there were honorable women of irreproachable reputation who became
members of the school. The chief of these was Themista, wife of Leontius
of Lampsacus, styled by Strabo "the most excellent man of the city."
Epicurus became acquainted with the couple during his four years'
sojourn in Lampsacus and was much influenced by their learning and
culture. He won them to his system of philosophy, and he ever afterward
carried on a most industrious correspondence with them, and especially
with Themista. Her name became widely known both within and without
Epicurean circles. The Church Father Lactantius regarded her as a model
of feminine culture and as the only true philosopher among the heathen
Greeks. Themista was very active as an author, and there was in
antiquity an extensive Themista literature, which has entirely
disappeared.
As the various schools of philosophy thus far mentioned began to lose
their hold upon mankind, there were two tendencies manifest among
thoughtful people: the first, to doubt whether it was possible to
ascertain truth,--the spirit of scepticism; the second, to combine from
earlier systems whatever seemed most worthy of credence,--the spirit of
eclecticism.
The two systems which appealed most to enlightened pagans during the
earlier Christian centuries were those of Pythagoras and Plato, which
offered many points of likeness. By the union of these with certain
Hebraic or Oriental elements, there arose the philosophical amalgam
known as Neo-platonism. Plotinus is regarded as the founder of this
system in the third century of our era. Through his attractive
personality and the timeliness of his teachings, Plotinus rapidly gained
a great following among the learned, especially philosophers, statesmen,
physicians, and ladies of high social station. He passed many years in
Rome, where a large number of noble ladies, including the Empress
Salomina, were among his hearers. From Rome, Neo-platonism spread over
the Empire; and in the beginning of the fourth century, we find the
theosophist Iamblichus, who united the Neo-platonic philosophy with
thaumaturgy, attracting to himself large numbers of highly cultured men
and women, who still clung to paganism. Syria was the centre of this
movement, which reached across Asia Minor and became popular even in
Athens and Alexandria. Among the followers of Iamblichus in Asia was an
excellent and learned woman, who became celebrated by her intense
devotion to this philosophy. Sosipatra was the beautiful and
noble-hearted wife of Eustathius, Prefect of Cappadocia. After the death
of Eustathius, she became the wife of a kinsman, by name Philometor, and
dedicated the rest of her life to the promotion of science and
philosophy and to the education of her children, whom she herself
instructed and of whom she made ardent and intelligent disciples of
Neo-platonism. At Athens, where philosophical studies had for a long
period declined, Platonism was revived by the Emperor Julian the
Apostate, who appointed Plutarchus the first head of the New Academy.
Plutarchus had a daughter, Asclepigenia by name, who had been initiated
into all the mysteries of Neo-platonism and thaumaturgy, and who played
a prominent role in the new school. It is related of her that after the
death of her father she kept alive the knowledge of the great orgies and
all the secret lore of thaumaturgy. In association with her brother
Hierius, she became the head of the New Academy, and through her
personality and her lectures she exercised a great influence over the
philosophic youth of the day. Her daughter, Asclepigenia the Younger,
was likewise a devoted Neo-platonist, and continued the traditions of
the school. But the appearance of the two Asclepigenias in the history
of philosophy cannot be regarded as of much importance, as the system of
thaumaturgy which they advocated was scientifically worthless.
About the same time, however, there lived in Alexandria a beautiful and
learned pagan, who ranks as the last brilliant star in the philosophical
firmament before the twilight of the gods. Charles Kingsley's historical
romance, _Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face_, has depicted in an
impressive manner the womanly graces, the learning, the elevating
influence, and the tragic fate, of the last of the Greek women, and has
made the name of Hypatia a household word. His vivid portrayal of social
life in Alexandria at the dawn of the fifth century brings out most
strongly the phases of the closing conflict between paganism and
Christianity, and invests with an atmosphere of aerial clearness and
radiance the heroine, who almost singly and alone fights the battle for
the old gods.
