Phryné, a celebrated courtesan, was the daughter of Epicles, born at Thespie in Bœotia, and originally earned a livelihood by gathering capers; but as the fame of her marvellous beauty spread she obtained numerous lovers, who lavished gifts on her so profusely that she became enormously rich. In proof of this the story goes that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes if the citizens would allow her to place this inscription on them: 'Alexander destroyed them; Phryne, the courtesan, rebuilt them.' The Thebans declined the proposal. Her enemies accused her of profaning the Eleusinian mysteries. Summoned before the tribunal of the Heliasts, she was defended by the rhetorician Hyperides, one of her lovers, who, perceiving that his eloquence failed to convince the judges, threw off her robe and showed her naked loveliness. She was immediately acquitted, and carried in triumph to the Temple of
Venus. The famous 'Venus Anadyomene' of Apelles is said to have been a portrait of Phryne. Praxiteles, also a lover of hers, employed her as a model for his 'Cnidian Venus.'