Geographical classification

Europe > Italy

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Greek culture > Archaic period

Groups by dedication

Scientists > Mathematicians

Humanistics > Intellectuals

Humanistics > Philosophers

Educators > School teachers

Educators

Popularisers / Cultural promoters > Popularisers of science

Character
Retrato

Theano of Crotone

Crotona 546 B.C.E. | Unknown c. 500 B.C.E.

Period of activity: From 530 a.C. until 500 a.C.

Geographical classification: Europe > Italy

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Greek culture > Archaic period

Groups by dedication

Scientists > Mathematicians

Humanistics > Intellectuals

Humanistics > Philosophers

Educators > School teachers

Educators

Popularisers / Cultural promoters > Popularisers of science

Context of feminine creation

At the time of Theano, Crotone was a colony of Magna Graecia.   

Enheduanna (25th century BC) was a predecessor of Theano of Crotone, considered the first recorded woman in the history of science and the first to sign her work, in cuneiform script. The Egyptian physician Peseshet or the Assyrian perfume-makers, like Tapputi, paved the way for women to come.  

Some of Theano's contemporaries are other women in the Pythagorean school that were born around 500 BC, such as Damo of Crotone, Myia and Arignote of Crotone, considered to be daughters of Theano and Pythagoras by several authors. Even though there is not much information about them, some other women belonging to this group were Babelica of Argos, Beo of Argos, Chilonis, Echecratia the Philiasian, Ecellus and Ocellus Lucanus, Habrotelia of Taranto, Cleecma, Cratesiclea, Lastheneia of Arcadia, Pisirroda of Taranto, Phintys, Teadusa, Timica and Tirsenis of Sybaris.   

After Theano we can mention Aglaonice, or Aganice of Thessaly, (3rd century BC, known for her ability to predict eclipses) and Hypatia (4th century AD). 

 

 

Review

Theano of Crotone made important contributions to Mathematics. Being married to Pythagoras, she developed treatises about regular polyhedrons, the golden ratio theory, cosmology and medicine. After Pythagoras' death, she moved on to run her own school with her children and she travelled all around Greece to teach and extend the work started by the philosopher. She also has some writings on education. 

 

Activities

English

  • Dividing a segment into golden ratio.
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Spatial sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • Drawing an irrational number
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • Guardian of Mathematical Knowledge.
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution
  • How to raise children 
    • Spain > Classical culture > 1st ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Magna Graecia
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. Geographical framework of Greece and Rome
  • Mathematical Words
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > The survival of classical languages. Language and lexicon
  • Proportions in reality
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Algebraic sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Algebraic sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • The golden ratio in Greek art.
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Women and Science in Greece
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution

Spanish

  • Dibujar un número irracional
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • Dividir un segmento en proporción áurea
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Spatial sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • El número áureo en el arte griego
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Guardiana del saber matemático
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution
  • La Magna Grecia
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. Geographical framework of Greece and Rome
  • Maneras de educar.
    • Spain > Classical culture > 1st ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Mujeres y ciencia en Grecia
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution
  • Palabras matemáticas
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > The survival of classical languages. Language and lexicon
  • Proporciones en la realidad
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Algebraic sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Algebraic sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Socio-affective sense

Valencian

  • Dibuixar un nombre irracional
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(A) ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • Dividir un segment en proporció àuria
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Spatial sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 1st ESO > Socio-affective sense
  • Dones i ciència a Grècia
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution
  • El nombre auri en l’art grec.
    • Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Guardiana del saber matemàtic
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution
  • La Magna Grècia
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > Classical roots of today's world. Geographical framework of Greece and Rome
  • Les dones a l’Antiga Grècia
    • Spain > Catalan language and literature > 1st ESO > Communication
  • Maneres d'educar.
    • Spain > Classical culture > 1st ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science
  • Paraules matemàtiques
    • Spain > Classical culture > 2nd ESO > The survival of classical languages. Language and lexicon
  • Proporcions en la realitat
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Socio-affective sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Number sense
    • Spain > Mathematics > 3rd ESO > Socio-affective sense

Justifications

  • She developed the golden ratio theory.
  • She was a brilliant Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician.
  • She also has treatises on education.
  • She taught at the Pythagorean school and directed it, together with her children, after the death of Pythagoras.
  • One of the first Greek mathematicians.

