the Ionic and the Italic. There is no evidence that philosophical schools (except perhaps for the
Pythagoreans) existed before P. Both So ̄tio ̄n and other writers of similar works seem to
have concentrated on the biographical material and only dealt with philosophical ideas to the
extent that they first appeared with a particular philosopher. Most of the fragments of So ̄tio ̄n’s
book come from D L, the structure of whose work seems to reflect So ̄tio ̄n’s.
Ed.: Wehrli, S. 2 (1978).
W. von Kienle, Die Berichte über die Sukzessionen der Philosophie in den hellenistischen und spaetantiken Literatur
(1961); Mejer (1978) 40–42 and 62–71; F. Aronadio, “Due fonti laerziane: Sozione e Demetrio di
Magnesia,” Elenchos 11 (1990) 203–255.
Jørgen Mejer
Spendousa (ca 100 BCE? – ca 80 CE)
A in G, CMLoc 3.1 (12.631 K.), cites her o ̄tike ̄ for infected ears: heat
honey and barrow-fat in a glass vessel. The glass vessel may suggest a terminus post of ca 50
BCE. The rare name is attested from the 1st c. BCE (LGPN).
RE 3A.2 (1929) 1610, F.E. Kind.
PTK
Speusippos of Alexandria (250 – 50 BCE)
He ̄rophilean physician, distinct from P’s nephew and successor, the only homonym
cited by D L (4.5). An uncommon name, attested six times in Athens from
5th–2nd cc. BCE (LGPN).
von Staden (1989) 585.
GLIM
Speusippos of Athens (ca 380 – 339 BCE)
P’s nephew, born ca 410 BCE; involved in Academic politics in Sicily during Plato’s
lifetime (P, Dio 17.22 = T29–30), and head of the Academy from Plato’s death in
347 BCE until his own death. He wrote on a wide variety of philosophical topics, and an
Epistle to Philip II survives, dating from ca 342 (if genuine). Largely independent intellectually,
demonstrating Pythagorean tendencies, Speusippos showed a fascination for number and
physical theory, wherein mathematical objects have a place of honor, and denied the exist-
ence of Platonic Ideas. He was involved in an elaborate classificatory project, resulting in
ten books of Homoia (Things Similar), and regarding ethics he was anti-hedonistic. There is
considerable useful (but hostile) evidence for his thought in A, an unreliable bio-
graphy in D L, a large fragment on the decad from a work On Pythagorean
Numbers, a tantalizing chapter (4) in I’ De Communi Mathematica Scientia seemingly
reflecting only Speusippean metaphysics, and a variety of other material (of uneven value
and reliability). The comic fragment of Epikrate ̄s (fr. 10 PCG = T33), describing the close
inspection of a pumpkin in a bid to determine its natural genus, further substantiates the
classificatory project.
Speusippos postulates mathematical entities distinct from sensibles, but no Ideas. Aristotle
(Metaph. 7.2 = F29a) reports that his theory of first principles begins with a One (not
identical either with the Good or with Mind, as in X), and proceeds to Numbers,
Geometrical Magnitudes, Souls, and Bodies, each with its own manifestation of the One
(monad, point etc.) and its own distinct substrate (multiplicity, extension etc.). Aristotle (Metaph.
SPENDOUSA