philosophers of Ancient Greece. Drawn to the doctrines and the
self-imposed hardships of the Cynic lifestyle, Hipparchia lived in
poverty with her husband, Crates the Cynic. While no existing writings
are directly attributed to Hipparchia, recorded anecdotal accounts
emphasize both her direct, Cynic rhetoric and her nonconformity to
traditional gendered roles. Entering into marriage is a traditional
social role that Cynics would normally reject; yet with her marriage
to Crates, Hipparchia raised Greek cultural expectations regarding
the role of women in marriage, as well as the Cynic doctrine itself.
With her husband, Hipparchia publicly embodied fundamental Cynic
principles, specifically that the path toward virtue was the result of
rational actors living in accordance with a natural law that eschewed
conventional materialism and embraced both self-sufficiency and mental
asperity. Written accounts of Hipparchia's life reference in
particular both her belief in human shamelessness or anaideia, and her
rhetorical acuity at Greek symposiums traditionally attended only by
men. Along with Crates, Hipparchia is considered a direct influence
on the later school of Stoicism.
1. Life and Philosophy
Hipparchia was a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia in Thrace, who
flourished around 300 BCE. She became famous for her marriage to
Crates the Cynic, and infamous for supposedly consummating the
marriage in public. Hipparchia was likely born between 340 and 330
BCE, and was probably in her mid-teens when she decided to adopt the
Cynic mantle. She may have been introduced to philosophy by her
brother, Metrocles, who was a pupil in Aristotle's Lyceum and later
began to follow Crates. Most of our knowledge about Hipparchia comes
from anecdotes and sayings repeated by later authors. Diogenes
Laertius reports that she wrote some letters, jokes and philosophical
refutations, which are now lost (see Diogenes Laertius, Lives of
Eminent Philosophers, Vol. II, tr. R. D. Hicks, Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1925, reprint 1995, VI.96-98). He adds that myriad
stories were told about "the female philosopher".
Diogenes Laertius claims that Hipparchia was so eager to marry Crates
that she threatened to kill herself rather than live in any other way.
(DL VI.96.7-8) Although Crates was by this time an old man, she
rejected her other youthful suitors because she had fallen in love
with "both the discourses and the life" of Crates, and was said to be
"captured" by the logos of the Cynics. (VI.96.1 and 4-5) At the
request of her parents, Crates tried to talk Hipparchia out of the
marriage. (VI.96.9-10) When he failed in this task, he disrobed in
front of her and said, "this is the groom, and these are his
possessions; choose accordingly." (VI.96.11-15) This tale should be
taken with the proverbial grain of salt, given that Diogenes Laertius
is writing centuries later, and that his account may include 'apt'
stories that are technically false, but which arose and were
transmitted because they were taken to be revealing illustrations.
Given the interest and controversy generated by the female Cynic, it
is easy to imagine stories of this kind being told about her. In any
event, we know that Hipparchia chose to marry Crates and share his
philosophical pursuits.
Hipparchia's decision to become a Cynic was surprising, on account of
both the Cynic disregard for conventional institutions and the extreme
hardship of the lifestyle. Cynics attempted to live "according to
nature" by rejecting artificial social conventions and refusing all
luxuries, including any items not absolutely required for survival.
They gave up their possessions, carrying what few they needed in a
wallet. They wore only a simple mantle or cloak, and begged to obtain
their basic needs. Crates' willingness to marry was also unusual,
considering that marriage is a social institution of the sort normally
rejected by Cynics, and earlier Cynics like Diogenes and Antisthenes
had maintained that the philosopher would never marry. A few centuries
later, while arguing that marriage is generally unsuitable for the
Cynic (or Stoic) philosopher, Epictetus allows for exceptions
specifically because of the philosophical marriage of Hipparchia and
Crates (Epictetus, Discourses, tr. C. H. Oldfather, Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1928). By marrying a Cynic and becoming one herself,
Hipparchia thus performed the characteristically Cynic feat of
"changing the currency," both of her culture and the Cynic tradition
itself. The Cynic motto of "change the currency" (parakrattein to
nomismata), first adopted by Diogenes of Sinope, implied rejection of
the prevailing social and political order in favor of an
unconventional, self-sufficient life as a "citizen of the universe"
(kosmopolites). (It had been said, perhaps falsely, that Diogenes or
his father had been driven from Sinope when found guilty of literally
defacing the coins and changing their values, but it is also likely
that the counterfeiting story arose after he adopted the metaphorical
motto.)
