Archidike (also transliterated Archidice, gr, Ἀρχιδίκη) was a celebrated hetaera of Naucratis in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Her fame spread throughout

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and was recorded by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

(ii. 136) and

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus ...

(Varia Historia, xii. 63). William Smith, ed.
Archidike
" in the ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...

'' (1870), vol. 1, p. 268. Herodotus claims that Archidike "became a notorious subject of song throughout Greece", and she is one of only two hetaera mentioned by name in his discussion of the occupation (the other was Rhodopis). She was reputed to be arrogant and avaricious, and to have charged high prices for her favors. One anecdote told about Archidike is when a young Egyptian became infatuated with her, offering her all his possessions for a night of love. When Archidike refused the offer, the lover asked

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

to give him in dream what Archidike had refused in reality. The prayer was answered, but Archidike heard of it, and had the young man arrested and taken before the judges to make him pay for the voluptuous dream. The judges decided that Archidike should, in turn, pray to Venus for a dream of silver in repayment for a fictitious lover.Lee Alexander Stone.
The Power of a Symbol
' Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1925, page 324.

References

{{sex-stub Hetairai Naucratians Greek female prostitutes 6th-century BC Greek women