BY TORSTEN SCHWANKE
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Phemonoe (Libyan Sibyl)
Lived: 700 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field: Enlightenment philosophy / Pythia / Prophetess.
Phemonoe was the first priestess (oracle) in Delphi
The saying: "Know thyself" which can be interpreted as follows: "Realise that you are only human", from the oracle sanctuary in Delphi is attributed not only to Thales or Chilon, but also to Phemonoe.
The saying not only contains the call to self-reflection, but also implies the assumption that a subject can know itself.
Aristotle attributed this saying to the Pythia.
She composed oracular sayings in hexameters and is considered the inventor of this verse form.
„I am by birth half mortal, half divine;
An immortal nymph was my mother, my father an eater of grain;
On my mother's side of Idaean birth, but my fatherland was the red
Marpessus sacred to the mother, and the river Aidoneus.“
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Sappho
Lived: Around 615 to 570 B.C.
Nationality: Greek
Field: Poetry / Ethics
Sappho is considered the most important poet of classical antiquity. Philosophically, she advocates an ethic that calls for a royal free woman, even when the strongest emotions make thinking almost impossible.
She is an "I-thinker" even before Socrates,
She states her name and says "...but I say!" unlike Socrates, who is considered the first "I-thinker", but claimed that a voice of God spoke within him when he philosophised.
„How beautiful the apple,
So red and ripe at the top of the tree in the highest branches!
Has no one fetched it?
Forgotten by the pickers?
Oh no, oh no! Not forgotten!
Not could she reach it, the highest.“
„That which a noble man,
Whether man or woman,
Would find beautiful,
Is not so much the outward appearance,
But what she can love inwardly,
Is what she longs for.“
Sappho thus contradicts the emerging trend in her time, which later defined what was good and beautiful as the "objective doctrine of reason" in the Socratic tradition.
ΔΕΔΥΚΕ ΜΕΝ Α ΣΕΛΑΝΑ
„The moon has gone down, to be sure,
And the Pleiades. Midnight already.
And by goes the hour.
But I sleep alone.“
„Sweet is the god,
But I am still in agony
And far from my strength.“
Sappho inspired poets, painters and philosophers with her poetry and ethics for centuries, right up to the Renassiance / Enlightenment and even today!
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Cleobuline of Rhodes
Lived: 570 B.C.
Nationality: Greek
Field of Expertise: Philosopher / Rhetorician
It is said that she mastered the art of riddles. She wrote riddle verses in hexameters.
„One is father and twelve are children to him;
But each child has twice thirty differently shaped children.
They are white in colour, but the others are black,
And immortal are they; but down they all go.“
What is special is not the relatively simple decoding of the riddle into years, months, days and nights, but the inclusion of the immortal being, which nevertheless disappears.
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Damo of Kroton
Lived: ca. 500 BC
Nationality: Greek
Area of expertise: Pythagorean
After Theanos' death, her and Phytagoras' daughter Damo continued the school of the Pythagoreans.
The neo-Platonist and neo-Pythagorean Iamblichos of Chalkis draws on the tradition, starting from the Letter of Lysis, that apparently among the Pythagoreans women played a relatively prominent role by the standards of the time and emerged as female philosophers; he offers a somewhat extended variant of the account.
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Myia
Lived: Ca. 550-450 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of expertise: Pythagorean philosopher.
According to some traditions Myia was the daughter of Pythagoras and Theano and their pupil.
Porphyrios states, Myia wrote Pythagorean writings. These works are lost. All that has survived is a letter, certainly a forgery, which she supposedly addressed to a woman named Phyllis. In it, advice is given on how to deal with an infant and on the right choice of a wet nurse (a popular topic in Hellenistic and Imperial literature).
„Particular attention is to be paid to moderation in everything, and if the wet nurse respects the child's natural needs for food, sleep, etc., as this expresses, this contributes to the child's well-being. Especially the first time in the life of a child and the relationship with the wet nurse are important for the whole life.
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Melissa
Lived: Ca. 550-400 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of expertise: Pythagorean philosopher
According to some traditions, Melissa was the daughter of Pythagoras and Theano and their pupil.
Melissa's name is derived from the Greek word for honey "Melli". However, it is not known whether her temperament was sweet or not.
