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.
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] They are written in the Doric dialect, and amount to about 80 lines of prose. [5] 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. [6]
The fragments discuss the differences between men and women, [2] and argue for chastity as the most important virtue for women. [7] 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. [8] Along with her defence of women's chastity, she argues that the practice of philosophy is appropriate for women as well as men. [2]
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