About the year 370, to Theon, a noted astronomer and mathematician of
Alexandria, a daughter was born, to whom he gave the name Hypatia. The
child very early exhibited extraordinary intellectual endowments, and
Theon himself took charge of her education. She rapidly mastered his own
favorite subjects of mathematics and astronomy, and the most celebrated
teachers of the day were called in to give her instruction in the
various branches of rhetoric and philosophy. All the ancient
philosophical systems were pursued by the devoted and zealous maiden,
and the prevailing system of the time, that of Neo-platonism, appealed
especially to her spirit.
As she attained to womanhood, Hypatia united with the charm of
extraordinary beauty all the rarest traits of spirit and character. She
became the object of flattering regard on the part of the cultured; the
common people reverenced her as a superior being, and even the
Christians respected her learning and her demeanor. Hypatia was worthy
of all the admiration that she excited. Amid the widespread corruption
of the age, she lived as spotless as a vestal. The philosophy she
professed preserved her from pollution and inspired her with the love of
beauty, truth, and goodness.
With her intense devotion to the gods of her fathers, with her
extraordinary endowments and wide learning, with her preeminent virtues
and the charm of her whole personality, this celebrated maiden appeared
to the pagan world as a higher being sent by the gods to defend the
ancient faith against the subverting teachings of the Christians,--a
herald, who with the weapons of exalted wisdom and moral sublimity
should win the victory and restore the worship of the gods to its former
splendor. This was also the ambition of the virgin philosopher.
Hypatia's early womanhood was passed in the period when hostility to
paganism reached its height. She was barely twenty-one when Theodosius
I. issued an edict commanding the destruction of heathen temples and
images at Alexandria, and from this time the patriarchs of the city
endeavored to exercise both spiritual and temporal authority and to root
out every vestige of paganism.
Against such an opposition Hypatia sought to contend. Her weapons were
not carnal, but intellectual. By a spread of the knowledge of Greek
philosophy and literature, she sought to quicken the sensibilities of
the people and to reawaken a reverence for the Greek gods. It seemed at
first as if her efforts would be crowned with success. Her lecture hall
was crowded with the clever and intellectual men of the day, and many
came from distant parts, attracted by the reputation of her beauty and
learning. Hypatia soon surpassed all her contemporaries in wisdom and
influence, and rapidly became the soul of the rather numerous pagan
community at Alexandria. This remarkable maiden was honored with a
devotion which almost bordered on idolatry. Orestes, the prefect of the
city, though professedly a Christian, often came to her for counsel. The
learned and eloquent Synesius of Cyrene, afterward a Church Father, was
one of her devoted followers, and even after his conversion to
Christianity maintained a correspondence with her and showed in manifold
ways his regard for his former teacher. Numerous panegyrics and epigrams
were composed, lauding her in most exalted terms.
Thus Hypatia, by moral suasion and by avoiding all open opposition,
sought to wean the people from Christianity and to revive their faith in
the ancient gods. Her success in attracting to paganism both the
cultured and the plain people naturally caused her to be an object of
hatred and jealousy to those who strove to promote Christianity by
violence and force.
The name of Cyril, among the Church Fathers, is the synonym for
fanaticism and bigotry. Elevated to the archi-episcopal chair of
Alexandria to succeed his uncle, Theophilus, he sought to attain supreme
power in the city and to make the power of the Church dominant in
temporal affairs. He succeeded in expelling the Jews, and then turned
his attention to the extermination of paganism. As Hypatia was the
chief exponent of the old gods, and as her influence extended even to
the palace of the prefect, Cyril hated her with all the zeal of bigotry
and was eager for her downfall. Irreproachable in conduct, beloved of
all, influential with the civil power, she was not subject to attack in
any open manner, and Cyril finally countenanced an inhuman and
disgusting plot of assassination devised by the most violent of his
followers--the deacon Peter.
