Outsiders: Hipparchia of Maroneia

Hipparchia of Maroneia (c.300 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and one of the few women known to have actively participated in ancient philosophical discourse. A member of the Cynic school, she rejected wealth, societal expectations, and traditional gender roles to live a life of radical simplicity and public defiance alongside her husband, Crates of Thebes. 

For Further Reading:

• Hipparchia the Cynic: Devoted Wife, Mother, & Outspoken Greek Philosopher
• Hipparchia the Cynic: Feminist Rhetoric and the Ethics of Embodiment
• World History: Hipparchia of Maroneia

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello form Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This month, we're talking about outsiders, women who
marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected
stereotypes about what women should be. They're asthetic, pioneers, norm benders,
and often some of the only women in their field.

(00:29):
Today's outsider lived more than two thousand years ago and
still managed to leave her mark, not just in the
history of philosophy, but in the very idea of what
a woman could be. Let's talk about Hyparchia of Marinia.
In ancient Greece three forty BCE, women have next to
no social status. They're defined by the men in their lives.

(00:53):
Sometime around three forty BCE, a girl is born into
a family in Marinia, a prosperous city in three screen
known for its wine in trade. Her future was supposed
to be predictable. Marry a rich young man, manage the household, weave,
and stay out of the public eye. But Hypparchia had
other ideas. Thanks to her brother Metrocles, her path strayed

(01:18):
from the norm. Matrocles had been a student of Aristotle,
but he'd left behind the comforts of conventional philosophy to
follow a radical thinker, Crates, the cynic. Crates was old, poor,
and famously ugly, at least according to some ancient writers.
He followed a philosophy called Cynicism, which was rooted in shamelessness, simplicity,

(01:39):
and self sufficiency. It called for its followers to become
a citizen of the universe and to reject the dominant
social and political order for a more unconventional life. Crates
gave up all his possessions to live in absolute poverty,
rejecting social norms and embracing the cynic life. This was
not the kind of man Hipparchia's parents had in mind

(02:01):
for her, but it didn't matter. Hipparchia fell in love
with Crates and his worldview. She was so determined to
be with Crates that she told her parents she would
rather die than marry anyone else. Even Crates tried to
dissuade her, but Hipparchia wasn't deterred. She wanted something different

(02:22):
than what society seemed to value. Status, beauty, wealth, None
of it mattered to her. Hipparchia married Crates and adopted
his extreme unconventional lifestyle. Hiparchia and Crates lived in the
streets of Athens, owned nothing but cloaks, sleeping wherever they could,
and begging for food. They believed virtue came from living

(02:43):
according to nature and reason, not social customs or comfort.
Their marriage was more than a personal union. It was
a public philosophical act. Sinics usually rejected marriage as a
social institution, but Hipparchia and Crates redefined it. Their partnership
challenged both Greek gender norms and the expectations within Cynicism itself.

(03:06):
They lived their beliefs so fully that later writers claimed
they even consummated their marriage in public, living out the
Cynic belief that nothing natural done in private should be
shameful in public. The couple had at least two children.
According to legend, their son was rocked in a tortoise shell,
bathed in cold water, and fed just enough to live.

(03:32):
Hyperchia was a philosopher in her own right. In a
world where women weren't allowed to attend lectures or speak
its imposiums. She defied those rules. She accompanied Crate's to
events usually reserved for men. One night, she caught the
attention of Theodoras the Atheist, a philosopher who held education
in high esteem and mocked her for daring to leave

(03:54):
behind women's work like weaving. He jeered, is this the
woman who left her carding combs beside the loom? Hyparkia
didn't flinch. She shot back, it is I, Theodorus. But
do you suppose that I have been ill advised about
myself if instead of wasting further time upon the loom,
I spent it in education. Theodorus had no response. There

(04:17):
was nothing he could come back with that wouldn't contradict
his own teachings. Although none of Hipparchia's written work has survived,
the stories told about her by later philosophers show a
woman who refused to stay silent, who claimed a seat
at the philosophical table and dared anyone to push her out.

(04:37):
She's one of the few women from the ancient world
remembered not as someone's wife or daughter, but as a thinker,
a challenger, a philosopher. When Crates died around two ADBCE,
Hipparchiad briefly led the Cynic school in Athens, but, as
was so often the case, leadership eventually passed back to
the men. Hipparchiad died not long after Crate's and too ADYBC,

(05:00):
but her legacy lingered. The Stoics whose philosophy gained popularity
not long after, were deeply influenced by cynic ideas, ideas
that Hipparchia lived and helped to share. Hipparchia wasn't just
an outsider. She was a revolutionary in a society that
saw women as second class citizens. She claimed a different
kind of life, one of reason, virtue, of quality, and freedom.

(05:23):
She walked away from wealth and comfort to live as
her truest self, and she never apologized for it. All month,
We're talking about Outsiders. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
my favorite sister and co creator. As always, will be
taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday.