Charaxus of Mytilene

Charaxus of Mytilene, son of Scamandronymus and brother of the famous Sappho, fell desperately in love with Rhodopis the hetaera at Naucratis in Egypt, ransomed her from slavery for a large sum of money, and, according to Suidas, married her. For this, Herodotus tells us, he was vehemently satirized by his sister on his return to Mytilene, though indeed the passage is capable of another interpretation, and may mean, that the woman who had infatuated him was the object of Sappho's attack. Athenaeus, contradicting Herodotus, calls the hetaera in question Dorica; and Suidas tells us that Doricha was the name which Sappho called her in her poem. (Herod, ii. 135 ; Suid. ; Athen. xiii. p. 596, b.; Strab. xvii. p. 808; Miiller, Lit. of Greece, ch. xiii. § 6; Ov. Her. xv. 117.)



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