Anyte

(c. 320 BC - c. 280 BC)

Credited with helping to expand the scope of the epigram beyond dedication and epitaph, Anyte is represented in the Greek Anthology by some two dozen poems. One of the only stories about her is found in the geographer Pausanias’ Description of Greece, in which she is said to have been given a letter on a sealed tablet by Asclepius, the god of healing, to give to Phalysius, a wealthy blind man. Upon breaking the seal, Phalysius regained his sight, and he paid Anyte two thousand staters, the amount stipulated in the letter by the god.