Potone

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Potone ( ancient Greek Πωτώνη Pōtónē or Ποτώνη Potónē ; * probably between 432 and 424 BC) was the sister of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato and the mother of the philosopher Speusippus .

Both Potone's father Ariston and her mother Periktione came from Athens and were of distinguished origin. They married around 432. The couple may have lived on the island of Aigina, south of Attica , for a few years and then returned to their hometown. In Athens, the family lived in Kollytos , a centrally located district to the west and south of the Acropolis .

Ariston and Periktione had four children: Potone and the three sons Adeimantos , Glaucon and Plato.

Ariston died around 424. Soon after, Periktione entered into a second marriage with Pyrilampes , a respected, also widowed Athenian. Pyrilampes was Periktiones maternal uncle and through his new marriage became the stepfather of their four children who were still underage. They now lived with their older stepbrother Demos , a son of Pyrilampes from his first marriage. With Pyrilampes, Periktione had only one child, the son Antiphon .

Potone married Eurymedon of Myrrhinous , whom she received around 410/407 BC. BC gave birth to the son Speusippus. She probably also had a daughter who gave birth to a daughter who married Speusippos - her uncle. Speusippus was born in 348/347 BC. The successor of his uncle Plato as head of the Platonic Academy ( Scholarch ).

literature

  • John K. Davies: Athenian Property Families, 600-300 BC Clarendon Press, Oxford 1971, p. 334
  • Debra Nails: The People of Plato. A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics . Hackett, Indianapolis 2002, ISBN 0-87220-564-9 , p. 254 (and family tree p. 244)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 3.3. The credibility of the report on the emigration to Aegina is doubtful, however; see Eckart Mensching (ed.): Favorin von Arelate: The first part of the fragments. Memorabilia and Omnigena Historia , Berlin 1963, pp. 118f. and note 38; Adelmo Barigazzi (Ed.): Favorino di Arelate: Opere , Firenze 1966, p. 226; Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, pp. 53f .; Eugenio Amato (ed.): Favorinos d'Arles: Œuvres , Vol. 3, Paris 2010, p. 314; Alice Swift Riginos: Platonica , Leiden 1976, pp. 33f .; Luc Brisson : Diogène Laërce, 'Vies et doctrines des philosophes illustres', Livre III: Structure et contenu . In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , Part II, Volume 36.5, Berlin 1992, pp. 3619–3760, here: 3633f.
  2. ↑ For the presumed age sequence of the four children, see Leonardo Tarán: Speusippus of Athens , Leiden 1981, p. 176.
  3. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 4.1.
  4. ^ Pseudo-Plato, Letter 13 361e.
personal data
SURNAME Potone
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sister Plato, mother of Speusippus
DATE OF BIRTH between 432 BC BC and 424 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC Chr.