Elpinice

Elpinice (Ἐλπινίκη Μιλτιάδου Λακιάδου, flourished c. 510-450 BC) was a noblewoman of classical Athens. Part of the Cimonids (related to Cimon), her high status in society through birth and marriage influenced her outspoken nature as seen in Plutarch's works.



Family
She was the daughter of Miltiades, tyrant of the Greek colonies on the Thracian Chersonese and Hegesipyle, daughter of King Olorus of Thrace. She was the sister of Cimon, an important Athenian political figure, and half-sister of Metiochus (eldest son of Miltiades, from a prior marriage). She is known from Plutarch's life of Pericles, where she appears twice in political confrontations with the Athenian statesman. Herodes Atticus claimed his lineage from Miltiades from Elpinice, and named his daughter after her. At her death she was buried with members of her own family by birth and not her husbands, showing her piety towards her blood family.

Marriage and romantic affiliations
Greek law allowed marriage between a brother and sister if they had different mothers.

Some accounts  say that Elpinice was for a time married to her brother, but was later given as a bride to Callias II, one of the richest men in Athens, who had fallen in love with her. Rumors of incestuous conduct between Cimon and Elpinice were prominent enough that archaeologists have found ostracons reflecting the rumors. It is possible that Callias had made marriage to Elpinice the condition for paying, on Cimon's behalf, the fine which had been imposed upon their father Miltiades and for which Cimon had inherited responsibility.

She was a lover to the artist Polygnotus of Thasos who used her features in his work depicting the Trojan woman Laodice.

Political and military associations
Miltiades was one of the major forces securing a victory in the Battle at Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars. Elpinice, at the time, was still a child and not of age. She would have left Athens during the battle.

When Cimon was charged with treason for taking bribes from Alexander I, king of Macedonia, she negotiated his acquittal with Pericles. When the people of the island of Samos revolted against Athenian rule, Pericles pursued a war against them and punished them by demolishing their city walls, confiscating their ships and forcing them to pay a large fine. Rather than celebrate the victory Elpinice was a lone voice who pointed out that it was won over Athens' own people rather that against her true foreign enemies such as the Phoenicians or Medes. Pericles rebuked her with the words "As an old woman you should not anoint yourself with oils." Which shows Pericles' views on women in Athenian political society, and how Elpinice might have been viewed by the men in the public sphere. Elpinice was one of the few women in antiquity who is shown to speak in public.