She taught modesty of dress, and emphasised a woman's natural charms.
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Periktione
Lived: ca. 450 BC
Nationality: Greek
Area of expertise: Pythagorean
„Mankind came into being and exists to contemplate the principle of the Nature.“
„The function of Wisdom is not so much in the possession of things, but in the purpose to look at things as they are.“
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Arete of Cyrene (Aristripp)
Lived: 400 to 330 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of Study: Cyreanic / Moral philosophy / Natural theory, philosophy.
Arete (Ἀρήτη) is primarily a figure from Greek mythology, the Queen of the Phaiaks. She was the daughter of Rhexenor (son of Nausithoos, who in turn was a son of Poseidon and Periboia, the daughter of the giant ruler Eurymedon) and later married his brother - her uncle - Alkinoos.
References to Arete can be found, for example, in the Saga of the Argonauts.
In Homer's Odyssey, the hero Ulyss finds himself in the land of the Phaeacians on his way home from Troy to Ithaca. There, his patron goddess Athena advises him to turn to the reigning and respected queen Arete for help; in the 7th canto - Ulysses arrival at Alkinoos - it says of her:
„But first look for the queen inside the hall.
Her name is Arete, and she was begotten by the same
Parents from whom the king Alkinoos descends.
Newly wed in the palace; the only daughter Arete
His brother's only daughter took Alcinous to wife:
Who honours her as no woman on earth is honoured,
None of all who now govern the house of men.
So Arete is honoured with heartfelt love
By Alkinoos himself, and her flourishing children,
And the people, who regard her as a Goddess...“
The name Arete originally denotes fitness, efficiency; later also in the sense of virtue, the name Arete thus connects with mythology in a figure in Greek mythology, as well as in philosophy in the figure of the Greek philosopher Arete of Cyrene:
Aristippos of Cyrene (Arete's father), who was a disciple and close follower of Socrates and founder of the Cyrenaic School (Hedonism), included in his aspirations to inspire and strictly influence Arete in philosophy.
She was also one of Plato's students.
She is said to have written a total of 40 books, none of which (not even fragments) have survived.
Furthermore, she is said to have taught philosophy at the academies and schools of Attica for 35 years.
Arete took over her father's philosophy school after his death.
This was reported by Diogenes Laertios in his work: The Life of Aristripp.
About 100 philosophers are said to have emerged from Arete's school.
When she died around 330 BC, she was so highly esteemed that an epitaph (inscription) on her tomb declares, „that she was the splendour of Greece and possessed the beauty of Helen, that she was the virtue of Thirma, the soul of Socrates, and the tongue of Homer.“
„Pleasurable and unpleasurable sensations form the certainty of life.“
„The aim is to attain pleasure through insight.“
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Axiothea of Philesia
Lived: ca. 350 BC
Nationality: Arcadian / Greek
Area of expertise: Platonist
Diogenes Laertius describes in his work: the life of Speussipos, that Axiothea of Phlius was a long-time student of Plato and then of Speussipos. Speussipos continued the Platonic school.
In any case, she was a courageous, intellectual woman who took it upon herself to attend the studies in men's clothing, because she was full of the Love of Wisdom, a true female philosopher, to leave her native land and travel to learn the foreign polis.
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Phintys of Sparta
Lived: ca. 300 BC
Nationality: Spartan / Greek
Area of expertise: Phytagorean
The virtues, as Phintys ascribes them to men by nature:
(a) the special virtues of man, which belong more to him, namely, bravery and prudence/insight,
(b) the special virtue of the woman, Sophrosyne
(c) the - both common – virtues, bravery, justice and prudence.
„Nothing in excess!“
„Know thyself!“
Stobaios transmits two longer fragments from a writing attributed to Phintys entitled "On the Prudence of Women" (Peri gynaikos sphrosynas) in Doric dialect.
The cultivation of virtue presupposes philosophical education.
Therefore, philosophising is not - as the Peripatetics thought - inappropriate for women, but belongs to their tasks.
Sophrosyne includes first and foremost marital fidelity.
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Hippe
Lived: Unknown
Nationality: Greek
Field: Natural philosophy / Prophetess / mysticism
Hippe was the daughter of Cheiron and the wife of Aiolos.
