The Ancient Greek Cinderella

The story of Cinderella is a classic European folk tale that almost everyone in the western world has known since childhood. Most people here in the United States were first introduced to the story through the classic Walt Disney animated film Cinderella (1950), which was based on a French version of the story published in 1697 by the French writer Charles Perrault in his book Histoires ou contes du temps passé (“Stories of Past Times with Morals”). The story of Cinderella itself, however, is far, far older than Perrault. In fact, the oldest known version of the story of Cinderella was actually first recorded by a Greek writer in Hellenistic Egypt during the early first century AD.

Introducing Rhodopis, the ancient Greek Cinderella

The protagonist in the ancient Greek version of the Cinderella legend is not, of course, named “Cinderella,” but rather Rhodopis (Ῥοδῶπις; Rhodôpis). The name Rhodopis comes from the Greek word ῥόδον (rhódon), meaning “rose,” plus the word ὤψ (ṓps), meaning “eye,” plus the feminine adjectival suffix -ις (-is). The name therefore literally means “Rose-Eyed.” The name is parallel in construction to γλαυκῶπις (glaukôpis; “Grey-Eyed”) and βοῶπις (boôpis, “Cow-Eyed”), common epithets of the goddesses Athena and Hera respectively in the Homeric poems.

The meaning of the name is especially significant due to the fact that, in later European folktales, similar, rose-related names are often attributed to fairy tale heroines such as “Briar Rose” and “Rose Red.” In the case of Rhodopis, however, we can probably assume that her name is not supposed to mean that her eyes are rose-colored, because that would not make much sense, but rather that her eyes are as lovely as roses. (If that seems like a strange comparison, just remember that, to the ancient Greeks, the epithet “Cow-Eyed” was apparently considered flattering.)

Rhodopis before the Cinderella legend

Rhodopis already had a presence in ancient Greek legend long before the famous Cinderella story became attached to her. She is first mentioned by the historian Herodotos of Halikarnassos (lived c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC) in Book II of his book The Histories, which was probably written in around 431 BC or thereabouts. Herodotos describes Rhodopis as a beautiful Greek hetaira, or high-class courtesan, living in the city of Naukratis in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis II (ruled 570–526 BC).

Herodotos mentions her in the context of describing the Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza, which some Greeks believed had been built by Rhodopis. Herodotos refutes this, writing, as translated by George Rawlinson:

Some Greeks say that it was built by Rhodopis, the courtesan, but they are in error; indeed it is clear to me that when they say they do not know who Rhodopis was, else they would never have credited her with the building of a pyramid whereon what I may call an uncountable sum of talents must have been expended. And it is a further proof of their error that Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, not of Mykerinos [i.e. Menkaure], and thus very many years after these kings who built the pyramids.

ABOVE: Modern photograph of the Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza, which, according to Herodotos, some Greeks believed had been built by Rhodopis

Herodotos then goes on to give a great deal of fanciful information about Rhodopis’s legendary background:

She was a Thracian by birth, slave to Iadmon, son of Hephaestopolis, a Samian, and fellow-slave of Aisopos [i.e. Aesop] the story-writer… Rhodopis was brought to Egypt by Xanthes of Samos, and on her coming was for a great sum of money freed for the practice of her calling by Charaxos of Mytilene, son of Skamandronymos and brother of Sappho the poetess. Thus Rhodopis was set free and abode in Egypt, where, her charms becoming well known, she grew wealthy enough for a lady of her profession, but not for the building of such a pyramid. Seeing that to this day anyone who wishes may know what was the tenth part of her possessions, she cannot be credited with great wealth. For Rhodopis desired to leave a memorial of herself in Greece, by having something made which no one else had contrived and dedicated in a temple and presenting this at Delphi to preserve her memory; so she spent the tenth part of her substance on the making of a great number of iron ox‑spits, as many as the tithe would pay for, and sent them to Delphi; these lie in a heap to this day, behind the altar set up by the Chians and in front of the shrine itself. It seems that the courtesans of Naukratis ever have the art of pleasing, for the woman of whom this story is told became so famous that all Greeks knew the name of Rhodopis, and in later days one Archidike was the theme of song throughout Greece, albeit less spoken of than the other. Charaxos, after giving Rhodopis her freedom, returned to Mytilene and was bitterly attacked by Sappho in one of her poems.

The “Aisopos” Herodotos mentions here is, of course, the legendary storyteller to whom numerous fables are attributed. (He is better known in English by the Anglicized form of his name, Aesop.) The “Sappho” whom Herodotos mentions as the sister of Charaxos is, of course, the famous lyric poetess Sappho of Lesbos (lived c. 630 – c. 570 BC), who was known in antiquity as “the Tenth Muse” and was revered as the female equivalent to Homer.

