Phaenarete (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Φαιναρέτη), wife of

Sophroniscus Sophroniscus (Greek: Σωφρονίσκος, ''Sophroniskos''), husband of Phaenarete, was the father of the philosopher Socrates. Occupation Little is known about Sophroniscus and his relationship with his son Socrates. According to tradition, ...

, was the mother of the

Greek philosopher Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

and his half-brother, Patrocles. (Since Sophroniscus had died before 424 BC, he was probably Phaenarete's first husband, while Chaeredemus, father of Patrocles, was her second.) The name Phaenarete means "She who brings virtue to light". And it is, according to A.E. Taylor, "suggestive of good family connexions", based on its appearance in the genealogy of the immortal Amphitheus in

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

' ''

Acharnians ''The Acharnians'' or ''Acharnians'' (Ancient Greek: ''Akharneîs''; Attic: ) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young drama ...

''. Very little is known of the life of Phaenarete. In Plato's '' Theaetetus'', Socrates compares his own work as a philosopher with hers as a ''maia'' (

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

). According to John Burnet, the role of ''maia'' was "performed by women of good family, and the translation 'midwife' is quite misleading."

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ( ...

, s.v., "Socrates", 1919.

References

Ancient Athenian women 5th-century BC Greek people Family of Socrates Greek midwives 5th-century BC Greek women {{AncientGreece-bio-stub