Bilistiche

Bilistiche (Greek: Βιλιστίχη; born c. 280 BC) or Belistiche was a Hellenistic hetaira of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and winner of the 264 BC Olympic Games in tethrippon and synoris.

Name It is generally accepted that the name Bilistiche is a Macedonian dialectal form of a Greek name. The first element presumably relates to φιλ-, ‘love’; (the phi turns into beta in the Macedonian dialect, cf. Pherenice -> Berenice). The most probable full etymological account of her name accordingly construes it as the superlative stem φιλιστ- followed by the productive suffix -ίχα, found in a number of other female names, particularly in Boeotia (Doricha, Deinicha, Hippicha, etc.). according to Athenaeus, she was an Argive (said to descend from the line of Atreus); according to Plutarch, a foreign slave bought from the marketplace. If one were to accept Plutarch's information, one might suppose that, as a (former) slave of such origin she was given Macedonian citizenship for her services, although this is considered unlikely. as does Daniel Ogden, who notes that Plutarch's information probably originated from Sotades' work On Bilistiche whose contents are unknown, but may have been a polemic against her.

Death Her date of death is unknown. After her death, it is known that Ptolemy II deified her as Aphrodite Bilistiche. Fragmentary papyri from Ankyronpolis dated to 239/8 BC indicate that later in life she was a money lender. According to Clement of Alexandria, she was buried under the shrine of Sarapis in Alexandria.