Strabon’s version

While Herodotos mentions Rhodopis as a legendary figure, the version of the Cinderella story associated with her is not mentioned in any sources until roughly 400 years later. The earliest known version of the Rhodopis Cinderella legend is first recorded by the Greek geographer Strabon of Amaseia (lived c. 64 BC – c. 24 AD) in his book Geographika, a massive encyclopedia of historical and geographical information. The first part of the Geographika was published in around 7 BC, but the story of Rhodopis comes from the second part of the book, which was published at an unknown later date, but definitely prior to Strabon’s death in around 24 AD.

For the most part, Strabon’s account of Rhodopis is very similar to the one given by Herodotos, indicating that Strabon was probably using Herodotos as a source. Strabon, however, goes on to tell another story about Rhodopis that is not mentioned by Herodotos. The crucial passage, which comes from Geographika 17.1.33, reads as follows as translated by H.L. Jones:

“…They tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naukratis, she was brought up to Memphis, became the wife of the king…”

Although this is the earliest recorded version of the Cinderella story, it is possible that older variants of the story may have existed, but were simply never written down. In the ancient world, it was often rare for traditional folk tales of this variety to be recorded because they were not seen as suitable reading material for educated persons and were primarily transmitted orally from one person to the next. Some folklorists argue that the story may ultimately be traced in some form back to an earlier stage in the development of Indo-European linguistics, before the Hellenic branch separated from the Germanic one.

There are many similarities between Strabon’s telling of the Rhodopis legend and the modern Cinderella story that we all know by heart, but there are also many differences. The central narrative is basically identical: as in the modern version, a young, beautiful woman loses her shoe, a prince finds the shoe, seeks her out, and, having found her, marries her. This part of the tale remains the same.

The circumstances surrounding the central narrative, however, are completely different. In Perrault’s classic version of the Cinderella story, Cinderella loses her slipper as she flees from the ball because the prince has covered the steps to the palace in tar, seeking to prevent her from leaving. (The Disney version deviates from Perrault’s version by eliminating the story about the tar.) In Strabon’s version, however, there is no ball and Rhodopis never meets the pharaoh until after he discovers her shoe. Instead, they are brought together by mere chance when an eagle snatches up Rhodopis’s sandal and drops it in the pharaoh’s lap.

The American classical scholar William F. Hansen notes that versions of the Cinderella story are usually grouped into two subsets: “western” variants, in which the protagonist meets the prince before losing her shoe, and “eastern” variants, in which she never meets him until after he finds her shoe. The story of Rhodopis as told by Strabon falls into the category of the “eastern” variants; whereas Perrault’s classic version falls in the “western.”

ABOVE: A pair of ancient sandals from Egypt made from vegetable fiber. These may give some idea of what Rhodopis’s mythical sandals might have looked like.

Klaudios Ailianos’s version

Strabon was not the only writer to tell the story of Rhodopis. Another version of the story is recorded in the later work Miscellaneous History (Ποικίλη Ἱστορία in Greek), which was written sometime around 235 AD by the Hellenized Roman orator Klaudios Ailianos (lived c. 175 – c. 235 AD). Miscellaneous History 13.33 reads as follows, as translated by Thomas Stanley. (To make the passage easier to read, I have modernized Thomas Stanley’s spelling and grammar):

“The Egyptians’ relations affirm that Rhodopis was a most beautiful courtesan; and that on a time as she was bathing herself, Fortune, who loves to do extravagant and unexpected things, gave her a reward: suitable, not to her mind, but her beauty. For whilst she was washing, and her maids looked to her clothes, an Eagle, stooping down, snatched up one of her shoes, and carried it away to Memphis, where Psammetichos was sitting in judgement, and let the shoe fall into his lap. Psammetichos, wondering at the shape of the shoe, and neatness of the work, and the action of the bird, sent throughout Egypt to find out the woman to whom the shoe belonged; and having found her out, married her.”

The version told by Klaudios Ailianos is mostly the same as the story told by Strabon. Some of the minor details, however, are slightly different. For example, Strabon never states the exact name of the pharaoh in question; whereas Klaudios Ailianos specifies that the pharaoh’s name was Psammetichos.

There were three different Egyptians pharaohs named Psammetichos who ruled in around the same general time period as the Rhodopis legend is set, but the one that Klaudios Ailianos is most likely referring to in this passage is Psammetichos II (ruled 595–589 BC), the direct predecessor to Amasis II, the pharaoh during whose reign Herodotos describes Rhodopis as having flourished.

ABOVE: Statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichos II, the most likely candidate for the pharaoh in Klaudios Ailianos’s version of the Rhodopis legend

The fact that the legend of Rhodopis is reported by two different Greek authors from two different points in Greek history indicates that the story remained popular over a long period of time, as the Cinderella story remains popular today.