Phintys

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Phintys was a Pythagorean philosopher, probably from the third century BC. She wrote a work on the correct behaviour of women, two extracts of which are preserved by Stobaeus.

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According to Stobaeus, Phintys was the daughter of Callicrates, [1] who is otherwise unknown. [2] Holger Thesleff suggests that this Callicrates might be identified with Callicratidas, a Spartan general who died at the Battle of Arginusae. [3] If so, this would make Phintys a Spartan, and date her birth to the late fifth century BC, and her floruit to the fourth century. I. M. Plant considers this emendation "fanciful". [2] Iamblichus mentions Philtys in his list of female Pythagoreans; [4] he says that she was from Croton and that her father was called Theophrius. I. M. Plant believes that Iamblichus' Philtys, though also a Pythagorean and similarly named, is distinct from Stobaeus' Phintys. [2]

Two fragments attributed to Phintys are preserved in Stobaeus. [2] However, not all scholars agree that the fragments are authentic: Lefkowitz and Fant argue that the works attributed to female Pythagoreans, including Phintys, were actually rhetorical exercises written by men. [5] They are written in the Doric dialect, and amount to about 80 lines of prose. [6] The language used dates to around the fourth century BC, although some features of it appear to be deliberate archaisms; it was likely actually composed in the third century BC, [2] though a date as late as the second century AD was suggested by Friedrich Wilhelm in 1915. [7]

The fragments discuss the differences between men and women, [2] and argue for chastity as the most important virtue for women. [8] Phintys gives a series of ways that women ought to practice self-control, concluding that the most effective way is to only have sex with her husband in order to produce legitimate children. [9] Along with her defence of women's chastity, she argues that the practice of philosophy is appropriate for women as well as men. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Stobaeus, iv 23.11
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Plant 2004, p. 84.
  3. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 26.
  4. ↑ Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 267
  5. ↑ Lefkowitz & Fant.
  6. ↑ Thesleff 1961, p. 18.
  7. ↑ Thesleff 1961, p. 34.
  8. ↑ Wider 1986, p. 36.
  9. ↑ Wider 1986, pp. 36–7.

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