Axiothea by Phleius

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Axiothea von Phleius ( Greek  Ἀξιοθέα Axiothéa ) was an ancient philosopher. She lived in the 4th century BC. And took classes in the Platonic Academy in Athens , the school of philosophy founded by Plato .

Axiothea came from Phleius , a city in the north-eastern Peloponnese that was traditionally allied with Sparta . Nothing is known about her family and youth. The historian of philosophy Diogenes Laertios reports that Plato had two students, Axiothea and Lastheneia of Mantineia , and that Axiothea put on men's clothes. For the latter message, Diogenes refers to Dikaiarchus , a student of Aristotle . According to a tradition also communicated by Diogenes, Axiothea and Lastheneia later continued their studies with Plato's nephew Speusippus . After the death of his uncle in 348/347 BC, Speusippus had Took over the management of the academy; he exercised the office of Scholarchen (head of the school) until his death (339/338).

A philosophical activity by women was unusual at the time and was therefore noted in the sources as a special feature. But Plato was convinced that there were no specifically female or specifically male tasks in the state and that both sexes should therefore receive the same training. Consequently, he admitted women to philosophical lessons in his school.

A report on Axiothea is also available in the only fragmentarily preserved Academica ( Academicorum index ) of Philodemos . In the papyrus fragment, the first three letters of her name are missing, only othea can be read, but the context shows that she is meant. The information provided by Philodemos comes from the now-lost Plato biography of Dikaiarchus, a very valuable source that Philodemos apparently quotes verbatim. In this tradition Axiothea is praised; It is said that she was wise and prudent, wore the philosopher's coat and attended school in such a way "that she remained unrecognized by others". The latter statement apparently means that she not only wore men's clothing, but was permanently disguised as a man in the academy, so she wanted or had to hide her gender. This is obviously a legendary decoration. Alice Swift Riginos suspects an antiplatonic tendency in the disguise legend; she thinks the legend assumes a discrepancy between Plato's written appreciation of female competence and the reality in his school. Philodemus mentions men's clothing in another place, where he probably takes over information from a work by the historian of philosophy Diocles of Magnesia , which is now lost .

Further sources in which the two philosophers are mentioned as students of Plato are the Stromateis of the church father Clemens of Alexandria and the Prolegomena on Plato's philosophy , an anonymously transmitted late antique work, the unknown author of which belongs to the school of Olympiodoros the Younger . Without mentioning names, Apuleius and Olympiodorus the Younger report on the participation of women in classes in the academy. The late antique rhetor Themistios relates that after reading a treatise by Plato on the political system - meaning the Dialogue Politeia - Axiothea made the decision to emigrate to Athens to become a student of the philosopher. The Politeia is the work in which Plato expresses his conviction that women should be trained for the same state activities and entrusted with the same state tasks as men. Themistios also adopts the legend that Axiothea hid in the academy for a long time that she was a woman.

A papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchos speaks of an unnamed philosopher who, after Plato's death, was a pupil of Speusippus and Menedemus of Eretria . The author of the fragmentary text refers to the history of philosophy Hippobotos and adds that the woman was also mentioned by the Peripatetic Hieronymos of Rhodes and Aristophanes. "Aristophanes" is otherwise unknown, perhaps the name was accidentally misrepresented by the writer of the papyrus. The philosopher is likely to be either Axiothea or Lastheneia.

Fritz Wehrli suggested that Axiothea and Lastheneia were actually Pythagoreans and that only later tradition made them Platonists. Alice Swift Riginos rejects this hypothesis. Konrad Gaiser points out that there was a Pythagorean community in Axiothea's hometown Phleius at the time of Plato and that women traditionally played a role among the Pythagoreans; therefore Axiothea was probably first active as a Pythagorean in Phleius before going to Athens. There is no doubt that they belong to the academy.

literature

  • Tiziano Dorandi: Assiotea e Lastia. Due donne all'Academia . In: Atti e Memorie dell'Accademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere La Colombaria 54, 1989, pp. 51–66 (pp. 61–66 compilation of the source texts with Italian translation)
  • Konrad Gaiser (Ed.): Philodems Academica . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, ISBN 3-7728-0971-5 , pp. 154-157, 358-364, 449-452
  • Richard Goulet: Axiothéa de Phlionte . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 1, CNRS, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-04042-6 , pp. 690-691

Remarks

  1. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 3.46. See Konrad Gaiser (Ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, p. 363.
  2. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 4.2.
  3. ↑ Konrad Gaiser (Ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, pp. 154–157.
  4. ↑ Konrad Gaiser (ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, pp. 97-100, 307-311.
  5. ↑ Alice Swift Riginos: Platonica , Leiden 1976, p. 184. Konrad Gaiser (ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, p. 363 disagrees.
  6. ↑ Konrad Gaiser (Ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, pp. 186, 443, 449-452.
  7. ↑ Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 4,19,122,2.
  8. ↑ Prolegomena to the Philosophy of Plato 4, ed. von Leendert G. Westerink : Prolégomènes à la philosophie de Platon , Paris 1990, p. 7; see. P. 52 note 52.
  9. ^ Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate 1,4.
  10. ↑ Olympiodoros, In Platonis Alcibiadem 2, 147-150.
  11. ↑ Themistios, Discourse 23:17 (295c).
  12. ↑ POxy 3656 (2nd / 3rd century), edited by Helen M. Cockle: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri , Vol. 3, London 1984, pp. 47-50 (with commentary). See Marcello Gigante : Accessione ippobotea . In: La Parola del Passato 40, 1985, p. 69; Marcello Gigante: Biografia e dossografia in Diogene Laerzio . In: Elenchos 7, 1986, pp. 7-102, here: 59-63; Tiziano Dorandi: Assiotea e Lastia. Due donne all'Academia . In: Atti e Memorie dell'Accademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere La Colombaria 54, 1989, pp. 51-66, here: 57f .; Franco Montanari : Aristophanes Peripateticus (Byzantius?) . In: Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini (CPF) , Part 1, Vol. 1 *, Firenze 1989, pp. 248-250.
  13. ^ Fritz Wehrli: The School of Aristotle , Book 1: Dikaiarchos , 2nd edition, Basel 1967, p. 55.
  14. ↑ Alice Swift Riginos: Platonica , Leiden 1976, p. 184, note 13.
  15. ↑ Konrad Gaiser (Ed.): Philodems Academica , Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1988, p. 363f.
personal data
SURNAME Axiothea by Phleius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH before 348 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 348 BC Chr.