Arignote

Arignote or Arignota (/ˌærɪɡˈnoʊtiː, ˌærɪɡˈnoʊtə/; Greek: Ἀριγνώτη, Arignṓtē) was a Pythagorean philosopher from Croton^[1] who flourished around the year 500 BC. She was known as a student of Pythagoras and Theano^[2] and, according to some traditions, their daughter as well.^[3][4][5]

Life

According to the Suda,^[2] Arignote wrote:

• Bacchica (Βακχικά, Bakkhika, "Of Bacchus")
• The Mysteries of Demetra (Περὶ τῶν Δήμητρος Μυστηρίων, Peri ton Demetros Mysterion)
• A Sacred Discourse (Ἱερὸς Λόγος, Hieros Logos)
• Mysteries of Dionysus (Τελεταὶ Διονύσου, Teletai Dionysou)^[6]

Writings attributed to her were extant in Porphyry's day.^[5][7]

Among the Pythagorean Sacred Discourses (Ἱεροὶ Λόγοι, ΄΄Hieroi Logoi΄΄) there is a dictum attributed to Arignote:

The eternal essence of number is the most providential cause of the whole heaven, earth and the region in between. Likewise it is the root of the continued existence of the gods and daimones, as well as that of divine men.^[8]

References

1. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, Gale Research Inc., 2002.
2. Suda, Arignote
3. Suda, Pythagoras
4. Suda, Theano
5. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 4
6. Clement of Alexandria also mentions the work entitled Mysteries of Dionysus in his Stromata (iv. 19).
7. Gilles Ménage, (1984), The History of Women Philosophers, University Press of America, p. 53.
8. Mary Ellen Waithe, (1987), A History of Women Philosophers. Volume 1, 600 BC-500 AD, Springer, p. 12.