Some later authors, such as Apuleius and Augustine, report that
Hipparchia and Crates consummated their marriage by having sex on a
public porch. Whether the tale is accurate or not, they were known to
conduct themselves in all respects according to the Cynic value of
anaideia, or shamelessness. The story of Hipparchia's Cynic marriage
quickly became the premiere example of that virtue, which is based on
the Cynic belief that any actions virtuous enough to be done in
private are no less virtuous when performed in public. As exemplars of
anaideia, Hipparchia and Crates influenced their pupil Zeno of Citium,
the founder of Stoicism. His Republic advocates the equality of the
sexes, co-ed public exercise and training, and a version of "free
love" wherein those wishing to have sex will simply satisfy their
desires wherever they happen to be at the moment, even in public.
Stoic ethics were generally influenced by Cynic values, such as
self-sufficiency, the importance of practice in achieving virtue, and
the rejection of the conventional values attached to pleasure and
pain. The Stoics also advocated living according to nature in the
sense of conforming one's own reason to the dictates of the rational
natural law.
Eratosthenes reports that Hipparchia and Crates had a son named
Pasicles, and Diogenes Laertius' account of the life of Crates also
refers to their son. The Cynic Letters, a collection of pseudographic
letters attributed to various Cynic figures and probably written by a
several different authors a few centuries after Hipparchia lived,
mention that she bore and raised children according to her Cynic
values. Whatever the actual details of her practices might have been,
her example influenced later Cynic attitudes towards pregnancy and
child-rearing. For example, one of the letters attributed to Crates
suggests that Hipparchia has given birth "without trouble" because she
believes that her usual "labor is the cause of not laboring" during
the birth itself (33.14-15). The birth was easier because she
continued to work "like an athlete" during her pregnancy (33.17),
which the author notes is unusual. The letters also mention
Hipparchia's use of a tortoise shell cradle, cold water for the baby's
bath, and continued adherence to an austere diet.
Hipparchia is also famous for an exchange with Theodorus the Atheist,
a Cyrenaic philosopher, who had challenged the legitimacy of her
presence at a symposium. She was reported to have regularly attended
such functions with Crates. According to Diogenes Laertius, Theodorus
quoted a verse from Euripides' Bacchae, asking if this is she
"abandoning the warp and woof and the shuttle" (like Agave returning
home from the "hunt" with the head of her son Pentheus). (VI.98.2)
Hipparchia affirms that yes, it is she, but asks Theodorus whether she
has had the wrong understanding of herself, if she spent her time on
education rather than wasting it on the loom. (VI.98.3-6) In the
ancient Greek cultural context, women of her social class typically
would have been occupied with weaving and organizing the household
servants, and Hipparchia's rejection of the conventional expectations
for women was quite radical.
Diogenes Laertius also reports the syllogism that Hipparchia used to
put down Theodorus during the same symposium mentioned above: Premise
1: "Any action which would not be called wrong if done by Theodorus,
would not be called wrong if done by Hipparchia." Premise 2: "Now
Theodorus does no wrong when he strikes himself". Conclusion:
"therefore neither does Hipparchia do wrong when she strikes
Theodorus." (VI.97.6-9) This is a classic example of the Cynic
rhetorical trope of spoudogeloion: a deliberately comic syllogism
which nevertheless makes a serious point. Diogenes Laertius says that
since Theodorus "had no reply wherefore to meet the argument," he
"tried to strip her of her cloak. But Hipparchia showed no sign of
alarm or of the perturbation natural in a woman" (VI.97), as befitted
her Cynic commitment to anaideia.
2. References and Further Reading
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol. II, tr. R. D.
Hicks (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) 1925 (reprint 1995),
VI.96-98.
Abraham J. Malherbe, The Cynic Epistles (Atlanta: Scholar's Press) 1997, 78-83.
Discussions in the modern period of Hipparchia's encounter with
Theodorus are found in Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary and
in Menage's History of Women Philosophers. See Pierre Bayle,
Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selections, ed. Richard H. Popkin
and Craig Bush (Indianapolis: Hackett) 1991, 102-103, and Gilles
Menage, The History of Women Philosophers, tr. Beatrice H. Zedler
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984), 103.
For further information about Cynic philosophy, see Diogenes Laertius
Book VI, as well as D. R. Dudley, A History of Cynicism: From Diogenes
to the Sixth Century AD (London) 1937 (reprint Ares Publishing, 1980),
and R. Bracht Branham and Marie Odile Goulet-Caze, eds., The Cynics:
The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and its Legacy (Berkeley: University
of California Press) 2000.
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