Women -- Greece -- Biography; Women -- Greece -- History
The most celebrated of all, however, was Lalla, a native of the city of
Cyzicus, to which Apollo had accorded the gift of arts. Though she
worked with extreme rapidity, this did not detract from the merits of
her work, and she was considered the first painter of her time. Painting
with pencil and on ivory were equally familiar to her. The portraits
which she painted were principally of persons of her own sex. Pliny
mentions a portrait, which was at Naples during his life, in which Lalla
had represented an old woman. He adds that she had reproduced in this
her own picture reflected in a mirror. There has been found at Pompeii a
painting of an artist which is believed to be a portrait of Lalla,
probably painted by herself. It represents a young woman seated on a
stool on a little porch, with her eyes fixed on a statue of Bacchus,
which she is reproducing on a tablet held by a child. In her right hand
is a pencil, which she plunges into a small box evidently containing her
colors; in her left hand she holds a palette. Her garments are elegantly
draped around her; a band encircles her waving hair, which falls over
her neck and shoulders, A deep, intellectual look illuminates her
delicate features. If this be really a picture of Lalla, she was
wonderfully beautiful.
Not only in poetry and the fine arts, but also in philosophy and
intellectual pursuits did the Greek woman show herself capable of great
achievements. In the schools of Pythagoras, established at Croton in
Magna Graecia, women were freely admitted and took a prominent part in
the exercises, together with their husbands and brothers.
There is a tradition that the ascendency of Pythagoras at Croton was so
great that the ladies of the city brought their rich apparel, their
jewels, necklaces and bracelets, to the temple of Hera, and dedicated
them as an offering to domestic virtue, vowing that henceforth prudence
and modesty, not luxurious apparel, were to be the true ornaments of
their sex. Whether this story be true or not, there is no doubt that
Pythagoras had a large number of women among his disciples, and that the
"Pythagorean Women" attained throughout the Greek world a great and
enviable reputation. Pythagoras's friendly attitude toward the sex was
probably in part the result of his cordial relations with the Delphian
priestess Aristoclea, renowned for her amiability and her wisdom, with
whom he carried on a learned correspondence. The general results of his
teachings upon woman were a high ideal of feminine morality, careful
attention to household duties, and the elevation of the conception of
motherhood, especially in the careful rearing of children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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