She was a deaconess of the church in Alexandria in Egypt, martyred in 249 in her old age. During a riot when much Christian property was destroyed "they seized her, broke out all her teeth with blows on her jaws, and piling up a bonfire before the city, threatened to burn her alive if she refused to recite with them their blasphemous sayings. But she asked for a brief delay and without flinching leapt into the fire and was consumed". Later her 'life' became a 'legend'; she was transformed into a beautiful young girl, whose teeth were extracted with pincers; in another version she was a princess who, before dying, promised to help all with toothache. She is usually shown in art holding a tooth with a pair of pincers, or having her teeth removed by some infernal contraption. In the USA there is even a dentists' professional magazine called "The Apollonian", which does not inspire confidence in the start-of-the-art nature of the profession.