Ancient authors and historians call her Phryne, I call her by her name, Mnesarete.

Whether contemporaneous or 500 years after her death, all primary sources of Mnesarete’s life and voice are written entirely by male authors. They are biased, anecdotal, fictionalized and romanticized recountings of how Classical Athens might have been or should have been. According to these male authors, she was so beautiful that the abrupt release of her bare breast convinced a jury of Athenian men of her innocence from the crime of impiety, blasphemy. According to these male authors, all statues of Aphrodite were modeled after her. According to these male authors, she was so wealthy, she supposedly said, 'I'll rebuild the walls of Thebes for you… as long as you put an inscription on them that says, ‘Alexander raised these walls, but Phryne put them back up.’ Which was a little tongue and cheek because Phryne, being from Thespiae, a city that was sacked and destroyed by the Thebans—an ironic offer on her part. Supposedly, she was also famous for her wit and humor.

In truth and fact, Phryne, whose real name is Mnesarete, daughter of Epicles of Thespiai, actual life is nearly unrecoverable but she did exist. Almost every male author called her Phryne. We only know her real name because, according to 2nd century AD geographer, Pausanias, there was a statue of Phryne at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi by the famous sculptor, Praxiteles, commissioned by Phryne but it was said that the placard on the statue said “Mnesarete, daughter of Epicles of Thespiai.” And yes, there are a few surviving contemporary fragments of a speech about her famous court case where she was acquitted for impiety. But zero accounts of her exposing her breast to the court, but it is a great story. And yes, with some confidence, historians believe she could have been the model of the famous Aphrodite of Knidos. But all? Probably not. And yes, there are references to her massive wealth and celebrity in 4th c. Athens from surviving comedies and other literary references but she probably did not offer to build the walls of Thebes but that too is a great story.

One other thing we do know, these male authors, both her contemporaries and those from 500 years later, did not use her real name in their accounts of her. Instead, they used her uncomplimentary and derogatory nickname, Phryne, meaning "toad" in ancient Greek because of her sallow, yellowish skin complexion. I would like to think she came to own that name in her lifetime but that is just me projecting my wants onto her like so many men.

I ring this bell for Mnesarete, daughter of Epicles of Thespiai because that is her name.