Elephantis
Elephantis (fl. Late 1st century BC) was a Greek poet and physician renowned in the classical world as the author of a notorious sex manual. Due to the popularity of courtesans taking animal names in classical times, it is likely Elephantis is two or more persons of the same name.
Elephantis
- Born
- 100 · Ancient Greece.
- Died
- 100
- Occupation
- poet · writer
- Fields
- poetry
- Languages
- Ancient Greek
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Documentary summary
Elephantis (fl. Late 1st century BC) was a Greek poet and physician renowned in the classical world as the author of a notorious sex manual. Due to the popularity of courtesans taking animal names in classical times, it is likely Elephantis is two or more persons of the same name.
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Note VALÉORINE
Elephantis (100–100) was a poet and writer. The poet was born in Ancient Greece. Elephantis was active in poetry. Languages used include Ancient Greek.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q450612 · wikipedia · Elephantis
In this article
Works
Works
None of her works have survived, though they are referenced in other ancient texts.
According to Suetonius in The Twelve Caesars, the Roman Emperor Tiberius took a complete set of her works with him when he retreated to his resort on Capri. One of the poems in the Priapeia refers to her books: • Obscenas rigido deo tabellas dicans ex Elephantidos libellis dat donum Lalage rogatque, temptes, si pictas opus edat ad figuras. ("Lalage dedicates a votive offering to the God of the erect penis, bringing shameless pictures from the books of Elephantis, and begs him to try and imitate with her the variety of intercourse of the figures in the illustrations.") And an epigram by the Roman poet Martial, which Smithers and Burton included in their collection of poems concerning Priapus, reads: • Quales nec Didymi sciunt puellae, Nec molles Elephantidos libelli, Sunt illic Veneris novae figurae ("Such verses as neither the daughters of Didymus know, nor the debauched books of Elephantis, in which are set out new forms of lovemaking.") "Novae figurae" has been read as "novem figurae" (i.e., "nine forms" of lovemaking, rather than "new forms" of lovemaking), and so some commentators have inferred that she listed nine different sexual positions. Pliny the Elder references her performance as a midwife, and Galen notes her ability to cure baldness. She also wrote a manual about cosmetics and another about abortives.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
100
Elephantis born at Ancient Greece.
100
Elephantis died.
Literature
Literature
Literature
Exemplar Abstract for Mycobacterium elephantis Shojaei et al
2000 and Mycolicibacterium elephantis (Shojaei et al
Exemplar Abstract for Mycoplasmopsis elephantis (Kirchhoff et al
2018 and Mycoplasma elephantis Kirchhoff et al
Elephantis jaggeri, a replacement name for Elephantis natalensis (Bouvier, 1925), a junior primary homonym of Caridina nilotica var. Natalensis De Man, 1908, Crustaceana, 2015
A note on the presence of the Elephant Louse Haematomyzus elephantis piaget (Mallophaga: Rhynchophthirina) in the Kruger National Park, Koedoe: African Protected Area Conservation and Science, 1984
Morphological Study of First Instar Elephant Stomach Bot Fly Larvae (Oestridae: Gasterophilinae: Cobboldia elephantis), Insects, 2025
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey. Women in science : antiquity through the nineteenth century : a biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography. MIT Press. 1986. 026265038X.
- 2.Suet. Tib. 43.2.
- 3.Priapeia 4.
- 4.Trans. L.C. Smithers and R.F. Burton, Priapea sive diversorum poetarum in Priapum lusus, or, Sportive Epigrams on Priapus (1890).
- 5.Martial, Ep. 43.1–4.
- 6.Léon, Vicki. The Joy of Sexus: Lust, Love, and Longing in the Ancient World. Walker & Company. 118. 2013. 978-0802719973.
- 7.Plant, Ian Michael. Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. University of Oklahoma Press. 2004.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,582 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Elfriede GerstlAuthor
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