Women, Weird and Wonderful: Kalliroë/Callirhoë, for whom a man was not a plan

Koresos was a priest of Dionysos, hopelessly in love with the ravishing and bubbly maiden Kalliroë. She was just discovering life, and in her mind, a man was not a plan. Maybe if Koresos would have given her a bit more time, a bit more space. But he pursued her relentlessly, and when he felt he had tried hard enough, he decided to call in his litigation friend Dionysos. Dionysos – never the subtile one – brought on a curse on the entire village, and demanded the sacrifice of Kalliroë, or anyone who wanted to take her place. Not surprisingly, nobody came forward. Thus, Kalliroë, alone and frightened, walked up the aisle… to be slaughtered. Koresos however couldn’t find the courage to do the deed. (This obviously wasn’t the outcome that he had prayed for.) Instead, he took his own life. And once again, Kalliroë got the blame. Overcome with exhaustion and hated by everyone, she ended her life too. According to Pausanias, “love never inflicted any worse injury on a man”. According to me, he got the wrong victim.

The sacrifice of Callirhoé, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain.

Coresus and Callirhoë, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, France

Did you know?

• About Dionysos: cfr. “Bacchus’ Bats”.

• The story is told by Pausanias (2nd cent. AD) in “Guide to Greece, part I. Central Greece”.