Historical and mythical can no longer be distinguished in Hippe's case. The oldest source is Euripides' drama Melanippe the Wise, which has survived only in fragments. Melanippe was the daughter of Hippe and Aiolos.
Menage: „The first contemplation of nature since the beginning of philosophy, which is why Hippe was thus included by him as the first in the history of women philosophers.“
Clemens Alexandrinus: „But Hippe taught him the contemplation of nature, the science of the Father.“
Euripedes: „She gave of the Divine foreknowledge first / In clear sayings from the stars beginning.“
She is said to have passed on her knowledge to her husband, Aiolos, which earned her a reputation as the first philosophers.
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Themistocleia
Lived: Around 600 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field: 1st mentioned philosopher / priestess / teacher
Themistoclea was a priestess of Delphi. She has the reputation of being the teacher of Pythagoras who is often called "the father of philosophy", as he is said to have coined the term "philosopher".
Diogenes Laertios made note of her in his work, The Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers.
In the section on The Life of Pythagoras, Diogenes Laertios states that she taught Pythagoras her moral doctrines. In itself, he has this information second-hand. He says: „Aristoxenus asserts, that Pythagoras derived most of his ethical teachings from Themistoclea, the priestess of Delphi.“
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Theano of Thurii (Crotone)
Lived: 546 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of Expertise: Cosmology / Natural philosophy / Doctrine of virtue
Theano mainly wrote treatises on mathematics, physics, medicine and psychology of the child and writings on philosophical topics from the field of the doctrine of virtue. Since all the writings were published under the name Pythagoras, it is difficult to determine who was actually responsible for producing them.
Theano is also known for a collection of sayings; individual alleged sayings have survived in the collection of sayings, which has only been preserved in Syriac translation: Council of Theano, the original Greek version of which probably dates from the Roman imperial period.
While Theano was studying at the school of Pythagoras, they fell in love and lived together as a married couple. Porphyry described, among other things: „One of the women-students is famous above all, Theano by name.“
Pythagoras and Theano had three daughters, Damo, Myria and Arignote, and two sons.
After Pythagoras' death, Theano and her daughters continued the school of the Pythagoreans. Theano and her daughters acquired a reputation as excellent physicians during this period. According to the Pythagoreans, the human body is a miniature copy of the universe as a whole.
Theano taught mathematics in Samos and Kroton, and it is certain that she is the author (Fragments of Polyklet) of the „Treatise on the Golden Mean“, an important concept in mathematics.
The golden mean is found in nature and is used in both art and architecture.
Theano and Pythagoras thus together and the theorem of Pythagoras formed the mathematical basis for the "golden section", which was mathematically explained by Euclid with the special proportion, "the golden mean" with the number Phi (1.6180339887...).
Theano, in her writing "On Piety", which has not survived in its entirety, criticised the Pythagorean view that all things were created from numbers. She emphasised that living things that exist in the world, such as animals or plants, cannot come from things that are spiritual in nature.
She also demanded that women be given free access to the school of Pythagoras and thus to philosophical education.
Furthermore, she attached great importance to orienting the conduct of life to virtues such as Sophrosyne - Theano had already placed the moderate shaping of life through prudence at the centre of her thoughts before the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
For Theano, another virtue - which should be taught to children in particular - was patience:
„Only he who acts thoughtfully without haste and wantonness, will do the right thing in life.“
Her major works are:
"The Life of Pythagoras"
"Cosmology"
"Theorem of the Golden Mean"
"Theory of Numbers"
"Construction of the Universe"
"On Piety"
"On Virtue"
"Letters 1 to 7 of Theano"
For posterity, Theano became a legendary figure until the late Middle Ages, an embodiment of feminine Wisdom and Virtue.
„To be a wise woman is difficult.“
„What is love? - Passion of an Idle Soul...“
„What it is beautiful to talk about, it is ugly to be silent, and what it is ugly to talk about, it is better to be silent.“
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Arignote of Samos
Lived: Ca. 530-470 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of expertise: Pythagorean philosopher
According to some traditions, Arignote was the daughter of Pythagoras and Theano and their pupil.
According to ancient tradition, she wrote a bacchica (verse) on the mysteries of Demeter, epigrams on sacred words, a writing on initiation into the mysteries of Dionysus, and other philosophical works.
