Thursday, January 30 2025, 3:45 - 5:45pm Peabody Hall, 205S Catherine McKeen Philosophy Bennington College Catherine McKeen's website Special Information: A Zoom link will be available upon request, contact Danielle Kotrla Danielle.Kotrla@uga.edu Xenophon’s Memorabilia 3.11 features a conversation between Socrates and Theodote, a woman. This fact alone makes Mem. 3.11 remarkable, as one of those rare instances of a first-generation Socratic text that depicts a woman. Also remarkable is that Mem. 3.11 clearly indicates Theodote’s status as a foreign-born immigrant (a metic) and a hetaira (a so-called ‘courtesan’). Scholars have often read Mem. 3.11 as concerned with erotics, sex, power, and seduction (e.g., van Berkel 2019, Dorion 2003, Goldhill 2010, Narcy 2004). In this vein, Goldhill remarks that Mem. 3.11 is “involved...precisely with controlling the figure of the hetaira as a locus of desire and expenditure” (Goldhill 2010, p. 178). And Mem. 3.11 is often understood as enacting a “reverse seduction,” where Socrates ‘over- masters’ Theodote. So, van Berkel holds that, in Mem. 3.11, Socrates turns the tables on Theodote “to expose...Athens’ most beautiful woman as a dressed-up prostitute and a sophist in disguise” (van Berkel 2019, pp. 372-374). These readings rely on reducing Theodote to an eroticized, sexualized, one-dimensional figure, and as a trope for deception, seduction, or sophistry. Against these readings, I hope to recover a more substantial, three- dimensional Theodote. I offer an alternative interpretation of Mem. 3.11 focused on philia, the domain of non-erotic affiliative relationships. I argue that Mem. 3.11 is continuous with a general view of friendship developed throughout the Memorabilia. I hold that this view of friendship prizes reciprocity and mutual benefit; grounds friendship in human nature; and, recognizes the “hunting and catching” of friends as a rational enterprise. I draw two conclusions: (1) a richer, more nuanced portrayal of Theodote is possible; (2) Theodote is a viable candidate for Xenophontic- Socratic friendship, even though she is a woman, a metic, and a hetaira. McKeen is a philosopher whose research focuses on ancient Greek thought, gender, and politics. Her recent work explores themes of civic unity, equality, virtue, work, political engagement, and community in Plato’s Republic and other Platonic dialogues. Outside of her research, McKeen has worked on issues of inequity in higher education and on expanding educational opportunity for under-represented students.
