ANCIENT GREEEK FEMALE PHILOSOPHERS

         Most people in our planet mainly know the ancient Greek male philosophers. But what about female philosophers in Ancient Greece? History can show us some interesting examples of them, like the following ones:

 

1)      DIOTIMA

 

        Diotima is one of the most famous female ancient Greek philosophers. She was a priestess in Mantineia. Plato refers to her in his work "Symposion" or "On Love". In this particular work, Socrates mentions Diotima as his teacher and states that he owes to her his views on beautiful and true. Proclus believed that Diotima belonged to the Pythagorean philosophers while Xenophon stated that Diotima was well acquainted with even the most difficult geometric theorems.

 

2)      AXIOTHEA

 

 

        Axiothea was born in Flioundas, Peloponnese, in the 4th century BC.. Since women were not allowed to enter the Academy at that time, she attended classes there, dressed as a man. She was one of the most intelligent students of the Academy. Later she taught in Corinth and Athens.

 

3)      LASTHENIA

 

        Lasthenia was from Arcadia and studied mathematics and philosophy at the Plato Academy dressed as a man. After Plato's death, Lasthenia continued her studies with his nephew Speusippus, whom he fell in love with and remained close to. According to Aristophanes the Peripatetic, Lasthenia formulated the definition of the sphere as follows:

        "The sphere is a solid body, enclosed by a surface and having a point whose distances from all points of the aforementioned surface are equal to each other."

  

4)      ARITI

 

 

        Ariti (4th-3rd century BC) was the daughter of the founder of the Cyrenaic School of Philosophy, Aristippus. She studied at the Plato Academy. She taught mathematics, physics and philosophy in Attica for many years and wrote at least 40 books. After the death of her father, she became the director of his school. Among her students were about 100 philosophers.

        Ariti's successor at the helm of the school was her son, Aristippus the Younger, who was taught philosophy by his mother and was named "mother-taught".

 

5)      THEMISTA

 

        One of the most intelligent spirits of the 4th century BC. was the philosopher Themista, who was a student of Epicurus and was his spiritual support for the time he lived in Lampsacus. She was married to the philosopher Leontios Lampsakinos while she gave her son the name "Epikouros" in honor of her teacher.

 

        The life of Themista was an example of the application of the philosophy of Epicurus, being an anthem for friendship and mutual respect of people. Epicurus' appreciation for Themista was so great that later the Stoic philosopher Cicero wrote, full of indignation, that Epicurus never spoke of Lycurgus, Solon, Miltiades or Themistocles, as all other philosophers did, but devoted thick volumes in Themista.

 

 

6)      HIPPARCHIA

 

 

        Hipparchia was born in 325 or 328 in Maronia, Thrace to a wealthy family. She was the first female student of the cynical school of Thebes, where Kratis taught. Hipparchy fell in love with her teacher, who was ugly and hunchbacked and followed his way of life, despite the objections of her family. This is how she spent her life philosophizing, and making love in public. She had a daughter, who erotically tested all of her parents' students for a month to reach the best.

        Hipparchia wrote many books, but none survives.

 

 7)      AMPHIKLEIA

 

        Amfikleia lived in Rome around 260 AD, and had a special place among the students of the philosopher Plotinus. She was in charge of the hymns and the symbolic ceremonies of the school.

 

8)      SOSIPATRA

 

        Sosipatra lived at the beginning of the 4th century BC and came from Canopus in Egypt. She was a student at the Syrian school of Iamblichus, where she was taught Pythagorean philosophy, ancient theology and numerology. At that time, the director of her school was Edessios, who fell in love with her because of her charismatic personality. However, she married her fellow student, Efstathios, who after the death of Edessios, became the director of his school.

After the death of her husband, Sosipatra went to Pergamon, where she became popular for her philosophical abilities. The Christians described her as a witch and fought her. After her death, she was succeeded in her work by her son, Antoninos, who was killed by the Christians inside the temple of Serapis, because he was a defender of the old religion.

  

9)      ASKLIPIGENIA

 

        The Neoplatonic philosopher Asklipigenia lived in the 5th century BC and was the daughter of the philosopher Plutarch and the granddaughter of Nestorius. After the death of her father, she took over his students, the most famous of whom was Proclus. Later, her daughter, Asklipigenia the Younger, became the successor of her work, who fought with her partner, Theagenis, to defend their ideas, a time when ancient knowledge was being pursued.

