Category Archives: Classical History

Hipparchia the Cynic Philosopher

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Sarah Maguire writes about Hipparchia, the female philosopher who flouted the conventions regarding the role of women in Ancient Greece.

The Ancient Greek philosopher, Diogenes the Cynic (who famously lived in a barrel), was known for his teaching that human life should not be limited and complicated by the conventions and traditions of society, but should be close to nature: by living in a barrel, rather than a house, he would argue that he was saving himself all the unnecessary bother that running and maintaining a household would entail but the barrel provided necessary shelter from the elements. Diogenes seems to have been no friend to women; on seeing a tree from which some women had been hanged, he exclaimed ‘if only all trees bore such fruit!’

At least one of his followers however, applied his teachings to the question of whether women needed to live as convention dictated or whether they should behave in a way that seemed right and natural to them personally.

Crates the Philosopher

Crates the philosopher was a disciple of Diogenes, living in Maroneia in Thrace around 300 BCE. Under Diogenes’ influence he sold all his property and distributed the money to the poor. Like Diogenes, Crates cultivated an eccentric lifestyle and personal appearance, indifferent to ridicule and abuse. He was said to be very ugly, but he made his appearance even more bizarre by randomly sewing a sheepskin to his cloak. As it now better fulfilled its purpose of keeping him warm, it was unimportant that it drew adverse attention to him.

Metrocles

Metrocles was a wealthy young man of Maroneia, who, so overcome with shame and embarrassment after farting while making a speech, locked himself up in his house and resolved to starve himself to death. Crates called upon him and managed to persuade the young man that his action had been in accordance with nature and thus no cause for shame. Metrocles thus became a follower of Crates.

Hipparchia Falls in Love

While Metrocles’ parents must have been very relieved that Crates had dissuaded their son from suicide, they were less happy when their young daughter Hipparchia (pictured) also enthusiastically embraced his teachings and became enamoured of the philosopher, scorning wealthy, attractive and conventional suitors. Hipparchia threatened suicide, if she were not allowed to marry Crates. Marriage was another institution commonly scorned by Cynics. Her parents responded by appealing to Crates himself to discourage her. When all other efforts at dissuasion had failed, Crates finally removed his clothes and stood before her saying “this is your bridegroom and all he possesses. If you are to be a wife of mine, you must adopt this lifestyle.” Hipparchia joyfully agreed and they were married.

As a married woman, Hipparchia accompanied her husband to dinner parties. This was a significant breach of convention. At that period, respectable Greek women did not attend dinner parties. The only women normally present were the paid or slave entertainers – prostitutes, musicians and dancers that were provided for the amusement of the male guests.

Hipparchia’s insistence on sitting and talking among the men as an equal did not fail to arouse resentment.

Hipparchia’s Argument

During a banquet Hipparchia got into an argument with a certain Theodorus. Presumably in response to his challenging her right to participate in the symposium, she responded with the syllogism that: if something is not wrong when done by Theodorus, it cannot be wrong if done by Hipparchia, adding that if it is not wrong for Theodorus to strike himself, it cannot be wrong for Hipparchia to strike him either. In response to this playful sophistry, Theodorus attempted to rip her clothes off, to which she reacted with fearless contempt.

Theodorus added further taunts as to why she did not devote her time to the loom, to which Hipparchia replied that she had no doubt she was right to cease wasting her time in such tasks and devoting herself to knowledge.

This brief surviving account of Hipparchia, found in Diogenes Laertius’Lives of the Philosophers offers us a fascinating portrait of a female philosopher who applied and adapted her understanding of Cynic philosophy to free herself from the conventional limitations placed on women’s participation in intellectual and public life.

Sarah Maguire

Source: Diogenes Laertius: Lives of the Philosophers Book 6. 85-98

 

 

 

 

Cincinnatus – the hero who saved Rome

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‘Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was at the plough when he was notified of his election to that dictatorship ‘

In his treatise on Old Age, the Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero cites the potent semi-legendary figure of Cincinnatus as an example of the joys of agriculture. He talks of the Roman Senators of the age being modest farmers, who delighted in the peace of cultivation and only engaged in public business at the request of the state as opposed to from some higher ambition or longing for power.

Cincinnatus defends his son

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus first appears in the historical narrative of Livy (59 B.C – A.D. 17) trying to defend his son from a charge of treason (461 B.C.). As an aristocrat in times of conflict between the patrician and plebeian factions at Rome, the dangers of this social strife had been turned on his son for his popularity and strength in the aristocratic party. Cincinnatus eventually went into a voluntary exile but despite this the trial went ahead in his absence and he was forced to pay the fine; near bankrupting him.

