A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Lamia
LAMIA, an Athenian Courtezan, flourished about 300 B. C.
She was a celebrated player on the flute, in which character she first appeared in the world. She was the mistress of Ptolemy, king of Egypt; and, being taken from him in a naval engagement by Demetrius Poliorcetes, became his, though she was much older than this prince, whose affections she secured by her luxury even more than by her wit. He furnished her with immoderate wealth, and then loved her for the enjoyments she knew how to procure with it.
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