A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

the writer of certain amatory works (molles Elephantidos libelli,) the character of which is sufficiently evident from the notices contained in Martial and Suetonius. We know not with certainty the sex of the author, nor in what language the pieces were composed, nor whether they were expressed in prose or verse; but the grammatical form of the name seems to indicate that the person in question was a female, and that she was either a Greek by birth or of Greek extraction. By the historians of literature she is generally ranked among the poetesses. (Martial, Mart. 12.43. 5; Suet. Tib. 43; Priopei. iii.; Suidas, s. v. Ἀστυάνασσα) Galen quotes a treatise περὶ κοσμητικῶν by this or some other Elephantis. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 158; comp. Spanheim, de Praestantia et Usu Numism. Diss. ix. p. 771.)

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