This King Also Left Behind Him A Pyramid, Much Smaller Than That Of
His Father, Of A Square Shape And Measuring On Each Side Three Hundred
Feet Lacking Twenty, Built Moreover Of Ethiopian Stone Up To Half The
Height.
This pyramid some of the Hellenes say was built by the
courtesan Rhodopis, not therein speaking rightly:
And besides this it
is evident to me that they who speak thus do not even know who
Rhodopis was, for otherwise they would not have attributed to her the
building of a pyramid like this, on which have been spent (so to
speak) innumerable thousands of talents: moreover they do not know
that Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, and not in this
king's reign; for Rhodopis lived very many years later than the kings
who left behind them these pyramids. By descent she was of Thrace, and
she was a slave of Iadmon the son of Hephaistopolis a Samian, and a
fellow-slave of Esop the maker of fables; for he too was once the
slave of Iadmon, as was proved especially by this fact, namely that
when the people of Delphi repeatedly made proclamation in accordance
with an oracle, to find some one who would take up the blood-money for
the death of Esop, no one else appeared, but at length the grandson of
Iadmon, called Iadmon also, took it up; and thus it is showed that
Esop too was the slave of Iadmon. As for Rhodopis, she came to Egypt
brought by Xanthes the Samian, and having come thither to exercise her
calling she was redeemed from slavery for a great sum by a man of
Mytilene, Charaxos son of Scamandronymos and brother of Sappho the
lyric poet. Thus was Rhodopis set free, and she remained in Egypt and
by her beauty won so much liking that she made great gain of money for
one like Rhodopis, though not enough to suffice for the cost of such a
pyramid as this. In truth there is no need to ascribe to her very
great riches, considering that the tithe of her wealth may still be
seen even to this time by any one who desires it: for Rhodopis wished
to leave behind her a memorial of herself in Hellas, namely to cause a
thing to be made such as happens not to have been thought of or
dedicated in a temple by any besides, and to dedicate this at Delphi
as a memorial of herself. Accordingly with the tithe of her wealth she
caused to be made spits of iron of size large enough to pierce a whole
ox, and many in number, going as far therein as her tithe allowed her,
and she sent them to Delphi: these are even at the present time lying
there, heaped all together behind the altar which the Chians
dedicated, and just opposite to the cell of the temple. Now at
Naucratis, as it happens, the courtesans are rather apt to win credit;
for this woman first, about whom the story to which I refer is told,
became so famous that all the Hellenes without exception came to know
the name of Rhodopis, and then after her one whose name was Archidiche
became a subject of song all over Hellas, though she was less talked
of than the other.
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