B. Lukács

CRIP RMKI

&

Matter Evolution Subcommittee of the Geonomy Scientific Committee of HAS

H-1525 Bp. 114. Pf. 49. Budapest, Hungary

lukacs&rmki.kfki.hu

Part of the Sequence "Methodical Aristotle Studies"

Anomalies are recorded on the side of the wife of Aristotle, Pythias I. They are discussed, with unsatisfactory results.

Middle Ages were somewhat romantic about History of Science. A lot of scientific manuscripts existed: about gold production, about homunculus production, about goetics (including summoning salamanders, sylphs, lesser and major demons, tapping the cow of the neighbour & so). Also there were manuscripts about miraculous travels in present & past, as e.g. that of St. Brandanus. According to responsible scientific bodies and the Holy Mother Church Aristotle was regarded as the highest scientific personal authority (which was true), so a lot of Aristotelian manuscripts (authentic, dubious & forged) were available, as e.g. History of Animals (now considered authentic), Problemata (doubtful) or Physiologus (forged). Some letters between Aristotle and the Indian Princess Candace were copied too, and they were popular in scholarly circles.

Obviously Science did not have robust enough methods to decide if a scientific algorithm were working or not. There are some (I think, authentic) stories that the first successful attempt to decide was that of I. Newton & C° as underground proto-Royal Society in time of usurper Cromwell, when the scientific group repeated five times a respectable demon-summoning formula (pentagon, darkened room, decapitated cock & such), with the conclusion: no effect was observed.

As for History of Science, that is History. If you find an ms. telling that Aristotle got the idea of his cosmology from an Alien Astronaut, you can make only detective work. Maybe the papirus is modern, or the text is written with a ball pen, or the text is internally dated to 337 BC, or there are Americanisms in the text; but if every check is OK, you still must choose between a very, very clever forger and a mendacious Alien Astronaut. As for Princess Candace, present majority opinion is that she did not exist.

However there have remained some mysteries about Aristotle. I mention one, which will not be discussed here. Just after the untimely death of Alexander III of Macedon in Babylon Athens went into revolt. This, of course, happened for The Greek Cause, Freedom & such. One manifestation of these High Principles was the denunciation of the biggest scientist of past & future (until Galileo), Aristotle, for atheism (or similar; the exact asebeia was to declare his father-in-law, the martyr of Aiolian Freedom, Lord of Atarneus, a hero or demigod, 18 years ago). If we know correctly [1], [2], the denunciator was Eurymedon, priest of Demeter. The name excellently fits to the son of a certain Speusippus Eurymedonides, nephew and unworthy successor of Plato. The said Speusippus wrote the infamous Speusippus Letter to Philip of Macedon, and once in a rage threw a puppy into a well [3]. But then Aristotle, instead of going bravely & stupidly to the mock trial as Socrates did, simply walked to the seashore, crossed to Euboia, and there he occupied his maternal estate.

So far so good. The Noble Revolt collapsed soon, so the Lyceum, led by Theophrastus in Aristotle's absence, survived. But, it seems, Aristotle did not; he seems to have never returned. Why?

Diogenes Laertius is a treasury of equivocal informations. That he died that year, 63 old, in disease, that he drank aconite in his 70th year, and Sir Thomas Browne somewhere knows a third tradition that he jumped to the sea not being able to explain the local eccentricities of the tide between Attica & Euboia.

Maybe it was the disease; while it would be a sheer coincidence, that is at least not laughably absurd, as the other two explanations are. But a Favorinus in his Universal History knows about the trial and gives an excerpt from Aristotle's own plea so in Explanation 4 Aristotle could lead no more Lyceum for having been executed. Or maybe you might invent a political suspense story about patriotic Athenians making a plot to kill the Main Tool of Macedonian Tyranny, either in Athens, or in Chalcis, or midway. Nicer and nicer explanations.

However that would be a mere political fiction story which anybody can write by mimicking newspapers. Here I tell another, self-consistent story belonging to Biology/History of Biology. References are genuine, according to the habits in History/History of Science.

I give here some information about the protagonists of the story, because they may be unknown for some readers.

