“It’s a man’s world” is an old saying backed up by historical evidence. Even now, in an age where women enjoy unprecedented opportunity, it is still men who predominate across the board in politics, the sciences, entertainment, technology, industry, and the arts. Having said that, we remember the quip by Gorgo, the wife of Sparta’s King Leonidas, after acknowledging male primacy the world, that “We are the only ones who give birth to the men.” Then there’s Maria Portokalis in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who says, quoting an old folk proverb, “The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.”
All this by way of introduction. Let’s take a look at some remarkable women in Ancient Greece who for the most part achieved greatness on their own merits. Here are 10 of the most accomplished, listed chronologically.
1. Arignote (6th century BC)
A Pythagorean philosopher, Arignote was possibly the daughter of Pythagoras himself. Pythagoreans considered numbers the ultimate ground of reality. She is credited with having written, “The eternal essence of number is the most providential cause of the whole heaven, earth and the region in between. Likewise it is the root of the continued existence of the gods and demons, as well as that of divine men.” Her name has also shown up in some scholarly writings of Sappho.
2. Damo (6th century BC)
Another Pythagorean philosopher thought to be a daughter of Pythagoras (and thus a sister of Arignote), Damo’s case for Pythagoras being her father is a little stronger. She probably contributed to the doctrines formulated by Pythagoras. There is a story that Pythagoras willed his writings to her, which she then refused to sell, considering his insights more precious than wealth.
3. Gorgo of Sparta c 513 BC
Queen of Sparta and wife of King Leonidas, Gorgo was the daughter, wife, and mother of 3 Spartan kings. Her father, King Cleomenes I of Sparta, was half-brother to Leonidas. Her marriage to Leonidas was an avunculate marriage (between uncle and niece). She is one of the few women mentioned in the writings of historian Herodotus. After the death of Leonidas at Thermopylae in 480 BC, Gorgo raised her only son, Pleistarchus, who became co-king of Sparta. She is credited with the quote about only women give birth to men cited in the introduction to this post. Trained in the physical disciplines Spartan girls were required to undergo, Gorgo was typical of Spartan women. But she was also, unlike most Spartan women, highly educated.
4. Telesilla of Argos 5th cent. BC
Born to an aristocratic family in Argos, a city so old (7,000 BC) that it predates Athens by 2,000 years, Telesilla was a poet, of which some fragments of her work survive. Alive during Athens’ Golden Age, she nonetheless spent her life in her home city. She is mentioned by historians Plutarch and Pausanias (1st and 2nd centuries AD respectively). They credit her with organizing the final line of defense of the city against the Spartans in 494 BC, drafting old men, women and slaves of the city, successfully repulsing King Cleomenes of Sparta after the regular Argive army was defeated at Sepia. Telesilla was listed as one of the 9 Earthly Muses.
5. Aspasia of Miletus (l. c. 470-c. 410 BC
Aspasia is best known as the consort of the Athenian statesman Pericles, who oversaw the Golden Age. Although she was subordinate to Pericles, she still was a gifted person in her own right. Both eloquent and intelligent, she was a great influence on many statesmen, writers and thinkers of the age. As a metic- a non-citizen born outside of Athens- Aspasia was not constrained by the rules of behavior which limited Athenian women. A high class courtesan, she ran a salon in the city. Playwright Aristophanes, philosopher Plato, and historian Plutarch all mention her power over men and her talent with words.
6. Timycha of Sparta (4th century BC)
Wife of a philosopher who traveled with a group of Pythagoreans, Timycha was a philosopher as well. These Pythagoreans believed in the immortality of the soul. Life was sacred, so they were vegetarians. One of their secret teachings was the concept of reincarnation. Timycha was held up as an example of integrity and courage when she and her husband, Myllias, were captured by the tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily, Dionysus the Elder and refused to reveal some of the secret teachings of Pythaoreus. After being tortured, Timycha was brought before the tyrant and questioned again. To ensure she’d never answer, it is said that Timycha bit off her own tongue and spat it out at his feet. She and her husband were then probably executed.