Cincinnatus in office

A year later the civil disturbances continued with the seizure of the Capitoline Hill in Rome by one Herdonius. The plebeian representatives, the Tribunes, neither condoned nor attacked these actions and called for a refusal to fight on behalf of the Senate. Eventually an attack, with the help of Rome’s allies the Tusculans, displaced Herdonius and he was killed. After peace was restored elections were called and Cincinnatus was returned to one of the two positions of Consul (the most powerful magistrate in Rome).

Once in power Cincinnatus proceeded to attack the Senate more vehemently than even the plebeians. He criticised his son’s banishment and the divided nature of the political scene. His time in office was spent fighting against Rome’s enemies; the Aequians, and attempting to avert yet more civil strife.

Cincinnatus retires to his farm

After his appointed year in office Cincinnatus retired to his farm. Rome continued to fight both internally and externally. Military disaster followed when a Roman invasion force against the Aequians, led by the Consul Mincius, was trapped and another enemy, the Sabines, were nearly at Rome’s walls. In such a time of emergency a Dictator with supreme power could be elected by the senate. This, in 458 B.C., was the course of action they took and it was unanimously decided to send for Cincinnatus.

The Senate sends for Cincinnatus

A party of senators arrived at his farm (as depicted by Juan Antonio Ribera, c1806, pictured)and told him of the dangers threatening Rome. He was asked to save his country from these perils, a request to which he acquiesced after some initial surprise. After being given command of an army he marched towards where the Consul had been trapped and quickly routed the enemy. For such an amazing feat of arms he was allowed to ride through the city in triumph.

Cincinnatus the hero

In the space of just two weeks he had raised an army, crushed his enemy and laid down his office to return to farming. It is these events that were canonized as a moral example of how a Roman nobleman ought to behave. Such austerity and modesty were looked upon as characteristics of the ideal Roman citizen. It was thought that a Roman should only serve his country; not wish to have it serve him. Cincinnatus was a hero who did his duty and no more.

John B. Knight
See also The Fall of Rome and Marcus Tullius Cicero – a life in letters

Democracy In Athens

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A month has passed since the UK general election and we hear a clamouring for change to our democracy. Ostensibly the goal is to make it more democratic or at least have a plebiscite to that effect. To dip back into the story of the world’s first democracy at Athens is a worthwhile exercise that still resonates in modern times.

What is Democracy?

I remember once reading a line in the excellent Horrible Historiesseries, stating that the democracy at Athens was, in fact, not very democratic at all because of those it excluded. However this logic seemed to entirely miss the point. The word democracy itself means the rule of the demos (citizenship). At Athens this consisted exclusively of males of a certain age group who were born of two Athenian parents. These citizens were given the right to vote in the assembly and serve the government of the state.

The idea of democracy is not as inclusive as most would like to believe. By definition it is in fact entirely exclusive; even in this day and age where only people meeting specific criteria and who have registered are given the right to vote. It can be argued that the Athenian model was in fact superior to our own as any decision affecting the community would be put to a vote, particularly that of whether or not to go to war and, as we know, the Athenian demosacquiesced to fight some state or another nearly every year.

Where did the idea ‘democracy” come from?

It is hard to underestimate the novelty of such an idea when it was first proposed. Until around 500 B.C Athens had first been ruled by an aristocratic clique and then, when individuals saw the power that could be wielded with the backing of the mob, by a series of tyrants.

After a number of power-grabs by such individuals, and intervention from Sparta, an Athenian exile named Cleisthenes took upon himself the reorganisation of the state with the intention of curbing the power of the aristocratic and wealthy families. He created a whole new tribal system by which an Athenian citizens’ loyalty was to his tribe and not a wealthy benefactor or family. Furthermore he curbed the powers of the Areopagus Council, previously made up of ex-magistrates, and introduced a new body of 500 chosen from a specific number of eligible candidates from each tribe. These individuals were selected by lot thus eliminating any possible partisan bias or collusion against the wishes of the majority.

