According to tradition, Damo was born in Croton, a prosperous city of Magna Graecia, around the year 535 BCE. She was the daughter of the renowned philosopher Pythagoras, founder of an influential philosophical and religious sect, and Theano (according to some sources, daughter of the famous athlete Milo of Croton), who was also a prominent thinker.

Although other siblings, such as Telauges and Arignote, are attributed to her, ancient accounts do not always agree on the details of the family structure. Some sources emphasize that Damo was the only daughter, while others mention that she shared her life with at least two sisters, Myia and Arignote.

Damo’s life unfolded in an environment deeply shaped by the asceticism and ethical ideals promoted by her father. As part of the Pythagorean community, Damo would have participated in teachings that combined mathematics, philosophy, music, and mysticism—disciplines that the Pythagoreans considered essential for the purification of the soul.

Theano
Theano, wife of Pythagoras and mother of Damo, depicted in Laurent de la Hyre’s “Allegory of Geometry” (1649). Credit: Sharon Mollerus / Flickr

One of the most well-known stories about Damo appears in the work of Iamblichus, a Neoplatonic philosopher who wrote extensively about the Pythagoreans in his treatise The Life of Pythagoras. Iamblichus recounts that, after Pythagoras’ death, Damo inherited her father’s writings, which included memos (in Greek, hypomnemata) of great importance to the Pythagorean community. According to this account, Pythagoras trusted his daughter to preserve his teachings.

Pythagoras left his writings to his daughter Damo, instructing her not to disclose them to individuals outside the Pythagorean circle, not even in exchange for large sums of money. She, obeying her father’s orders, rejected all offers and valued loyalty to his legacy above any material wealth

Iamblichus, The Life of Pythagoras, 34

In Pythagorean tradition, Damo is presented as a model of virtue and philosophical devotion. The Pythagorean community, while hierarchical, was notable for allowing women to participate in intellectual and religious life, and for the Pythagoreans, material wealth was secondary to the pursuit of truth and a virtuous life. Damo embodied these ideals.

Although no works are directly attributed to her, it is likely that, as an active member of the Pythagorean sect, she contributed to the development of ideas later attributed to her father or other members of the community, since the Pythagoreans adopted a collective authorship practice in which individual contributions were subsumed under Pythagoras’ name.

Damo
Possible representation of Damo with his father Pythagoras in Raphael’s “The School of Athens”. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

Diogenes Laertius, in his work Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, briefly mentions Damo’s role in transmitting Pythagorean knowledge, highlighting how she preserved her father’s texts and teachings. After Pythagoras’ death, Theano and her daughter Damo continued investigating and contributing to Pythagorean theories.

The writings of Pythagoras entrusted to his daughter Damo seem to have met a mysterious fate, consistent with the secretive and esoteric tradition characterizing the Pythagorean community. According to ancient accounts, Damo faithfully preserved them after her father’s death, strictly adhering to his instruction not to share them with individuals outside the Pythagorean circle, fearing they would be misinterpreted or distorted if they fell into the wrong hands.

Iamblichus, in his Life of Pythagoras, emphasizes Damo’s loyalty to her father’s mandate. Despite the difficult economic circumstances she might have faced, Damo rejected all offers to purchase the writings, choosing to honor her father’s legacy rather than yield to the temptation of wealth. Tradition holds that Damo passed these writings to her daughter Bitale and her brother Telauges, ensuring the knowledge remained within the family and trusted circle.

Many say that you [scil. Hipparchus] practice philosophy even in public; Pythagoras clearly expressed his disapproval of this practice when, having entrusted his Notes to his daughter Damo, he ordered her not to give them to anyone outside the household. And she, although she could have sold them for a great deal of money, chose not to. She believed poverty and her father’s wishes were worth more than gold, and this despite being a woman.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, 8.42

However, over time, the original texts attributed to Pythagoras—and possibly enriched by Damo and other members of her circle—were lost. This is not unusual, as many philosophical works in antiquity were transmitted orally or through limited manuscript copies, susceptible to disappearance due to wars, persecutions, or simple decay over time.

Pythagorean dawn
Pythagoreans celebrating the dawn (Fyodor Bronnikov). Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

Some authors suggest that the loss of Pythagoras’ original writings is linked to the persecution faced by the Pythagorean community after its founder’s death. Political conflicts in Croton and other cities of Magna Graecia, where the Pythagoreans had wielded significant influence, led to the plundering of their meeting places and the dispersion or destruction of their texts.

Despite the physical loss of the texts, the ideas attributed to Pythagoras survived, likely thanks to oral traditions and the works of his later disciples and followers, such as Philolaus and Archytas. These ideas, transmitted across generations, became integrated into classical Greek philosophy and later into Neoplatonic thought.

Damo is a fascinating figure who, though shrouded in the shadows of history, shines as an example of virtue, loyalty, and philosophical commitment. Her pivotal role as the custodian of Pythagoras’ legacy and intermediary in transmitting ideas that formed the foundation of Western thought underscores her importance. Perhaps her greatest lesson lies not in the words she wrote or preserved but in the example of her life as a philosopher and guardian of Pythagorean ideals. She died around 475 BCE, in Athens.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on December 3, 2024: Damo, la filósofa hija de Pitágoras a la que éste confió todos sus escritos y nunca quiso venderlos, prefiriendo la pobreza al oro

SOURCES

Iamblichus, The Life of Pythagoras

Dorota M. Dutsch, Pythagorean Women Philosophers: Between Belief and Suspicion

M.E. Waithe, A History of Women Philosophers

Wikipedia, Damo

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