Pythias

Pythias was the wife of the philosopher Aristotle.

She was a relative of Hermias, the cities of Assos and Atarneus dominated on the Asia Minor coast opposite the island of Lesbos, and was a friend of Aristotle. Hermias was an opponent of the Persians and allied with Macedonia. In his will, Aristotle decreed that he wanted to be buried next to his wife. From its wording shows that Pythias was deceased at the time of the drafting of the will.

Contradictory are the details of the documents, the family relationship between Pythias and Hermias. The Doxograph Aristokles of Messene, a Peripatetic philosopher who defended Aristotle against libel, claiming she was a nurse and at the same time adopted daughter of Hermias. Another Doxograph, Diogenes Laertius, who refers to the treatise On the same poets and writers of the scholar Demetrius of Magnesia ( 1st century BC), writes, Pythias was either a daughter or a niece of Hermias. Strabo refers to it as daughter of Hermias ' brother. For chronological reasons, it is unlikely that she was a sister of Hermias.

Similarly, information about the timing and design of the marriage break up. Demetrius of Magnesia and Strabo reports, Hermias himself had given the philosopher Pythias to wife; in this case, the marriage falls within the period of Aristotle's stay in Assos ( 347-345/344 ). Unlike Aristokles represents the facts; his claims to Aristotle married Pythias only after the death of Hermias, the. around 341 on the orders of the Persian king Artaxerxes III had been captured by trickery and executed. With this dating question, the question is related by the subject of marriage. Opponents of Aristotle imputed to him that he had only because of the powerful position of her father, with whom he had want to ingratiate, married Pythias; Accordingly, the wedding would be to put before the death of Aristotle's father. Aristokles, the defender of the honor of Aristotle, however, reported that the marriage was only after Hermias ' death closed when the connection with the family of ousted dictator did not offer any more advantage. Aristotle had expressed in a letter to opposite Antipater; justifying the marriage he had made ​​to his friendship with the executed Hermias, had fallen into an unfortunate situation after the death of Pythias. Whether the letter of Aristotle to which Aristokles relies, was real, is controversial in research. The only certainty is that over the marriage of the philosophers were circulating nasty rumors.

With Pythias Aristotle had a daughter, also named Pythias. It is unclear who was the mother of his son Nicomachus. Diogenes Laertius, who relies on the Timaeus of Tauromenion, reported that it was Herpyllis been after Pythias ' death was said to be the companion of Aristotle. This also claims Athenaeus with reference to Hermippus. Herpyllis should be even become the second wife of the philosopher. The Herpyllis messages related to the narrative sources, however, are of dubious credibility. A far better source is the will of Aristotle, can be inferred from its provisions indirectly that Nicomachus ' mother was probably Pythias. Herpyllis that was considered remarkably generous in the will may have been a relative of the Aristotle of Stagira, who lived in his household and thus his opponents gave rise to gossip.