Born: Unknown, Turkey
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Greece
Also known as: Θαργηλία)
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Another woman of note was the courtesan Thargelia of Miletus who, according to Athenaeus, was remarkably beautiful, clever, and charming. She was married 14 times in her life although the reason for, and duration of, these unions is not recorded. She was a pro-Persian Greek in an anti-Persian culture and, according to Plutarch, swayed many influential men to consider the Persian cause seriously during the time when Persia was moving to conquer Greece (480 BCE).
She was so seductive that, again according to Plutarch, no man could resist her and she was able to draw from the information which she then passed on to the Persians. Accordingly, she became known as a conspirator and enemy to the cause of Greek freedom, and her name was afterwards synonymous with “traitor” in the same way that the name of Benedict Arnold is in the modern day in the United States of America.
She lived in Thessaly and had many clients and, through them, she spread the Persian agenda throughout the region. She was the antithesis of women like Hydna of Scione or Gorgo of Sparta who risked their lives or lost their husbands in the cause of Greek freedom. At the same time, however, it should be noted that there were many Greeks who favored Persian rule, as it seemed more stable than the constant squabbling and fighting between the Greek city-states, and so it was not as though Thargelia was a lone voice for the Persian cause at the time.