Order the body according to the measure. The definition of the
boundaries of identity in the Pythagorean female imaginary
Starting point of this essay are some texts included in the book of
Holger Thesleff, The Pythagorean Texts of Hellenistic Period (1965), which
are attributed to women philosophers (whose names are Theano, Melissa,
Periktione, Phintys) and that highlight how important was in ancient
Pythagoreanism not only human bodies generally, but also female bodies. Even
if silence was an high significant value, above all for women, Pythagorean
“women” philosophers talk with us, by their letters and fragments, about the
essential rules to use bodies properly (the right way to dress, comb and make
up, which is the correct behaviour to follow and the healthy nourishment to
eat), giving us the possibility to define their identities boundaries and the social
role they had within and outwardly the oikos.