Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Anaxarete

by Various Authors

ANAXA′RETE (Ἀναξαρέτη), a maiden of the island of Cyprus, who belonged to the ancient family of Teucer. She remained unmoved by the professions of love and lamentations of Iphis, who at last, in despair, hung himself at the door of her residence. When the unfortunate youth was going to be buried, she looked with indifference from her window at the funeral procession; but Venus punished her by changing her into a stone statue, which was preserved at Salamis in Cyprus, in the temple of Venus Prospiciens. (Ov. Met xiv. 698, &c.) Antoninus Liberalis (39), who relates the same story, calls the maiden Arsinoe, and her lover Arceophon.

[L. S.]