„The eternal essence of number is the providential cause of all heaven, earth and the region between. Likewise it is the root of the continuance of the gods and daimones as well as that of the divine man.“
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Aspasia of Miletus
Lived: ca. 460/70 - 410 BC
Nationality: Greek
Field of expertise: Enlightenment philosophy/ rhetorician.
The most famous woman of ancient Athens was Aspasia, the companion of the great leader of democratic Athens, Pericles.
Aspasia, as a highly educated woman, maintained contact with the new philosophical currents of the time from Ionia; Socrates, Sophocles, Euripides, Phidias, and the elite of the time met in her house.
„Of me it would not be at all surprising that I should be able to deliver the speech of which I have a not at all bad teachers in the art of oratory, but who has also formed many other and excellent orators, but one who prefers it to all the Hellenes, Pericles.“ (Plato. Menexenos)
In this Plato-dialogue from the middle period, Socrates professes to be a student of Aspasia in the art of rhetoric. In it, Pericles, Aspasia's husband, and famous strategist of Athens, is described by Socrates as the most outstanding pupil of Aspasia.
On the other hand, Aspasia was portrayed and disparaged as a hetaera by ancient comedy writers, especially Aristophanes.
The evil talk was followed by the accusation that she was responsible for the outbreak of the Samian uprising (441 BC).
Jona Lendering points out that most of what we know of Aspasia is said to be based on mere hypothesis. Thucydides mentions that our only sources are the accounts and speculations of non-trustworthy men in literature and philosophy, recorded by them, in which it did not matter whether Aspasia was a historical figure at all.
Therefore, in the figure of Aspasia, we get a number of contradictory representations, she is either a good woman, like Theano, or a combination of courtesan and prostitute like Thargelia.
This is the reason that some modern scholars express their scepticism about the historicity of Aspasia's life.
The teaching activity of Aspasia is also mentioned in Plutarch (Pericles) and in Xenophon's Economy.
Some scholars assess Aspasia's teaching activity as an essential component of Athenian Enlightenment philosophy.
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Periktione
Lived: 440 - 365 BC
Nationality: Greek
Area of expertise: Pythagorean
In antiquity, two philosophical treatises were attributed to a Pythagorean named Periktione, of which only fragments have survived: On the Harmony of Women and On Wisdom. In research, it is usually assumed that the alleged name of the author is a pseudonym. Perhaps there is a connection with the name of Plato's mother, who may have been passed off as the author; she may have been considered a Pythagorean in the milieu in which the two writings were written.
„The woman should adhere to the standards of the natural in food, clothing, personal hygiene and jewellery and renounce all luxuries.“
„Conduct and duties towards parents according to divine law.“
Periktiones' marriage to Ariston produced four children: the sons Adeimantos, Glaukon and Platon, and the daughter Potone. Potone's son Speusippos succeeded Plato as scholarch (head) of the Platonic Academy.
Although the legend in its oldest surviving version does not explicitly state that Periktione was a virgin at the time of Plato's conception, but only that Apollo was his real father, the virginity of the mother is apparently assumed in the process.
The explicit statement that Plato was born of a virgin is only handed down by the late antique church father Jerome. Jerome reports that there were three authors (those already mentioned by Diogenes Laertios) according to whose view the "Prince of Wisdom" could only have been born of a virgin.(Jerome, Adversus Iovinianum)
„Striving of the soul for harmony through insight and self-control, modest living, virtue and observance of religious duties.“
„It is the task of Wisdom to see and compose the quality that belongs universally to all things.“
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Diotima of Mantinea
Is said to have lived ca. 400 BC
Nationality: Greek
Area of expertise: Eros / Love
Diotima appears as a literary figure (the only woman) in Plato's dialogue Symposion, she is described as a seeress from Mantineia, who acts as Socrates' teacher, who has been questioned by her in the same Maieutian way that he uses in his own conversations.
