Hippo was a Greek woman mentioned by the 1st century AD Latin author

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...

as an example of

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when mak ...

. She was also included among the '' Famous Women'' written about by

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...

in the 14th century.

In Valerius Maximus

Valerius Maximus included the story of Hippo in his '' Facta et dicta memorabilia'' as a foreign example of chastity to complement the Roman stories he has previously related. He stated that when Hippo was abducted by an enemy fleet, she decided to save her chastity at the cost of her life, and threw herself into the sea to her death. Her body was washed up on the shore of

Erythrae Erythrae or Erythrai ( el, Ἐρυθραί) later Litri, was one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor, situated 22 km north-east of the port of Cyssus (modern name: Çeşme), on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae ...

. According to Valerius Maximus, a tomb was built for her which survived in his own day, and her glorious reputation had endured among the Greeks.

In Boccaccio

Valerius Maximus served as the source for Boccaccio's more elaborate account of Hippo. Boccaccio observed that no history of her ancestry or her place of birth survived, other than from "books of the ancients" which stated that she was Greek and that she was known for a single virtuous act. He gave a more detailed explanation than Valerius Maximus of Hippo's decision to kill herself, stating that she was beautiful and was aware that her captors planned to rape her. He says that after being tossed by the waves, Hippo's body was cast onto the Erythraean shore, where the inhabitants buried her like one who had been shipwrecked, but that her name and the cause of her death were later disclosed by her enemies, when the Erythraeans built her a great, long-lasting tomb as a memorial. Boccaccio himself praised Hippo's conduct, remarking that she saved her chastity at the cost of perhaps a few more years of life and gained with her premature death eternal honour for herself.Boccaccio, ''De mulieribus claris'
53
.

Primary sources

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

, ''Ab urbe condita'' *

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, ''De Mulierum Virtutibus'' *

, ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium''

Secondary sources

*Brown, Virginia, translation of

’s ''

On Famous Women ''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...

'' by Cambridge and London (2001), Harvard University Press; *Guarino, G. A., ''Boccaccio, Concerning Famous Women'' (

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, N.J., 1963) *Walker, Henry John, translation of

' ''Memorable Deeds and Sayings: One Thousand Tales from Ancient Rome'', Hackett Publishing (2004),

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hippo (Greek Woman) Suicides by drowning Women in ancient Greek warfare Ancient Greeks who committed suicide