Temistoclea , or Themistoclea ( Themistoclea / Themistokleia , other Greek Θεμιστόκλεια ; also Aristoclea , Theoclea , VI century BC) - a Delphic priestess, according to the surviving sources - the teacher of Pythagoras [1] .
Diogenes Laertius in “ On the Life, Teachings and Dictum of Famous Philosophers ” (3rd century BC) quotes Aristoxen’s statement (4th century BC), according to which Temistokley taught Pythagoras his moral doctrines [2] : “Aristoxen speaks that Pythagoras received most of his moral doctrines from the Delphic priestess Temistokley. "
The philosopher Porfiry (233-305) calls her Aristocles, although there is no doubt that he means the same person [3] . Porfiry repeats the statement according to which she was a teacher of Pythagoras [4] : "He (Pythagoras) learned many other things, which, as he claimed, he learned from Aristocles in Delphi."
The encyclopedia of the Court of the X century calls her Theokleia and claims that she was the sister of Pythagoras, but this information apparently arose due to a misunderstanding of the text of Diogenes [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Mary Ellen Waithe, Ancient women philosophers, 600 BC-500 AD , p. eleven
- ↑ Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers
- ↑ Gilles Ménage, (1984), The history of women philosophers , page 48. University Press of America. "The person who is referred to as Themistoclea in Laertius and Theoclea in Suidas, Porphyry calls Aristoclea."
- ↑ Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras , 41
- ↑ See Suda On Line, Pythagoras , π3124, and footnote 25 : “This information suffers from a corruption in the text, arising from a misunderstanding of a source. Diogenes Laertius' passage actually reads, as the Suda does, Θεοκλείας ἀδελφῆς, but the whole remark is related to the legend of Pythagoras receiving his doctrine from a priestess in Delphi, whose name is Θεμιστόκλεια. Diogenes himself gives the correct information in a previous passage of the Life: cf. 8 παρὰ τῆς Θεμιστοκλείας τῆς ἐν Δελφοῖς. ”