Ninos (priestess)

Ninos or Nino[lower-alpha 1] was an ancient Athenian woman who was executed at some point in the classical period. Her case is known through three mentions in speeches by Demosthenes – Against Boeotus I and II, and On the False Embassy – and one in Josephus.[2] The prosecution was apparently brought by a man named Menecles, who would go on to be prosecuted in turn by Ninos' son.[3] The date of the prosecution is uncertain: Against Boeotus I was delivered in 348, which provides a terminus ante quem; Esther Eidinow suggests a date of between 362 and 358 BC.[4] The case was apparently well known in the mid-fourth century, as Demosthenes refers to it in his speeches as if the jury are expected to be familiar with the case.[5]

Two ancient authors mention Ninos: Demosthenes (left) and Josephus (right).

According to Demosthenes, Ninos was a priestess, and was charged with bringing together thiasoi. One scholiast on this passage says that her crime was mocking the Dionysian Mysteries; another says that she made love potions.[6] It is unclear where the scholiast's information about love potions comes from – Eidinow suggests that it is a misinterpretation of Demosthenes' text,[1] while Professor Matthew Dickie says that the comment "does not emerge from anything in the text of Demosthenes" and may have been derived from an Atthidographer or another speech.[3] Finally, Josephus lists Ninos as one of five Athenians put to death for asebeia (impiety).[3]

Notes
  1. Ninos' name is given in the surviving sources only in the accusative, as Ninon (Νινον); it is uncertain whether the nominative was Ninos or Nino, though most scholars use Ninos.[1]

References
  1. Eidinow 2010, n. 11.
  2. Eidinow 2010, pp. 13–14, n. 11.
  3. Dickie 2003, p. 52.
  4. Eidinow 2016, p. 20.
  5. Eidinow 2016, p. 19.
  6. Eidinow 2010, p. 13.

Works cited
  • Dickie, Matthew (2003), Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World, London: Routledge
  • Eidinow, Esther (2010), "Patterns of Persecution: 'Witchcraft' Trials in Classical Athens", Past & Present, 208
  • Eidinow, Esther (2016), Envy, Poison, and Death: Women on Trial in Ancient Athens, Oxford: Oxford University Press
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