 

 10)  EDESSIA

 

        Edessia was a philosopher from Alexandria, who was distinguished for her great education. She attended classes with her uncle, Syrianos, who wanted to marry her to Proclus but the last one refused. Eventually she married Hermes and had two children, Ammonius and Heliodorus. After the death of her husband, Edessia came to Athens, where she continued her philosophical work and was honored by all the philosophers of her time, among whom was Proclus. When she died, her funeral speech was delivered in hexametric verses by the then young Damascius, who was the director of the Academy.

6 GREAT FEMALE SCIENTISTS OF ANCIENT GREECE

After my reference, in a previous post, to creative women of fine arts in Ancient Greece, I would like to refer to six important ancient Greek scientists.

Let's start with Aglaoniki, the daughter of the king of Thessaly, Igitor. This was the first female astronomer in Greece. Apollodorus writes that Aglaoniki could accurately calculate the time of the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon. She was helped by the Chaldean eclipse cycle, which she modified.

In modern times the name of the ancient Greek astronomer was given to the homonymous crater of the southern hemisphere of Aphrodite.

The next memorable Greek scientist was the doctor Agnodiki, who lived in the 4th century BC. century. At that time, women were not allowed to practice medicine, so in order to study it, Agnodiki disguised herself as a man and thus presented herself at the University of Alexandria. The Greek doctor later began to practice her profession, continuing to be disguised as a man. To her clients, of course, her secret was confessed. As her reputation for scientific success grew, the jealousy of her fellow doctors against her began to grow. She was therefore falsely accused of having illicit relations with her female patients. Thus, Agnodiki was forced to reveal that she was a woman, a fact that led her to trial. At the trial, all the women who were treated by her defended her. Thus Agnodiki was acquitted and the law on the abortion of women in medical science was repealed.

Aspasia was another exception of an ancient Greek woman who dealt with medical science and more specifically with gynecology and obstetrics. Her views and techniques were so remarkable that they were adopted by various doctors and surgeons of the Byzantine period.

Aspasia introduced her own surgical techniques for uterine hemorrhoids, varicoceles, and hydroceles, both of which are similar to recent, modern methods.She developed a technique for moving a breech baby to ease delivery.She also worked on preventive medicine with pregnant women.

Antiochis was a Greek physician and pharmacologist from Lycia. She became known for her book "Syntagologio". Her work was recognized by her compatriots, who in the 1st century AD erected a column in her honor with the inscription:

"For Antiochida, daughter of Didotos from the city of Tlos,

recognized by the Parliament and the Municipality of the city of Tlos

for her experience in medical science

this column has been set up. "

Cleopatra was a woman with excellent knowledge of Chemistry. She is known for her work "Gold production". Another well-known work of hers was "Cosmetics". In it he wrote about cosmetics, hair dyes, prescriptions for alopecia, hair loss, hair growth etc.

Finally, the famous Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, who was born in Alexandria in 370 AD, should definitely be mentioned.

In 392 AD Hypatia traveled to Athens, where he studied at the Neoplatonic School of Plutarch the Younger and his daughter, Asclepigenia. She also studied with Proclus and Hierocles. Then she went to Rome, where she continued her studies impressing with her intelligence and eloquence.

In 398 Hypatia returned to Alexandria, where he taught mathematics and philosophy. In 400 he succeeded Plotinus in the seat of philosophy at the Museum.

Isichius the Jew, who was her student, wrote about her:

"She was wearing the simple cloak of the philosopher and was running through the center of the city, publicly explaining the texts of Plato and Aristotle to those who wanted to hear them."

Hypatia produced a rich body of work on mathematics, astronomy, engineering and philosophy. Unfortunately this was destroyed by the burning of the library of Alexandria. Some of its excerpts were saved in works by other authors.

Hypatia also built a device for refining water, an instrument for measuring water level, and a graduated bronze hydrometer for measuring the specific gravity of a liquid.

Hypatia's insistence not to embrace Christianity, its teaching and its involvement in the political life of Alexandria, turned the Christian leadership of the city against it. Thus in 415 AD, under the orders of Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria, a fanatical mob of Christians violently dragged her into the streets and executed her with shells and shells.

The death of Hypatia was considered the end of ancient science.

9 PAINTRESSES OF ANCIENT GREECE

Greeks but much more foreigners when thinking of ancient Greek culture, associate it almost exclusively with male historical figures. Indeed, the position of the majority of women in ancient Greece was at home. However, there were some women who, breaking the status quo of the time, dealt with creative areas of the human spirit, thus gaining an important place in the history of human civilization.

Since I personally love the art of painting, I would like to mention briefly, in the first phase, some Greek women artists who were distinguished in this field in antiquity.

So, let's begin with Alexandra. 

Alexandra was the daughter of the Greek painter, Neokles and lived