Biography

She was born in 546 BC, in Crotone, Magna Graecia (current Italy). Despite the controversy about whether she was Pythagoras' disciple or partner, most scholars agree that she was his wife and that they had children together, although there's a discrepancy regarding the number. 

Scholars are also certain that she was Pythagoras' student and she would later on become a teacher at his fraternity. Both men and women were accepted into Pythagoras' school, and women were heard and allowed to develop their thinking. There were up to 28 women, among students and teachers, in this school. Besides Theano, Aristoclea stood out. 

Pythagoras had to flee Samos because of Polycrates' tyranny. Milo welcomed him in Crotone. He admired his ideas and helped him found his school. Later on, he would send his daughter Theano to study with his protegé. She would then become a teacher in this school. 

Many Pythagorean beliefs came from Egyptian mythology, which had them oppose religious traditions in Greece at the time. 

After the confrontation between the cities of Crotone and Sybaris, people were disgruntled at Milo (he led the army that defeated and destroyed Sybaris) and Pythagoras, whose school had managed to seize the government of the city. Therefore, they set his school on fire. Pythagoras and many of his disciples died on the fire. Theano and her children managed to escape and were fundamental to the survival and expansion of Pythagoras' teachings. They travelled around Greece and Egypt, where they researched and made progress not only on mathematics, but on medicine and other sciences. 

From the information we have from authors like Clement of Alexandria, Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry, Hermesianax of Colophon, Herodotus and Plutarch, it is believed that Theano might have written some treatises about mathematics, physics and medicine, mostly on women's ailments and the golden mean. Besides, she contributed to the dissemination of the idea that the universe was an enclosed, finite sphere, inside of which the planets orbited around the Earth in a perfect order. From her work, there is only a surviving excerpt of On Piety, with a disquisition on number. 

There is also her letter to Euboea where she talks about education, which sets a precedent for Cornelia and Dhuoda. 

 

Works

English

Spanish

Valencian

He is credited with writings on:

-The life of Pythagoras.

-The theorem of the golden ratio.

-The theory of numbers, treatises on rectangular polyhedra.

-The construction of the universe.

-Letters addressed to different people and on different subjects: from the education of children to the behaviour of married women in the face of

their husbands' amorous adventures... Six letters have survived.

-A treatise, On Piety, of which a fragment is preserved with a disquisition on number.

 

Bibliography

-Alic, Margaret (1991). El legado de Hipatia. México: Siglo XXI.

-Cervera, José (2018). "Téano, la mujer que sustituyó a Pitágoras", El Diario, (retrieved on 18/04/2021) <https://www.eldiario.es/retiario/Teano-mujer-Pitagoras_6_730786935.html>

-Grau Guijarro, Sergi (2016). “Téano de Crotona i Pitàgoras de Samos: matrimoni pitagòric o invenció biogràfica?,” in Omnia mutantur, vol. I. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, pp. 63-69.

-Gutiérrez, Mercedes, Jufresa, Montserrat, Mier, Cristina y Pardo, Félix (1996). “Teano de Crotona” Enrahonar. Quaderns de Filosofía. vol. 26. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

-Laercio, Diógenes (2004). Vida de los filósofos más ilustres. México: Grupo editorial Tomo S.A.

-Mènage, Gilles (2009). Historia de las mujeres filósofas. Barcelona: Herder.

-Núñez Valdés, Juan, Olivares Nadal, Alba Victoria et alii (2016). “Muchos siglos antes de Hipatia ya hubo mujeres matemáticas”, in Actas del II Congreso Universitario Nacional Investigación y Género. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla.

 

 

 

 

Didactic approach

-Classical culture: Block Classical roots of today's world. Everyday life; Block Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science.

-History 1st ESO: Societies and territories block, referring to Greece.

-Mathematics, with the study of numbers.

-Plastic and Visual Education, to work on the golden ratio.

-Spanish Language and Literature: Literary Education Block, to work on the epistolary genre.

-Universal literature, to work on the epistolary genre.

-Ethical values and Philosophy, to work on written texts about education.

Documents