She appears as his instructor on the nature of Eros. And so, in all wisdom, she said to Socrates:
„Only believe it, Socrates, if you want to contemplate the ambition of men, you would only be astonished at their unreasonableness, if you had not in mind what I have said and considered how tremendously they are seized by the urge to become famous and to gain immortal fame for eternity, and for this they are ready to expose themselves to all dangers, to give even more than for their children and their property, and to endure every trouble and die for it.“
And Plato is also said to have taught by her the importance of Love. This is the case in Plato's Symposium (Συμπόσιον) which is a philosophical text by Plato from about 385 to 380 BC. It deals on a philosophical level with the origin, purpose and nature of love, and (in recent times interpreted) it is the origin of the concept of Platonic love.
In a sequence of speeches by men in a drinking party or better symposium, the philosophical definition of love is sought. Each man must deliver a eulogy, a speech in praise of love (Eros). Socrates claims in his speech, with reference to Diotima's speech, that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of Wisdom.
Furthermore, Diotima is said to have initiated Socrates into the doctrine of ideas.
It is unknown whether the figure of Diotima is fictitious or has a historical model from the 5th century BC who may have actually borne this name.
Because of the strong after-effect of the dialogue up to the present day, the name Diotima has been taken up again and again in modern times and used as a pseudonym, as an honourific alternative name or to name a literary figure. It traditionally stands for a woman who is able to impart a philosophically underpinned knowledge in the erotic field.
She defines the concept of love as follows:
„A birth of the beautiful, both spiritual and physical.“
„The goal of love is the rebirth of one's own soul in the other through the idea of the beautiful.“
„Immortality is achieved through the ideas, virtues and the wisdom of one's partner.“
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Timycha
Lived: ca. 400 BC.
Nationality: Spartan / Italian
Area of expertise: Pythagorean
According to legends, Timycha was a Pythagorean woman from Sparta who lived in Lower Italy. Because of her steadfastness she was glorified as a heroine. She lived a typical Pythagorean life: the absolute secrecy of her followers, her unconditional reliability, the exclusivity of her covenant and the mysterious ban on beans, the reason for which was puzzled over.
The confrontation of philosophically living people with a ruler was popular material in antiquity, so a horror story developed around Myllias and Timycha.
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Lastheneia of Mantinea
Lived: ca. 350 BC
Nationality: Arcadian / Greek
Area of expertise: Platonist
Instead of looking for an Athenian male citizen as a friend and protector she dressed in menswear and attended Plato's academy openly.
We know that she studied there with Speusippos and became one of his disciples, presumably after Plato's death.
In the Symposium of Socrates there is a full description of her, given the progress of natural beauty on the handle of the essential eidos of beauty itself is attributed to her.
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Hipparchia of Maroneia
Lived: Ca. 340 BC
Nationality: Trakic
Area of expertise: Cynic
Hipparchia is best known for her philosophical discussions and her way of life, which was characterised by a lack of need and closeness to nature.
Diogenes Laertius, who mentions Hipparchia as the only woman in his collection Lives and Opinions of Famous Philosophers, reports her quick-wittedness and an argument between her and the philosopher Theodoros in which she affirms her right to pursue the study of philosophy.
Diogenes Laertius further reports that she wrote some letters, jokes and philosophical refutations which are now lost.
Hipparchia wrote phicosophical hypotheses, logical conclusions and philosophical questions to Theodoros.
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Aesara of Lucania
Lived: ca. 400 to 300 BC
Nationality: Italian
Area of expertise: Pythagorean
Aesara the Lucania was a Pythagorean philosopher who wrote a work on human nature, a fragment of which was preserved by Stobaeus. Nothing is known about the life of Aesara. Her philosophical work "Human Nature" is preserved in a one-page fragment by Stobaeus.
Aesara of Lucania speaks of the microcosm of human nature and the city-state, the principle of natural law or the order of natural laws, the laws of action and the tripartite nature of the soul:
„According to rational divine plan, being (man) is threefold: it is organised in accordance with three functions: that which effects judgment and consideration (the mind); that which produces strength and ability (the spirit); and that which brings about love and friendship (the desire). They are all arranged in relation to each other so that the best part is in charge, the weakest is ruled, and the one that lies between the two retains a middle position; it rules and is ruled. An orderly harmonious interplay of the inner forces enables the same kind of life: through education and virtue man becomes lovable. The nature of man seems to me to have served as a model for law and justice and that in the individual house as well as in the city. If you follow the traces in yourself and really search, you will make a discovery: The law and justice are within us, for they are proper provisions of the soul.“