7. Agnodice (4th century BC)
The first female physician, Agnodice single handedly changed the law in Athens regarding the gender of doctors. Previously women had been allowed to work as midwives and do some personal bedside procedures, but a stop was put to even this, under penalty of death, when it was discovered that they were also performing abortions. Disguised as a man, Agnodice was able to study medicine, and later traveled to Egypt, where women were permitted to practice medicine. There she perfected her craft, and returned to Athens, again disguised as a man. Her female patients, who were aware that Agnodice was a women, loved her so much that the male doctors accused her of seducing them. Put on trial on the Areopagus, she defeated their arguments by proving she was woman. She was then sentenced to death, but her female patients then shamed the court into reversing the verdict. This opened the door for female physicians in Athens.
8. Arete of Cyrene- 4th century BC
Born in Cyrene, a Greek colony in modern day Libya, Arete was the first woman who made her living as a philosopher. There were other female philosophers before her, but they were unpaid for their work. At some point Arete moved to Athens and taught natural philosophy (the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe) and moral philosophy (ethics) for three decades, “begetting” over 100 philosophers in that time. Her father was the philosopher Aristippus, a student of Socrates. He taught Arete, who in turn taught her own son, Aristippus the Younger. Philosophers from Cyrene, known as Cyrenaics, believed that ethics was the most important element of philosophy.
9. Anyte of Tegea- 3rd century BC
One of the 9 Muses cataloged by Antipater of Thessalonica, Anyte was from Tegea, central Peloponnese. She favored natural subjects in her poetry rather than the supernatural, i.e., the gods. She was known for her epigrams (witty sayings) and epitaphs, especially for pets. Her facility for language was of such high quality that it was compared to Homer. Of a dog named Maria, she wrote, calling her the “swiftest of noise-loving hounds, A spotted-throated viper darted his cruel venom into your light-moving limbs.” Anyte is still admired today, as more of her work survives than that of any other ancient Greek female poet. She is said to have run a school for poets.
10. Aglaonice of Thessaly- c. 200 BC
Considered the first female astronomer, Aglaonice learned how to predict lunar eclipses. She was part of a group of female astronomers called “The Witches of Thessaly (Greece’s central plain),” who were active from the third to first centuries BC.
A lifelong star gazer, Aglaonice was thought to be the daughter of Hegetoris, king of Thessaly. She was a bit of an astrologer as well. Plutarch mentions that she studied constellations and celestial globes (a globe of the stars, minus the sun and planets) to try to predict future events. One reason she was thought to be a witch was that she could “make the moon disappear” from time to time, or so the unlearned of Thessaly thought, when she successfully predicted a lunar eclipse. Plato’s Gorgias mentions the “Thessalonian witches, who were thoroughly acquainted with the phases of the moon, and, knowing when the moon would be overtaken by the earth’s shadow…made them all believe she was drawing down the moon…”
An 11th extraordinary woman remains to us, Hypatia of Alexandria. Since she lived well into the Christian era (370-415 AD), Hypatia can’t properly be said to belong to the Ancient Greece timeframe. However, her life was exceptional, and she is well worth mentioning. A philosopher and mathematician, Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, the last Librarian of the Library of Alexandra. Theon tutored his daughter in astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy, considered at that time to be a science. She was known as a gifted teacher and dispenser of wise consul. During a time of transition in the Roman Empire from chiefly pagan to mainly Christian, she was tolerant of all religious views, and was in turn greatly loved by practitioners of both religions. He influence extended to the highest levels of the Alexandrian political class. She died under tragic circumstances, brutally murdered by a rogue faction of Christians while trying to broker a peace between Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria, and Orestes, the newly converted Christian Roman prefect of the city. A fictionalized film of Hypatia’s life, Agora, was released in 2009.
