Perictione ( ''Periktiónē''; ) was the mother of the Greek philosopher

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

. She was a descendant of

Solon Solon (; ; BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. ...

, the Athenian lawgiver. Her illustrious family goes back to Dropides,

archon ''Archon'' (, plural: , ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem , meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same ...

of the year 644 b.c. She was married to Ariston, and had three sons (

Glaucon Glaucon (; ; c. 445 BC – 4th century BC), son of Ariston, was an ancient Athenian and Plato's older brother. He is primarily known as a major conversant with Socrates in the ''Republic''. According to Debra Nails, two major facts about Glau ...

, Adeimantus, and

) and a daughter (

Potone Plato ( ; Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. ...

). After Ariston's death, she remarried

Pyrilampes Pyrilampes () was an ancient Athenian politician and stepfather of the philosopher Plato. His dates of birth and death are unknown, but Debra Nails estimates he must have been born after 480 BC and died before 413 BC.D. Nails, "Pyrilampes", 257� ...

, an Athenian statesman and her uncle. She had her fifth child, Antiphon, with Pyrilampes. Antiphon appears in Plato's ''

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; ; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic ancient Greece, Greek philosopher from Velia, Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Veli ...

''. Two spurious works attributed to Perictione have survived in fragments, ''On the Harmony of Women'' and ''On Wisdom''. The works do not date from the same time and are usually assigned to a Perictione I and a Perictione II.Mary Ellen Waithe, ''A History of Women Philosophers: Volume 1, 600 BC-500 AD'', Springer. The dating and difference in the dialect of Greek used mean they could not have been written by this Perictione but instead by two other, unknown women named Perictione. Both works are

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

ous

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

literature. ''On the Harmony of Women'', concerns the duties of a woman to her

husband A husband is a man involved in a marital relationship, commonly referred to as a spouse. The specific rights, responsibilities, and societal status attributed to a husband can vary significantly across different cultures and historical perio ...

, her

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, and to her

parent A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are First-degree relative, first-degree relatives and have ...

s; it is written in

Ionic Greek Ionic or Ionian Greek () was a subdialect of the Eastern or Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek. The Ionic group traditionally comprises three dialectal varieties that were spoken in Euboea (West Ionic), the northern Cyclades (Centr ...

and probably dates to the late 4th or 3rd century BC.Ian Michael Plant, ''Women writers of ancient Greece and Rome: An anthology'', University of Oklahoma Press (2004), p. 76. ''On Wisdom'' offers a philosophical definition of wisdom; it is written in

Doric Greek Doric or Dorian (), also known as West Greek, was a group of Ancient Greek dialects; its Variety (linguistics), varieties are divided into the Doric proper and Northwest Doric subgroups. Doric was spoken in a vast area, including northern Greec ...

and probably dates to the 3rd or 2nd century BC.

Sources

External links

* ''From the treatise of Perictyone – On the Duties of a Woman''. Translated by

Thomas Taylor Thomas Taylor may refer to: Military *Thomas H. Taylor (1825–1901), Confederate States Army colonel *Thomas Happer Taylor (1934–2017), U.S. Army officer; military historian and author; triathlete *Thomas Taylor (Medal of Honor) (born 1834), Am ...

, published 1822, at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

* ''From the treatise of Perictyone – On the Harmony of a Woman''. Translated by Thomas Taylor, published 1822, at Wikisource {{AncientGreece-philosopher-stub 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Athenian women Ancient Greek pseudepigrapha Ancient Greek women philosophers Family of Plato 5th-century BC Greek women