
Basiane was a Spartan slave who worked as an oil-maker's assistant in the village of Gytheion, Laconia during the 5th century BC. In 428 BC, the mercenary Kassandra approached her and requested that she sell her the oil favored by the pankratiast Testikles, but Basiane said that the shop was closed, and that only her master could make the oil. Kassandra insisted that she needed the oil, but Basiane said that she was a slave in good standing who was nearly free. Kassandra told Basiane that she could pay her, but Basiane said that selling goods without her master's permission would be a matter of trust and not pay. Ultimately, Kassandra offered to come back and talk to Basiane's master after she made her the oil, and a resigned Basiane responded, "What choice do I have? It's not bad, this life, if I have to stay... I'll give you the recipe, but that's as far as I go. You make it yourself." She then provided Kassandra with the recipe for the "Oil of Athena", and, when Kassandra thanked Basiane, she said that she hoped it would be worth her freedom.