Leontion

Leontion was a pupil of Epicurus and his philosophy. She was the companion of Metrodorus of Lampsacus.Diogenes Laertius, [http://www.attalus.org/old/diogenes10a.html X.23] The information we have about her is scant. She was said to have been a hetaera – a courtesan or prostitute.Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus13b.html#XIII.588 XIII.588], [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus13c.html#XIII.593 XIII.593]

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).Diogenes Laertius, [http://www.attalus.org/old/diogenes10a.html X.5] According to Pliny, she was painted by Aristides of Thebes in a work entitled "Leontion thinking of Epicurus."Pliny, Nat. Hist., [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D35%3Achapter%3D36 XXXV.36.99]

According to Cicero, Leontion is said to have published arguments criticizing the famous philosopher Theophrastus:

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.Cicero, De Natura Deorum, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Natura_Deorum/1B*.html#I.33.93 I.33.93].

This anecdote was later adopted by Pliny, in the preface of his Naturalis historia.Pliny, Nat. Hist., [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137 praefatio, 29].

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Category:4th-century BC births

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Category:Epicurean philosophers

Category:3rd-century BC Greek women