Leontion


Leontion was a Greek Epicurean 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 a hetaera – a courtesan or prostitute. This might be misogynistic or anti-Epicurean slander – though there is no evidence for such a claim. On the other hand, hetaerae often enjoyed an independence denied to most other women in the male-dominated society of ancient Greece. Epicurus' school was unusual in that it allowed women and even slaves to attend.
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. According to Pliny, she was painted by Aristides of Thebes in a work entitled "Leontion thinking of Epicurus."
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.
Pliny also wondered at how a woman could possibly write against Theophrastus.