Two ancient authors mention Ninos: Demosthenes (left) and Josephus (right).

Ninos^[a] was an ancient woman executed in Athens at some point in the classical period. Her case is known through mentions in three speeches by Demosthenes; further information about her case is supplied by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and possibly Josephus.

Ninos' case is known through three mentions in speeches by Demosthenes – Against Boeotus I and II, and On the False Embassy.^[2] Further information is supplied by two scholia on On the False Embassy,^[3] and Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his discussion of the speech Against Menecles which was wrongly attributed to Deinarchus.^[4] She may also be mentioned in a passage of Josephus, though this relies on an emendation of the preserved text and is not certain.^[5][3]

A scholion on a speech by Demosthenes describe her as a hieria ('priestess').^[6] Konstantinos Kapparis argues that as she was described as a priestess she was probably an Athenian citizen.^[7] However, her unusual name and the fact that none of the sources mention a kurios ('guardian') might suggest that she was a metic (a non-citizen long-term resident in Athens) instead.^[7][8]

Both of Demosthenes' speeches against Boeotus describe Menecles as the prosecutor of Ninos.^[9] The date of the prosecution is uncertain: Against Boeotus I was delivered in 348, which provides a terminus ante quem; Esther Eidinow suggests a date of between 362 and 358 BC.^[10] The case was apparently well known in the mid-fourth century, as Demosthenes refers to it in his speeches as if the jury are expected to be familiar with the case.^[11] Menecles would go on to be prosecuted in turn by Ninos' son.^[12]

In On the False Embassy, Demosthenes mentions a priestess who was charged with bringing together thiasoi; one of the scholia on this passage names this priestess as Ninos.^[13] The scholia provide two different explanations for Ninos' crime: one says that her crime was mocking the Dionysian Mysteries; another says that she made love potions.^[14] It is unclear where the scholiast's information about love potions comes from – Eidinow suggests that it is a misinterpretation of Demosthenes' text,^[1] while Matthew Dickie says that the comment "does not emerge from anything in the text of Demosthenes" and may have been derived from an Atthidographer or another speech.^[12] Whatever its derivation, Derek Collins is skeptical of the scholiast's report, arguing that manufacturing love potions was not a criminal offence.^[15]

Finally, Josephus lists Ninos as one of five Athenians put to death for asebeia (impiety).^[12]

• Collins, Derek (2001), "Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic in Fourth-Century Athens", The Classical Quarterly, 5 (1), JSTOR 3556523
• Dickie, Matthew (2003), Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World, London: Routledge
• Eidinow, Esther (2010), "Patterns of Persecution: 'Witchcraft' Trials in Classical Athens", Past & Present, 208, JSTOR 40783312
• Eidinow, Esther (2016), Envy, Poison, and Death: Women on Trial in Ancient Athens, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Filonik, Jakub (2013), "Athenian Impiety Trials: A Reappraisal", Dike, 16, doi:10.13130/1128-8221/4290
• Kapparis, Konstantinos (2021), Women in the Law Courts of Classical Athens, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-1-4744-4674-7
• McClure, Laura (2024), Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, and Myth, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780197580882