One day in March of the year 415, Peter secretly gathered in an alley
not far from the lecture hall of Hypatia a band of savage monks from the
Nitrian desert. When the customary lecture hour approached, Hypatia,
unconscious of danger, left her house and entered her chariot to drive
to the lecture hall. Soon the mob of zealots, headed by Peter, rush out
from the alley, seize the horses, tear the helpless woman from her seat,
and drag her into a neighboring church. Here, more like savage beasts
than men, Peter's frenzied followers remove from her every shred of
clothing, and at the foot of the bleeding image of the Saviour of
mankind do to death the virgin martyr in the most horrible manner with
fragments of tiles and mussel shells. The limbs are torn from the still
quivering body, and, when life is extinct, the howling mob gather up and
burn the fragments of the mutilated corpse.
It was a horrible deed. The life of a beautiful and talented maiden was
sacrificed for the cause which she professed, and, like many a Christian
maiden, she attained by her death the sanctity of martyrdom. The purity
and nobility of her character invested her with an enduring fame, and,
though her end marks the doom of the old gods, Hypatia herself will
never be forgotten. Judged by the abiding results of her activity,
Hypatia was, like Shelley, "a beautiful and ineffectual angel beating in
the void her luminous wings in vain," but as the embodiment of the
highest and best elements of Greek culture she deserves to rank as one
of the most typical of Greek women.
* * * * *
A peculiar and deep-rooted trait in woman's nature is tender compassion
and sympathetic devotion to suffering humanity. Hence from heroic times
onward through the various epochs of Greek history we find women at the
bedside of the sick and the wounded, acting as attendant, nurse, or
physician. Thus it is not surprising that we should find Greek women
preeminent in the art of medicine.
In the Heroic Age, Homeric heroines were gifted with a knowledge of
plants and their virtues. Hecate, wife of King AEetes of Colchis, her
daughter Medea, and Circe were so celebrated in this respect that they
passed for enchantresses. One has but to recall the transformation of
Odysseus's companions into swine as an evidence of Circe's peculiar
power. All the daughters of Asclepius the physician--Hygiea, Panacea,
Iaso, and AEgle--were specialists in medicine. Helen of Troy knew how to
compound her celebrated potion, Nepenthe, which made men forget all care
and enjoy sound slumbers; and OEnone, the forsaken wife of Paris, and
Agamede, daughter of a king of Elis, were skilled in the use of simples.
In historical times, the Thessalian women were noted for their knowledge
of the virtues of plants, and were acquainted with all forms of
witchcraft. They were frequently consulted for the preparation of "love
potions," and, as midwives, were in demand throughout Hellas. Women
naturally preferred women's services in those ailments which are
peculiar to the sex; but in ancient Athens, so unfriendly to the female
sex in its laws, there was a statute forbidding the practice of
gynaecology by women as a profession. Women rebelled, but their
complaints were without avail.
Agnodice, whose date is not known, was the name of the courageous maiden
who broke the prevailing traditions and won a natural right for her sex.
She conceived the idea of studying medicine in secret until she became
an expert, and then of offering her services to women, also in secret,
for medical treatment, especially in cases of maternity. To this end,
she cut off her hair, adopted masculine apparel, and, as a promising
youth, took instruction in medicine from Hierophilus, a celebrated
physician. Her progress was rapid, and when she was pronounced
sufficiently equipped for independent practice she revealed her identity
to prospective mothers, who gladly availed themselves of her services,
so that she soon obtained the monopoly of this kind of practice. The
other physicians were naturally overcome with jealousy and chagrin that
the young doctor should supplant them, and finally they brought charges
of malpractice against the supposed youth. Agnodice was brought to
trial, and in self-defence was compelled to reveal her sex. The older
physicians then endeavored to have the laws enforced against her; but
all the prominent ladies of the city took her part, and the obnoxious
laws were repealed.
