Theano (Pythagorean)

Theano is referred to in ancient sources as a Pythagorean woman and often as the wife of the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos . According to this, she lived in the late 6th and perhaps even in the early 5th century BC. However, their existence is doubtful. In the Roman Empire , it was considered a model of female virtue.

Life

Theano is first mentioned by the philosopher Dikaiarchos , who lived in the second half of the 4th century and in the early 3rd century BC. Lived. He does not refer to her as a wife, but only as a follower of Pythagoras. In the 3rd century BC The poet Hermesianax claimed that Pythagoras loved her passionately. As the wife of the philosopher, she is expressly referred to in sources from the Roman Empire.

The information about their origin is contradictory; they come from sources from the Roman Empire. According to one of the traditions, she was a Cretan , according to another she came from Croton (today Crotone in Calabria , southern Italy), according to another from Metapont in Basilicata . Her father is said to have been a Pythagorean named Brontinos or Brotinos; according to a different statement, he was her husband. The vast majority of sources that mention their marriage report that she was the wife of Pythagoras, who settled in southern Italy around 530 and lived first in Croton and later in Metapont. She is said to have had children for whom different names are recorded; a son is said to have been named Telauges, and a daughter Myia ; Later sources also speak of a daughter named Damo .

reception

For posterity, Theano became a legendary figure, an embodiment of female wisdom and virtue. The pseudepigraphic (fake) letters attributed to her , which were widespread in the Roman Empire, contributed to this reputation . Seven of them have been preserved; five of these are addressed to women. They deal with the responsibilities of a wife and mother, an appropriate response to adultery committed by the husband, questions of upbringing (with warnings against spoiling the children) and dealing with servants. The group of the three longer letters (to Eubule, Nikostrate and Callisto) has survived in several manuscripts, while that of the four short letters, which was probably written much later, only comes in one; there is no doubt that all letters are inauthentic. The editor Alfons Städele assumes that all letters originated in the Roman Empire. In addition to the letters, Theano was also credited with writings on philosophical subjects, especially in the field of virtue, of which little is known apart from their titles, as well as a collection of sayings; Some alleged sayings by Theanos as well as the collection of sayings Rat der Theano , which has only been preserved in Syrian translation, have survived , the Greek original version of which probably came from the Roman Empire.

In the 14th century, the Byzantine historian Nikephoros Gregoras reported that the Empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa , who lived in the 11th century, was named a second Theano. From the context it can be seen that Theano was still considered a model of an excellently educated woman in the Middle Ages.

The first edition of the letters was published by Aldus Manutius in Venice in 1499 ; further editions and translations followed. In 1789, Christoph Martin Wieland published his study Die Pythagorischen Frauen with a translation of three letters ascribed to Theano, which he believed to be genuine. Wieland expressed himself enthusiastically about the alleged letters of the Pythagoreans and especially about Theano's virtue.

In Herder's Scattered Pages and in his writing God. Some conversations (1787) a conversation partner called Theano appears, whose name he probably chose as a reference to the ancient Pythagorean woman.

Text editions and translations

• Alfons Städele (ed.): The letters of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans . Anton Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1980, ISBN 3-445-02128-7 (critical edition with translation)
• Kai Brodersen (Ed.): Theano: Letters of an ancient philosopher . Reclam, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-018787-6 (uncritical edition of the letters and source texts on Theano and sayings attributed to her with translation; also contains Wieland's study The Pythagorean Women )

literature

• Kurt von Fritz : Theano. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VA, 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 1379-1381.
• Constantinos Macris: Théano (de Crotone ou de Métaponte?). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 820-839, 1275
• Ute Possekel: The 'Council of Theano'. A collection of Pythagorean sayings in Syrian translation . In: Le Muséon 111, 1998, pp. 7-36.
• Ian Michael Plant: Women writers of ancient Greece and Rome: an anthology . University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8061-3621-9 , pp. 68-75 ( excerpt (Google) )
• Michael AB Deakin: Theano: the world's first female mathematician? In: International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology Vol. 44, No. 3, 2012, pp. 350–364 ( doi : 10.1080 / 0020739X.2012.729614 )

Remarks

1. ↑ The passage is printed and translated by Kai Brodersen (Ed.): Theano: Briefe einer antiken Philosopher , Stuttgart 2010, p. 52 f.
2. ↑ Edited and translated by Alfons Städele: Die Briefe des Pythagoras und der Pythagoreer , Meisenheim am Glan 1980, pp. 166–185 (with commentary, pp. 251–353).
3. ↑ The illustrations by Daniela Nisticò: Theano: una pitagorica attuale , Soveria Mannelli 2003, and Mary Ellen Waithe (ed.): A History of Women Philosophers , Vol. 1, Dordrecht 1987, pp 12-15, 41 ff without. Written observance of the state of research.
4. ↑ Holger Thesleff : An Introduction to the Pythagorean Writings of the Hellenistic Period , Åbo 1961, p. 22 f.
5. ↑ Nikephoros Gregoras, Rhomean History 8.3.
6. ↑ Alfons Städele (Ed.): Die Briefe des Pythagoras und der Pythagoreer , Meisenheim am Glan 1980, pp. 27 f., 137-147; Wieland's text by Kai Brodersen (ed.): Theano: Briefe einer Antique Philosopher , Stuttgart 2010, pp. 18–48.
7. ↑ Ulrich Gaier: Diotima, a syncretic figure . In: Valérie Lawitschka (ed.): Hölderlin: Christentum und Antike , Tübingen 1991, pp. 141–172, here: p. 152 and note 24.