Arete of Cyrene
Flourished circa 350 B.C.E., Cyrene, ancient Greece
Arete, a philosopher of the fourth century B.C.E., was born in the Greek colony of Cyrene (in present-day Libya). Her father, Aristippus, was a follower of Socrates; her son, also named Aristippus, was her disciple. Arete’s family established the Cyrenaic school of hedonism, which promoted an ethic of pleasure as the supreme good in the world. Although it is said that she produced some forty books, including treatises on education and agriculture, none of these works are extant.