From that time forward, large numbers of women studied medicine, the
majority devoting their attention to the diseases of women and children.
These female physicians frequently appear as medical writers, especially
on gynaecology and pediatrics. They also produced many treatises on
cosmetics, which ranked as a branch of hygiene and was cultivated most
diligently by many eminent physicians. These women rivalled one another
in the discovery of an endless variety of toilet preparations, beauty
wafers, skin and hair ointments, pastes and powders, and wine essences
for the removal of pimples and freckles.
In later and more immoral times, female physicians lent their talents
gladly to demoralization and license, and wrote treatises on love
potions and abortives--a disreputable form of literature very popular
with the hetserae, and which, according to Pliny, found diligent readers
among the great ladies of Rome. Of all the numerous works of the
feminine doctors, only fragments and excerpts have come down to us, and
their loss is not greatly to be regretted. Yet credit is due to these
women as pioneers in female emancipation, and the most eminent of them
deserve to be rescued from oblivion.
The greatest was Aspasia--not the favorite of Pericles nor the devoted
companion of Cyrus the Younger, but the "medical" Aspasia, who was a
prominent figure in the Athens of the fourth century before the
Christian era. She attained great fame, not only in women's diseases,
but also in surgery and other branches of medicine, as may be judged
from the titles of her works, preserved by Aetius, a physician and
writer of the fifth century of our era. It seems clear from what is
known of her that the Athenian women saw nothing criminal in giving and
using abortives. Even Aristotle desired to have a law regulating the
number of children that might be borne by woman.
Antiochis, to whom Heraclides of Tarentum, one of the best physicians of
antiquity, dedicated his works, was a practising female physician in
Magna Graecia, in the third century before Christ, who devoted especial
attention to salves and plaster cures. To the great Cleopatra has been
ascribed the authorship of a work "on the medical means of preserving
beauty"; but there were probably one or more physicians of this name, as
there are various treatises ascribed to "Cleopatra." Other female
physicians, of whom we know little more than the name and the titles of
their works, are Olympias of Boeotia, Salpe, Elephantis, Sotira,
Pamphile, Myro, Spendusa, Maia, and Berenice.
Space will not suffer us to do more than call attention to many wise and
able women of Hellas who were eminent in other branches of learning. In
historical writings, Thucydides's daughter is worthy of mention, as she
is said to have composed the eighth book of her father's history of the
Peloponnesian War; Nicobule, the author of a history of Alexander the
Great, was another excellent woman writer. Plutarch gathered about him a
learned circle of women, of whom the chief was Clea, the clever matron
of Delphi, to whom he dedicated several of his works, and Eurydice, who
enjoyed his instruction. Aganice, daughter of Hegetor of Thessaly,
possessed an astonishing knowledge of astronomy, and was regarded as an
enchantress. To Melanippe, the sculptor Lysistratus erected a monument
as a tribute to her learning.
Alexandria, with its vast number of scholars, its libraries and museums,
and its intellectual freedom for women, naturally produced a large
number of women eminent in history and philology. Frequently
philologists' daughters were trained from childhood by their fathers,
and afterward became their companions and secretaries in literary
labors. The most prominent of these literary feminine grammarians was
doubtless Hestiaea of Alexandria, a Homeric scholar of note, who was the
first to devote scientific attention to the topography of the Iliad and
to throw doubt on the generally accepted view that New Ilium was the
site of Ancient Troy. Pamphile, daughter of the grammarian Soteridas and
wife of the scholar Socratidas, was a woman of wide erudition,
celebrated especially as essayist and historian. Others whose names are
associated with similar labors are Agallis, Theodora, and Theosebia.
