Arignote or Arignota (; , ''Arignṓtē''; fl. c. ) was a Pythagorean philosopher from Croton,

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...

, or from

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

. She was known as a student of

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

and TheanoSuda, ''Arignote'' and, according to some traditions, their daughter as well.Porphyry, ''Life of Pythagoras'', 4

Life

According to the

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

, Arignote wrote: *''Bacchica'' (Βακχικά, ''Bakkhika'', "Of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

") *''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'') Writings attributed to her were extant in Porphyry's day.Gilles Ménage, (1984), ''The History of Women Philosophers'', University Press of America, p. 53. 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.Mary Ellen Waithe, (1987), ''A History of Women Philosophers. Volume 1, 600 BC-500 AD'', Springer, p. 12.

References

{{Authority control 5th-century BC Greek philosophers 5th-century BC women writers 6th-century BC Greek philosophers 6th-century BC women writers Ancient Crotonians Ancient Greek metaphysicians Ancient Greek women philosophers Pythagoreans of Magna Graecia Ancient Greek women writers 6th-century BC Greek women 5th-century BC Greek women