Born: 400 BC (circa), Libya
Died: 340 BC (circa)
Country most active: Libya
Also known as: NA
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Arete of Cyrene (l. 4th century BCE) was a philosopher of the Cyrenaic School and the daughter of the hedonist philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene (l. c. 435-356 BCE) who grew up influenced by his teachings. There is some dispute among historians as to whether it was Aristippus or his grandson of the same name who founded the Cyrenaic School, but since ancient sources claim that Arete took over the school upon Aristippus’ death, it would appear to be the former.
Like her father, she is said to have held to the philosophy of “I possess, I am not possessed”, by which she meant that one could have as many worldly goods as one wished as long as one’s life was not controlled by those possessions. One could, for example, have a house and many beautiful objects furnishing and adorning it, but one should recognize such things as possessions which, perhaps, once belonged to another before and will certainly belong to someone else after one’s death or change in circumstance.
One should, therefore, pursue pleasure and enjoy the things of this world without allowing those things to control one’s life and freedom of movement. Arete of Cyrene is said to have written over 40 books, none of which survive in the present day. She also appears to have been a single mother who raised Aristippus-the-Younger in the hedonistic philosophy and home-schooled him. He would later take over the operation of the Cyrenaic School after Arete’s death.