Pythagorean Women: Their History and Writings

by Sarah B. Pomeroy

Overview

Love triangles and Pythagorean women.

In Pythagorean Women, classical scholar Sarah B. Pomeroy discusses the groundbreaking principles that Pythagoras established for family life in Archaic Greece, such as constituting a single standard of sexual conduct for women and men. Among the Pythagoreans, women played an important role and participated actively in the philosophical life. While Pythagoras encouraged women to be submissive to men, his reasoning was based on the desire to preserve harmony in the home.

Pythagorean Women provides English translations of all the earliest extant examples of literary Greek prose by Neopythagorean women, shedding light on their attitudes about marriage, the home, music, and the cosmos. Pomeroy sets the Pythagorean and Neopythagorean women vividly in their historical, ecological, and intellectual contexts, illustrated with original photographs of sites and artifacts known to these women.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421409566
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2013
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sarah B. Pomeroy is Distinguished Professor of Classics and History Emerita at Hunter College and the Graduate School at the City University of New York. Her book Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity is widely recognized as the definitive book on the topic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Note on Abbreviations xi

Chronology xiii

Introduction xv

1 Who Were the Pythagorean Women? 1

2 Wives, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters 19

3 Who Were the Neopythagorean Women Authors? 41

4 Introduction to the Prose Writings of Neopythagorean Women 54

5 The Letters and Treatises of Neopythagorean Women in the East 66

The Letters and Treatises of Neopythagorean Women in the West 99

7 The Neopythagorean Women as Philosophers Vicki Lynn Harper 117

Notes 139

Index 167

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A book about Pythagorean women is sorely needed and long overdue. Pomeroy rectifies that situation and could fill large gaps not only in the social history of Pythagoreanism but more generally in the history of the lives of these women, including their intellectual lives.
—Pamela Gordon, University of Kansas

Pamela Gordon

A book about Pythagorean women is sorely needed and long overdue. Pomeroy rectifies that situation and could fill large gaps not only in the social history of Pythagoreanism but more generally in the history of the lives of these women, including their intellectual lives.

Editorial Reviews

In this book Pomeroy translates and critiques all the extant writings of female followers of Pythagoras, nearly all of which have been ignored or sidelined by male scholars . . . a very valuable addition to the literature.
—Clifford Cunningham, Sun News Miami

A delight to read. . . This look at the female followers of Pythagoras in ancient times is a very valuable addition to the literature.
—Clifford Cunningham, Sun News Miami

One could hardly hope for a better guide to this subject.
—Choice

Pomeroy's highly informative and carefully argued book touches on significant elements of the Neopythagorean women authors. It is a welcome addition to the literature, opening up much fertile ground for future work.
—George Lazaroiu, Journal of Research in Gender Studies

[Pythagorean Women] will be a major impulse for future scholars to study these texts and their authors.
—Kai Broderson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher

One could hardly hope for a better guide to this subject.

Choice

[Pythagorean Women] will be a major impulse for future scholars to study these texts and their authors.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review - Kai Broderson

In this book Pomeroy translates and critiques all the extant writings of female followers of Pythagoras, nearly all of which have been ignored or sidelined by male scholars . . . a very valuable addition to the literature.

Sun News Miami - Clifford Cunningham

Pomeroy's highly informative and carefully argued book touches on significant elements of the Neopythagorean women authors. It is a welcome addition to the literature, opening up much fertile ground for future work.

Journal of Research in Gender Studies - George Lazaroiu