Abstract

This paper focuses on the three famous female characters in Socratic philosophy – namely on Aspasia of Miletus, Diotima of Mantineia and Theodota. The main aim of this paper is to argue for the hypothesis that the female characters in the Socratic literature and the ideas to which they refer are of much greater importance than the masculine characters and even represent some exemplary examples of philosophical wisdom. We will try to verify this hypothesis by analyzing important parts from Platoʼs dialogue Symposium, Xenophonʼs Memorabilia, and by examining some fragments that have been preserved from Aeschines of Sphettus.