Cleisthenes (Photo courtesy of the Ohio Statehouse Photo Archive)

The most important factor in this new system was equality. Every Athenian citizen regardless of status or wealth was given equal rights politically and in the eyes of the law. For the first time in human history any individual could decide upon those in power within his own state, and even himself attain the highest position by virtue of nothing but his birthright. This system was intrinsically linked to the development of warfare in Greece at the time. Armies had moved away from use of an aristocratic cavalry and towards citizen infantry militias. For the loyalty and good conduct of this citizen army it was important that those fighting had a stake in the state.

Democracy: then and now.

Today our democracy is far more inclusive to those who were unable to attain citizenship at Athens, such as women or resident foreigners but I would suggest that we are ruled by the representatives of the people rather than the people themselves. Though in future this may be set to change it is still hard to imagine we will ever taste true democracy as at Athens where we are given the power to influence any and every decision taken by our government that affects our lives.

For one thing, there are just too many of us!

John B. Knight

The Battle of Thermopylae

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The Battle of Thermopylae

Central Greece, 450 B.C. An old man kneels beneath a stone lion copying its inscription. He is Herodotus of Halicarnassus, on the great project of his life, recording the events of the Graeco-Persian Wars some 30 years earlier, and in the process, creating a new concept: The historia (inquiry). The words he copies read, “Go tell the Spartans, passerby/ that here obedient to their laws we lie”.

East vs. West – The beginning of conflict

In 499 B.C the Greek colonies on the western coast of Turkey rebel from the super-power of the age, Persia, whose Empire stretches from Iran to Egypt. The city-states of Athens and Eretria send military aid to their kinsmen but the uprising is defeated. The Persian King Darius dispatches an expeditionary force to Greece, but is repelled at Marathon by the Athenians. Darius’ death in 486 B.C. ends the danger of a second invasion. For now!

The Persians previously sent ambassadors to Greece demanding earth and water, tokens of submission to their Great King. The Athenians readily agreed, but the terms are later rejected by their democratic assembly. The Spartans throw them down a well, saying there is earth and water there. The new King of Persia, Darius’ son, Xerxes will not forget these slights.

A new King, a new invasion

Xerxes arrives in Greece via the Bosphorus with an army of 100,000 – 150,000 causing Athens and Sparta to send a vanguard to the Vale of Tempe in northern Greece. The locals inform them of another route by which the Persians could come, and so they retreat.

They decide to make a stand south at the pass of Thermopylae. Sparta, celebrating the festival of Carneia cannot legally go to war for its duration and so sends King Leonidas and 300 Spartiates, with 1000 other soldiers. They are joined by 6500 allied Greeks.

Preparations

The Greeks arrive and build a small wall in the narrow pass. Their fleet is anchored in the straits between the mainland and the island of Euboea to prevent the Persians from landing troops. A small mountainous path by which the position could likewise be overturned is guarded by a force of Phokians. Defences in place, they wait.

The Battle

First Xerxes sends a contingent of Medes and Cissians against them. After a day of struggle they are repelled with significant loss. The King’s guard of 10,000 Immortals under Hydarnes are then sent but the same fate befalls them. The narrow path and long Greek spears prove their undoing. The following day the Persians renew their attacks hoping for a battle of attrition where superior numbers will tell. However the Greeks hold firm.

(Map Courtesy of the Department of History, United States Military Academy)

The Traitor

A Greek from Malis, Ephialtes, reveals the existence of the mountain path and Hydarnes is dispatched, after dark, to turn the position. The Phokian defenders are pushed up the mountain and, as they prepare their defence, the Persians pass, heading for the Greek rear.

Leonidas hears of this and disbands the confederate army, sending them home. Only the Thespians stay with the King and his Spartiates to fight to the death.

The Final Defence

As the Persians close in on the small force, they move to a wider part of the pass. They fight ferociously against the Mede’s forward assault, breaking their spears and fighting with swords, fists and teeth. Leonidas is struck down and the battle rages over his body.

Soon Hydarnes arrives in their rear and the Greeks retreat to their previous position. They huddle on a hillock and fight ferociously on until they are finished off with arrows.  Xerxes later inspects the hill and upon the discovery of Leonidas’ body, has it beheaded and the grisly trophy displayed on a pike.

The Aftermath

Despite the Greek defeat it serves to harden resistance. They know they can take on the Persian army and resolve to continue the conflict. The main Spartan army had not yet seen battle. When they finally do a year later at Plataea the outcome is a decisive victory. Xerxes’ revenge lies in tatters.  Greek and thus western culture flourishes in the wake of victory. The sacrifice at Thermopylae is not to be forgotten.
John B. Knight