Phryne Acquitted After Revealing Beauty

In 4th century BC Athens, Phryne of Thespiae, a celebrated hetairan prostitute, stood trial for impiety with the orator Hypereides as her defender. According to later accounts, the defense swayed from a death sentence when she showed the jury (all males) her breasts and argued that it would be a crime against the gods to destroy something so beautiful. The jury acquitted her, and the episode echoed through art and literature, inspiring Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1861 painting “Phryne Before the Areopagus.”

Previous Fact Next Fact