Pythias

For other uses, see Pythias (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Damon and Pythias (of the Knights of Pythias), Pythia (oracle), or Pytheas (geographer).

Pythias (/ˈpɪθiəs/; Greek: Πυθιάς, romanized: Pūthiás), also known as Pythias the Elder, she was the adoptive daughter of Hermias of Atarneus, as well as Aristotle's first wife.^[1]

Personal life and family

Whilst Pythias' date of birth is unclear, she was active around 355 BC^[2] and she died in Athens sometime after 330 BC. Aristotle and Pythias had a daughter, Pythias the Younger.

Pythias the Younger

Pythias the Younger married three times, but is also said to have predeceased her father. Her first husband was Nicanor, Aristotle's nephew by his sister Arimneste. According to Aristotle's will, Nicanor was to manage the family affairs until his son, Nicomachus came of age. Pythias' second husband was Procles of Sparta. Pythias' third husband was Metrodorus, a physician; Diogenes Laertius relates that they had a son named Aristotle. ^[3]

References

1. Smith, William (1849). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. p. 627.
2. Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie; Joy Dorothy Harvey (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. p. 1062. ISBN 978-0-415-92040-7. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
3. "LacusCurtius • Diogenes Laërtius: Theophrastus".