Elpinice/Elpinike (Greek: Ελπινίκη Elpiniki, meaning: 'hope of victory' [1] flourished c. 450 BC ancient Greece) was a noblewoman of classical Athens. Part of the Cimonids (related to Cimon), her high status in society through birth and marriage influenced her outspoken nature as seen in Plutarch's works.

Miltiades the Younger, father of Elpinice

Family

She was the daughter of Miltiades, tyrant of the Greek colonies on the Thracian Chersonese and Hegesipyle, daughter of King Olorus of Thrace. She was the sister of Cimon, an important Athenian political figure, and half-sister of Metiochus (eldest son of Miltiades, from a prior marriage).[1] She is known from Plutarch's life of Pericles, where she appears twice in political confrontations with the Athenian statesman.[2] Herodes Atticus claimed his lineage from Miltiades from Elpinice, and named his daughter after her. At her death she was buried with members of her own family by birth and not her husbands, showing her piety towards her blood family.[3][1]

Marriage and Romantic Affiliations

Reconstruction of Polygnotus' Illiupersis by Carl Robert in 1892, zoomed in on the Laodike depiction, as it is said that Polygnotus used Elpinice's likeness for Laodike.[4]
Pericles rebuked Elpinice for being an outspoken woman

Greek law allowed marriage between a brother and sister if they had different mothers.

Some accounts[5]say that Elpinice was for a time married to her brother, but was later given as a bride to Callias II, one of the richest men in Athens, who had fallen in love with her. Rumors of incestuous conduct between Cimon and Elpinice were prominent enough that archaeologists have found ostracons reflecting the rumors.[1] It is possible that[1] Callias had made marriage to Elpinice the condition for paying, on Cimon's behalf, the fine which had been imposed upon their father Miltiades and for which Cimon had inherited responsibility.[6]

She was a lover to the artist Polygnotus of Thasos who used her features in his work depicting the Trojan woman Laodice.[7][8]

Political and Military Associations

Miltiades was one of the major forces securing a victory in the Battle at Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars. Elpinice, at the time, was still a child and not of age. She would have left Athens during the battle.[1]

When Cimon was charged with treason for taking bribes from Alexander I, king of Macedonia, she negotiated his acquittal with Pericles.[9]

Cimon, brother of Elpinice

When the people of the island of Samos revolted against Athenian rule, Pericles pursued a war against them and punished them by demolishing their city walls, confiscating their ships and forcing them to pay a large fine. Rather than celebrate the victory Elpinice was a lone voice who pointed out that it was won over Athens' own people rather that against her true foreign enemies such as the Phoenicians or Medes.[10] Pericles rebuked her with the words "As an old woman you should not anoint yourself with oils." Which shows Pericles' views on women in Athenian political society, and how Elpinice might have been viewed by the men in the public sphere. Elpinice was one of the few women in antiquity that is shown to speak in public.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nevin, Sonya (2022). The Idea of Marathon. Bloomsbury Academic. doi:10.5040/9781350157620. ISBN 978-1-350-15762-0. S2CID 246191396.
  2. ↑ Plutarch. "Pericles". The Internet Classics Archive. Translated by Dryden, John. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  3. ↑ Cox, Cheryl Anne (1998). Household Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens. Princeton University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-691-01572-9.
  4. ↑ "Robert, Carl: Hallisches Winckelmannsprogramm (Band 17): Die Iliupersis des Polygnot (Halle a. S., 1893)". digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  5. ↑ Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (1914). "Plutarch's Lives - Plutarch's Lives, with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin, in ten volumes. Vol. I.: Pp. xix + 582; Vol. II.: Pp. ix + 631. Small 8vo. London: William Heinemann. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914". The Classical Review. 30 (3): 89–90. doi:10.1017/s0009840x00010118. ISSN 0009-840X. S2CID 96477749.
  6. ↑ Lahanas, Michael (2006). "Elpinice". Hellenic World Encyclopaedia. Hellenica. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  7. ↑ Lewis, D.M.; Boardman, John; Davies, J.K.; Ostwald, M., eds. (1992). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. V: Fifth Century B.C. (second ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-521-23347-7.
  8. ↑ Laurin, Joseph (2005). Women of Ancient Athens. Trafford Publishing. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-1-4122-3405-4.
  9. ↑ Plut. Cim. 4, 14, Pericles Archived 2009-06-28 at the Wayback Machine. 10; Nepos, Cim. 1
  10. ↑ "PERICLES AND ELPINICE". Yesterday's Classics. The Baldwin Project. 2000–2008. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  11. ↑ O'Higgins, Laurie (2003). Women and Humor in Classical Greece. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-521-82253-4.


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