
Phila, a daughter of Lamia and Demetrius Poliorketes should be identical to those Phila, who allegedly built a trailer of Demetrius called Adeimantus in Lampsacus a temple where she received divine honors as Aphrodite. Plutarch does not mention, however, in its list of Demetrios ' children.