Theano (Greek: Θεανώ; 6th-century BC) was a Pythagorean philosopher. She was said by many to have been the wife of Pythagoras, although others made her the wife of Brontinus. A few fragments and letters ascribed to her have survived which are of uncertain authorship. She is believed by some historians to have been a student of Pythagoras and later a teacher in the Pythagorean school, which had 28 female Pythagoreans participating in it [1].
Life
Little is known about the life of Theano, and the ancient sources are confused. According to one tradition, she came from Crete and was the daughter of Pythonax,[2][3] but others said she came from Croton and was the daughter of Brontinus.[3][4][5] She was said by many to have been the wife of Pythagoras,[2][3][4][5] although another tradition made her the wife of Brontinus.[3][4][6] Iamblichus refers to Deino as the wife of Brontinus.[7]
The children ascribed to Pythagoras and Theano included three daughters, Damo, Myia, and Arignote, and a son, Telauges.[2][3][4][5]
Writings
The writings attributed to Theano were: Pythagorean Apophthegms, Female Advice, On Virtue, On Piety, On Pythagoras, Philosophical Commentaries, and Letters.[8] None of these writing have survived except a few fragments and letters of uncertain authorship. Attempts have been made to assign some of these fragments and letters to the original Theano (Theano I) and some to a later Theano (Theano II),[9] but it is likely that they are all pseudonymous fictions of later writers,[8][10] which attempt to apply Pythagorean philosophy to a woman's life.[8] The surviving fragment of On Piety concerns a Pythagorean analogy between numbers and objects; the various surviving letters deal with domestic concerns: how a woman should bring up children, how she should treat servants, and how she should behave virtuously towards her husband.[8]
Mary Ritter Beard claimed that her treatise On Virtue contained the doctrine of the golden mean.[11]
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A celebrated female philosopher of the Pythagorean School, appears to have been the wife of Pythagoras, and the mother by him of Telauges, Mnesarchus, Myia , and Arignoté; but the accounts respecting her were various (Diog. Laert. viii. 42; Suidas, s. h. v.). Letters ascribed to her, but not genuine, exist, and are edited by Hercher (1873).
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