Eubulus, the Bithynian (*late Vth c., Bithynia, +c. 355, Assus). Banker, then tyrant of a substantial city, maybe after the Medici methods. Tyrant and fortifier of the City of Assus, defender of the city against the rebel Satrap Artaphrenes. Later supports Hermeias' (see below) Academy education.

Hermeias of Assus (*c. 385, Assus?, +340, Susa). Right-hand man, then chosen successor of Eubulus, freedom fighter of Mainland (I mean Asia) North Aiolis. Contrary to Divine Law (according to Aristotle) he is tortured, then crucified in Susa, Persia. His last two sentences of the cross are recorded.

Pythias I of Assus, daughter of Hermeias, (*c. 361, Assus, +c. 330, Athens). Wife of Aristotle since c. 343; Aristotle was buried with her remnants.

Pythias II of Aristotle, (*c. 344, Mytilene?, +c. 323?, Athens?). Legitimate daughter of Aristotle & Pythias I.

Nicomachus son of Aristotle, (*?, Athens, + ?, ?). Son and coworker, mother undefined.

A daughter of Aristotle, all data undefined.

Herpyllis, girlfriend, concubine or chief slave woman of Aristotle, (*?, ?, +after 322, ?).

For Eubulus see any detailed history book, Strabo [4] and Aristotle's Politica [5]. For Hermeias again see [4], and the Suda locations [6] & [7] and also [8] & [9]. For all other persons of Aristotle's family playing any role here, they are referred in [2].

Several sources tell that Hermeias, in the 340's Lord of Atarneus & Tyrant of Assus, was once a time the slave of Eubulus, Tyrant of Assus. See e.g. [2], [4], [6], [7] & [9]. Also it is generally reported that Hermeias was an eunuch [2], [4], [6], [7]; more definitely he was castrated [4], [6], [7].

The story is obscure but strange, although not stranger than Strabo's another story in XIII.4.1-2 about another Bithynian leader of Aiolians some half a century later, Philetairos of Tieium. He, as an eunuch (tells Strabo) was a military officer of a diadochos, Lysimachus. Philetairos, when a child, suffered an accident in a crowd; but was well educated. Then Lysimachus' wife Arsinoe slandered Philetairos (with what?), so the eunuch made a coup d'état against Lysimachus.

Philetairos' Pergamum was inherited by his nephew Eumenes. However that would have been trivial for Hermeias. He gave Pythias to friend Aristotle as wife. [2] tells about Hermeias, the eunuch, that Pythias was "his daughter or his niece". Diogenes Laertius is surprisingly hesitant about an eunuch.

[4] tells that Pythias I was a niece and adopted daughter; and [9] repeats this. However see [6] and [7]. [6] explicitly tells that Hermeias the eunuch "...fathered her despite his being castrated"; and in [7] he "despite being castrated, inseminated his own wife and begat by her his daughter Pythias".

Now, this is something for a castrated eunuch. Imagine the original life energy (or by old language, thymos) of Hermeias. Of course, having been castrated, he was unable to reach Memnon of Rhodes' production of eleven sons and ten daughters, recorded by Diodorus Siculus (he will be betrayed and kidnapped in 341 by Memnon's brother, Mentor of Rhodes). But he, even castrated, was able to produce a viable daughter! (Although some sources guess that Pythias was rather fragile.)

The on-line Suda tries to emend [7] by inserting a sentence of Harpokration about niece and adopted daughter; but a note states that the sentence is an insert. Also the inserted sentence contradicts the second sentence thenceforward, so it should not be inserted at all. The Arete himn, or Hermeias Ode, preserved in slightly different versions in [2] and [8], unfortunately, does not give more information in this point. But the Aristotelian Corpus preserves the trace of Aristotle being interested in the problem; and finally he was able to find an analogy [10]: he got a report about a freshly castrated bull inseminating a cow. Was Hermeias cohabitating with his wife [7] just after the operation? It seems rather improbable; but then the thing remains still a miracle.

Aristotle has the impression that men possess more teeth than women. Surely he counted the teeth of available women. Under Athenian habits this meant his own wife, his own slave women and hetairae if paid. The strange result is easily understood if i) he was contented solely with the wife and ii) her wisdom teeth never emerged. Maybe this is the reason for the guesses that Pythias I was fragile, "similar to a girl-child".

