The name of a Megarian whore, whom Alcibiades also loved.
*simai/qa: o)/noma po/rnhs *megarikh=s, h(=s h)ra/sqh kai\ *)alkibia/dhs.
This entry has its origins in ancient commentary on the much-quoted lines of
Aristophanes,
Acharnians 524-5: "some kottabos-drunk [sc. Athenian] youths went to Megara and stole the whore Simaitha" -- an act which, when reciprocated in double measure by the Megarians, is claimed to have sparked off the Peloponnesian War of 431 BCE.
The entries in
Hesychius and
Photius s.v. content themselves with phrases parallel to the first part of what the Suda says here. The second part briefly reflects the claim in the
scholia that Alkibiades (
alpha 1280) was a lover of Simaitha and persuaded others to abduct her.
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