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Leontion ( la, Leontium, el, Λεόντιον; fl. 300 BC) was a
praefatio, 29
Leontion ( la, Leontium, el, Λεόντιον; fl. 300 BC) was a 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 ...
Epicurean
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism.
Few writings by Ep ...
philosopher.
Biography
Leontion was a pupil of Epicurus and his philosophy. She was the companion of Metrodorus of Lampsacus. The information we have about her is scant. She was said to have been ahetaera
Hetaira (plural hetairai (), also hetaera (plural hetaerae ), ( grc, ἑταίρα, "companion", pl. , la, hetaera, pl. ) was a type of prostitute in ancient Greece, who served as an artist, entertainer and conversationalist in addition to pro ...
– a courtesan or prostitute.
Diogenes Laërtius has preserved a line from a letter that Epicurus evidently wrote to Leontion, in which Epicurus praises her for her well-written arguments against certain philosophical views (which aren't mentioned in Diogenes' quote). According to Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
, she was painted by Aristides of Thebes
Aristides of Thebes ( grc-gre, Ἀριστείδης ὁ Θηβαῖος), was an ancient Greek painter.
Life
He lived in the 4th century BC. He had a reputation for expressiveness: for example, a picture of his representing a dying mother's fea ...
in a work entitled "''Leontion thinking of Epicurus''."
According to Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
, Leontion is said to have published arguments criticizing the famous philosopher Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...
:
Leontium, that mere courtesan, who had the effrontery to write a riposte to Theophrastus – mind you, she wrote elegantly in good Attic, but still, this was the licence which prevailed in the Garden of Epicurus.An anecdote that was later also adopted by Pliny in the preface of his ''Naturalis historia''.Pliny, ''Nat. Hist.''
praefatio, 29
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leontion 4th-century BC births 3rd-century BC deaths 3rd-century BC women writers 3rd-century BC writers 3rd-century BC philosophers Ancient Greek women philosophers Greek female prostitutes Hetairai Epicurean philosophers Hellenistic-era philosophers 3rd-century BC Greek women