However I asked my student's opinion, and she told that wisdom teeth do not emerge rather for strong bones. She is not fragile at all, taller than me by some 1.5 inches (although I am substantially heavier, at least). If the observation is correct then Pythias, daughter of a castrated eunuch, must have been even robust (for a woman, at least). Better and better.

A superwoman, of course, is a woman who is very strong/able in female things. Now let us see Pythias II.

[6] tells simply that: "The daughter of Aristotle married three times and after giving birth predeceased her father Aristotle". Now in Athens any woman able to marry thrice must have been a superwoman indeed. OK, Pythias II had some Aeolian education from Pythias I, giving her a serious advantage over timid Ionian girls. But look: counting the years, the first possible year of Aristotle in Assus is 347. So Pythias II cannot be born before 346, more probably she was born in 345 or 344; and Aristotle is reported to have died in 322. So Pythias II had in the very best case 24 years to marry thrice and then die in confinement; rather 22.

Tell this achievement to an Athenian woman of Classical Antiquity and she would have told indeed that Pythias II was a superwoman. Of course she was not really an Athenian; the father was a country boy and the mother an Aeolian.

In Aristotle's Will [2] a son, a daughter and a concubine (?) is mentioned. The son is Nicomachus, Being the name identical with that of the father of Aristotle, this son seems to be the firstborn, head of next generation. There is some tradition about Nicomachus Jr. helping his father in editing at least one book.

As for the daughter, not even her name is preserved. It seems that she was very minor at Aristotle's death but if patient, Theophrastus or a certain Nicanor might have got her.

As for Herpyllis, she was clearly the successor of Pythias I, however not a wife. The Will tells that Herpyllis will get one talent, 3 maidservants, 1 handmaid and 1 slave boy; 1 house either in Chalcis or the paternal house in Stageira, plus a husband of modest quality if she needs.

Some blood relations in the Will seem self-contradictory, but in the lack of clear statements we will ignore them. Also there is some slight anomaly about the Stageira house. Namely the family is not extinct; Nicomachus bears the name of the grandfather whose house Aristotle would give to Herpyllis. But nevermind; there is a bigger problem with the Stageira estate, which would deserve another study. This will be done in due course.

One "explanation" would be excessive life energy from Hermeias, resulting in a robust daughter in spite of the castration; and in the second generation a superwoman. Unfortunately modern genetics does not support this.

Another explanation is that Hermeias indeed was a real hero, so a demigod, and demigods produced even more. But if you consult with the Ode [2], [8] it tells only that the Muses "will exalt him to immortality", so they "will". If so, then he inseminated his wife in the unexalted state. Also, the engraving on Hermeias' Delphi statue, formulated by Aristotle, calls him "a man". So there is no suggestion for a miracle.

Of course, sources may lie. Or, there is Dr. Martinás's idea [11]. According to that, Hermeias was called an eunuch, because of having a single daughter, much below Asia Minor standards. A sound proposition; and it would be perfect for Philetairos if having at least a daughter. But Hermeias was castrated [4], [6], [7]! But, I think, I elaborated this problem in traditional scholarly ways, and something analogous to reductio ad absurdum has been obtained.

We can, of course, get arbitrary results by omitting arbitrary parts of data as contradictory or unreliable.

Illuminating discussions with K. Martinás and Nóra Fáy are acknowledged.

[1] Suda On Line, pi,2575. http://www.stoa.org

[2] Diogenes Laertius: The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Life of Aristotle. Transl. by C. D. Yonge. Henry G. Bohn, London, 1853

[3] Diogenes Laertius: The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Life of Speusippus. Transl. by C. D. Yonge. Henry G. Bohn, 1853

[4] Strabo: Geographika. In 8 Volumes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1995. The Book XIII according to Strabo's counting

[5] Aristotle: Politica, Bekker N° 1267a

[6] Suda: )Aristote/lhj, Adler N° alpha,3929. See at http://www.stoa.org

[7] Suda: (Ermi/aj, Adler N° epsilon,3040. See at http://www.stoa.org

[8] Athenaeus: The Deinosophists. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass.

[9] D. Ross: Aristotle, Methuen, London, 1966

[10] Aristotle: History of Animals, Bekker N°’s 510b3 & 632a21

[11] K. Martinás: private communication

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