When one reflects on the varied activity of Greek women, the conclusion
forces itself upon him that they were intellectually as acquisitive and
as brilliant as the Greek men, who have set the standard for the world
in the realm of literature and science. Cleverness is the most salient
characteristic of the Greek intelligence, and this trait belonged as
truly to the female sex as to the male. The Renaissance furnishes
examples of women renowned for their erudition and culture; but perhaps
only the present age furnishes an adequate parallel to the varied
intellectual activities of Greek women in the centuries that followed
the decline of Greek independence and that saw the spread of Greek
culture among all civilized peoples. Modern women can therefore learn
much from their Greek sisters in all that pertains to the so-called
emancipation of the sex.
XIV
THE MACEDONIAN WOMAN
Separated from the lands of the Hellenes by the range of the Cambunian
Mountains which extended north of Thessaly from Mount Olympus on the
east to Mount Lacmon on the west, there lay a rugged country, whose
inhabitants were destined to play a prominent role and become a powerful
factor in the later history of Greece. This country, divided into many
basins by spurs which branch off from the higher mountain chains, by its
mountain system not only shut the people off from the outside world, but
also forbade any extended intercourse between the dwellers in the
various cantons. The wide and fertile valleys, however, and the mountain
slopes abounding in extensive forests, the haunts of wild game, mark the
land as the country of a great people, who by generations of seclusion
were storing up strength and vitality to be of vast influence whenever
they should break through their narrow confines.
Such a people dwelt there, but it required strong leaders to bring them
in touch with the rich Hellenic life to the south of them and to make
them a powerful factor in the history of the world. Philip, lord of
Macedon, and his mightier son, Alexander, were the great men who were to
accomplish the work of grafting the new blood and energy of Macedon
upon the decaying stock of Greek culture, and to diffuse the spirit of
Hellenism throughout the civilized world. With them the old order of
things, as represented in Athens and Sparta, passed away, and a new
order, with new ideals, new motives, new views of life, was born. Hence,
the people of Macedon, themselves Greek by race, have a large place in
the consideration of any phase of Greek life. When the Hellenes
originally migrated into Greece, a branch of the race found its way into
the southwestern part of Macedon behind the barriers of Olympus, and
later, by intermixture with the Illyrians and other barbarous races,
these invaders lost some of their national characteristics and, shut off
as they were, failed to share in the history and development of their
kinsmen to the south. In language, in institutions, and in aspirations,
however, they gave indisputable evidence of their right to be considered
as members of the great Hellenic family.
The people were a hardy, peasant folk, devoted to hunting, to grazing,
and to agriculture, and they preserved the patriarchal institutions
which obtained among the earliest Greeks. They were divided into many
tribes, each with its own chief and leader. Among some of the hardier
tribes, the man who had not slain a wild boar was not allowed to recline
at table with the warriors, and not to have slain an enemy was regarded
as a mark of disgrace. In the tribal organization and in the institution
of the kingship, we are carried back to the society of Homeric times,
and in manifold ways the public and private life of the Macedonians
reflects the life portrayed in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Aristotle remarks that the ancient kingship survived only among the
Spartans, the Molossians, and the Macedonians, of all the Greek peoples;
and only among the last mentioned did the office retain all its
prerogatives. As in the Heroic Age, so in Macedon, the king was supreme
judge, military commander-in-chief, and at the head of the religion of
the State. But he was no Oriental despot. The people were conscious of
their liberty and sensitive as to their rights. By the side of the king
stood the nobles, who were closely associated with him at all times,
constituting his council, accompanying him to war, and sharing with him
his dangers and his honors. As the population was largely rural, there
were present none of the conditions which tend to nullify clan
distinctions and create a democracy. The lines between noble and peasant
were very broad. Hence, Macedon was essentially a dynastic State, and
its history is largely the history of its royal family. As we have
frequently noted, in monarchies woman is ever a most influential factor,
A king must have a court, and there can be no court without a queen. The
queen's life has necessarily its public, political, and military
aspects; and the part she plays largely determines the weal or woe of
both king and people. Hence it is with the royal family of Macedon, and
with those queens and princesses who make up a large part of its
history, that we are now chiefly concerned.