Lastheneia (or Lasthenia) of Mantinea (Greek: Λασθένεια Μαντινική) was one of Plato's female students.

She was born in Mantinea, an ancient city in Arcadia, in the Peloponnese. She studied in the Academy of Plato dressed as a man.[1] After the death of Plato she continued her studies with Speusippus, Plato's nephew.[2] She is also said to have had a relationship with Speusippus.[3]

A papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus mentions an unidentified woman who studied under Plato, Speusippus, and then Menedemus of Eretria.[4] The fragment goes on to explain that "in her teens she was lovely and full of unstudied grace." This woman is probably Lastheneia or Axiothea of Phlius.

References

  1. ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 46. This story of dressing as a man may only apply Axiothea of Phlius who also studied in the Academy.
  2. ^ Diogenes Laërtius, iv. 2
  3. ^ Athenaeus, vii. 279, xii. 546.
  4. ^ POxy 3656
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