Leontion

Ill. from De mulieribus claris

Short description: Ancient greek philosopher

Leontion (Latin: Leontium, Greek: Λεόντιον; fl. 300 BC) was a Greek Epicurean philosopher.

## Biography

Leontion was a pupil of Epicurus and his philosophy. She was the companion of Metrodorus of Lampsacus.[1] The information we have about her is scant. She was said to have been a hetaera – a courtesan or prostitute.[2]

Diogenes Laërtius has preserved a line from a letter that Epicurus evidently wrote to Leontion, in which Epicurus praises her for her well-written arguments against certain philosophical views (which aren't mentioned in Diogenes' quote).[3] According to Pliny, she was painted by Aristides of Thebes in a work entitled "Leontion thinking of Epicurus."[4]

According to Cicero, Leontion is said to have published arguments criticizing the famous philosopher Theophrastus:

> Leontium, that mere courtesan, who had the effrontery to write a riposte to Theophrastus – mind you, she wrote elegantly in good Attic, but still, this was the licence which prevailed in the Garden of Epicurus.[5]

This anecdote was later adopted by Pliny, in the preface of his Naturalis historia.[6]

## Notes

1. ↑ Diogenes Laertius, x. 23
2. ↑ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, xiii. 588, 593
3. ↑ Diogenes Laertius, x. 5
4. ↑ Pliny, Nat. Hist., 35.99
5. ↑ Cicero, De Natura Deorum i. 33/93.
6. ↑ Pliny, Nat. Hist., praefatio, 29.

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Epicureanism

Philosophers|

| Greek era|

* Epicurus
* Polyaenus
* Metrodorus
* Batis
* Leontion
* Carneiscus
* Idomeneus
* Hermarchus
* Colotes
* Themista
* Leonteus
* Polystratus
* Dionysius of Lamptrai
* Basilides
* Philonides
* Diogenes of Tarsus
* Alcaeus and Philiscus
* Apollodorus
* Demetrius Lacon
* Zeno of Sidon

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Roman era|

* Amafinius
* Rabirius
* Titus Albucius
* Phaedrus
* Philodemus
* Lucretius
* Patro
* Catius
* Siro
* Diogenes of Oenoanda

Modern era|

* Pierre Gassendi
* Denis Diderot
* Jeremy Bentham
* Jun Tsuji
* Christopher Hitchens
* Michel Onfray

Philosophy|

* Epicureanism (cf. Hedonism)
* Tetrapharmakos

Concepts|

* Aponia
* Ataraxia
* Clinamen
* Eudaimonia
* Hedone
* Metakosmia

Works|

* On the Nature of Things
* List of English translations of De rerum natura

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