Aesara

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Aesara of Lucania (Gr. Αισάρα) was a late Pythagorean philosopher, said to be a daughter of Pythagoras, who wrote a work "about Human Nature," of which a fragment is preserved by Stobaeus.[1] This is the only fragment of the book still extant but it shows an intuitive natural law theory and a belief in the tripartite nature of the human soul.

She says:

"Human nature seems to me to provide a standard of law and justice both for the home and for the city."

and of the soul:

"Being of threefold, it is organized in accordance with triple functions: that which effects judgment and thoughtfulness (the mind)... that which effects strength and ability is (high spirit)... and that which effects love and kindliness is desire."

Some editors attri­bute this fragment to Aresas, one of the successors of Pythagoras.[2] She is also mentioned in the life of Pythagoras,[3] where some scholars read Αισάρα instead of Σάρα.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stobaeus, Ed. i. p. 847, ed. Heeren
  2. ^ Smith, William (1867), “Aesara”, in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, pp. 36 
  3. ^ ap. Phot. Cod. 249, p. 438, b. ed. Bekker
  4. ^ Bentley, Dissertation upon Phalaris p. 277
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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).

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