Women Philosophers

of
Ancient Times

Hypatia of Alexandria

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Themistoclea
Ancient sources point to women as active participants,
playing a central role in the development of early
Pythagorean philosophy. Pythagoras produced a school of
philosophy that was religious and mystical and the
Pythagoreans made important contributions to mathematics,
musical theory, and astronomy. What is not commonly known
however is that there exists a record that Pythagoras
acquired the greater part of his ethical doctrines from
Themistoclea, the Priestess of Delphi, and that what he
taught he had heard from her.
Theano of Crotona
Theano of Crotona, the wife of Pythagoras, was a member
(along with her three daughters) of the original
Pythagorean cult. There is a document attributed to
Theano in which she discusses metaphysics, and there are
records of her many written works in which she expresses
her views on marriage, sex, women, and ethics. Upon the
death of Pythagoras, Theano, alongside her two sons,
became the director of the Pythagorean school.
Diotima of Mantinea
In his work Symposium, Plato named Diotima of Mantinea as
Socrates’s mentor. It has been the assumption of
contemporary historians that Diotima was a fictional
character. However, there is credible evidence that she
in truth existed. The origin of the suggestion that she
was fictional has been traced to a 15th century Humanist,
and until that time it had been accepted by historians
that Diotima had undeniably existed.
Aspasia of Miletus
Aspasia of Miletus was an influential intellectual,
active in the inner circles of ancient political and
intellectual life at the time of Plato. She was a leading
member of the Periclean circle, and thus, with others, a
co-architect of the Sophistic movement. Pericles, the
powerful and popular leader of Athens, sought her out as
first his mistress, and then his wife. She was considered
very knowledgeable about matters of state and she taught
rhetoric to Pericles. Philosophers of her time called her
brilliant and renowned, the "mistress of eloquence."
Socrates and his friends visited her often while she
taught him rhetoric and philosophy.
At one point, Aspasia was tried for impiety and acquitted
after Paricles came to her defense. She died in 401 BC
and today is memorialized in a fresco over the portal of
the University of Athens in Greece.
Aesara of Lucania
Aesara of Lucania was a late Pythagorean (the late
Pythagoreans existed roughly between 425 BC and 100 AD)
who applied the normative principle of harmonia. Harmonia
is the principle "of all the things that are," including
geometry, arithmetic, music, and the cosmos. With ethics
grounded in pragmatism, Aesara wrote The Book on Human
Nature, which presented an intuitive natural law theory.
She argued that by analyzing the nature of the soul we
will understand the nature of law and of justice at the
individual, familial, and social levels. Aesara showed
that harmonia is the principle of law, justice, and human
psychology.
Phyntis of Sparta
Phyntis of Sparta wrote On the Moderation of Women.
Perictione 1
Perictione 1 (who some historians believe was Plato’s
mother) wrote On the Harmony of Women.
Theano II
Theano II, another late Pythagorean philosopher, raised
the question of whether it was an individual’s
responsibility to live one’s life according to whichever
moral theory best takes into account one’s special
circumstances. She showed that harmonia is the principle
underlying human moral psychology and education.
Hypatia of Alexandria
Hypatia of Alexandria lived in Alexandria, the capital of
Egypt, in the 4th century AD. Alexandria at that time was
the literary and scientific center of the world,
containing numerous palaces, the Alexandrian Library and
Museum, influential schools of philosophy, rhetoric, and
other branches of learning.
Hypatia was Alexandria’s most eminent neo-platonic
philosopher and mathematician. She was renowned before
the age of 30, in intellectual communities from as far
away as Libya and Turkey. This was a time of great social
and religious turmoil as the Christians gained strength
in the region. The emperor forbade pagan cult practices
in Egypt and rioting broke out between the Christians and
the pagans.
While the Roman Christian government persecuted Jews and
Pagans, the government honored Hypatia with an
unprecedented, paid, public position as the head of the
neo-platonic school of Plotinus. This was all the more
significant because the government of Alexandria was
Christian and Hypatia was a pagan. She headed the
prestigious institution for 15 years as students, both
male and female, traveled from afar to study under her.
She taught geometry, mathematics, the works of Plato,
Aristotle, neo-Platonism, astronomy, and mechanics.
Hypatia met an early and gruesome death at the hands of a
mob of monks who pulled her from her chariot, drug her
into a church, stripped her of her clothing, hacked her
body to pieces with sharp shells, then took her
dismembered body to another location and burned it.
Unfortunately, although Hypatia was known as the greatest
philosopher of her day, her teachings and writings were
virtually ignored by historians of philosophy for almost
1500 years.
Asclepigenia of Athens
Asclepigenia of Athens was a younger contemporary of
Hypatia. Asclepigenia taught in the neo-Platonic school
in Athens, which was headed by her father. As a Pagan
philosopher, she attempted to understand and master the
"secret" principles of metaphysics which controlled the
universe. Asclepigenia applied magic and theurgic
principles to affect fate and she applied her knowledge
of Plato and Aristotle to the great religious and
metaphysical questions raised by Christian ethical
theory.
She believed that fates were potentially changeable if
one had a clear understanding of metaphysics, cosmology,
magic, and theurgy. She tended more toward mysticism,
magic, and contemplation of the mysteries of Platonic and
Aristotelian metaphysics. Upon the death of her father,
Asclepigenia, along with her brother and a colleague,
inherited the direction of the Academy, and her most
famous student was the philosopher, Proclus.
Arete of Cyrene
Arete of Cyrene was the daughter of Aristipuss, a student
and friend of Socrates, who was also present at
Socrates’s death. Aristipuss founded and headed the
Cyrenaic school in Cyrene, which is now northeastern
Libya. The school was one of the earliest proponents of
hedonism, and after his death Arete succeeded him as the
head of the school. She taught natural and moral
philosophy for 30 years, wrote 40 books, and counted
among her pupils 110 philosophers. She was held in such
high regard that upon her death her countrymen inscribed
on her tomb an epitaph that declared she was the splendor
of Greece and possessed the beauty of Helen, the virtue
of Thirma, the pen of Aristippus, the soul of Socrates,
and the tongue of Homer.
Julia Domna
During the 3rd century AD Julia Domna was a Syrian girl,
who at the age of 17 years, married 41 or 42- year- old
Septimius Severus. Septimius later became the emperor of
Rome and Julia became an empress. Although no
philosophical writing has been attributed to her, she
surrounded herself with sophist philosophers. She became
famous for her "circle" of philosophers, studying with
them, discussing with them, and, using her imperial
powers, she protected philosophy and helped it to
flourish. Julia Domna became known as "the philosopher
Julia".
Makrina
In the 4th century AD a girl by the name of Makrina,
living in a Roman province, survived, along with her
family, persecution by the Christians by hiding
themselves in the wilderness for 7 years. Makrina’s
paternal grandmother, Makrina the Older, had been famous
as a pupil of Christian religion and Greek philosophy.
Makrina lived an ascetic life on the family estate with
her mother, former slave women, and other aristocratic
lady-companions. She had a sharp mind for philosophical
thinking, was well educated in Greek philosophy, and she
occupied herself with philosophy most of her life. Her
brother Gregory, who admired her greatly, wrote of a
philosophical discussion he had with her at her death bed
on the topic of the soul and the resurrection.