Phaon

The celebrated favorite of the poetess Sappho. He was a boatman at Mytilene, and already at an advanced age and of ugly appearance; but on one occasion he very willingly, and without accepting payment, carried Aphrodite across the sea, for which the goddess gave him youth and beauty. After this Sappho is said to have fallen in love with him.

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References

Sources

  • Aelian. Varia Historia xii, 18.
  • Lucian. Dialogues of the Dead, 9.
  • Palaephatus, 49.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.