Damo (/ˈdeɪmoʊ/;Ancient Greek:Δαμώ; fl. c. 500 BC) was aPythagorean philosopher said by many to have been the daughter ofPythagoras andTheano.^[1]

Tradition relates that she was born inCroton,Magna Graecia, and was the daughter ofPythagoras andTheano.^[2][3][4] According toIamblichus, Damo married Meno the Crotonian.^[5] Some accounts refer to her as an only daughter, while others indicate that she had two sisters,Arignote andMyia (married toMilo of Croton). With her brotherTelauges, they became members of the Pythagorean sect founded by their father.

References to Damo can be found in the works ofDiogenes Laërtius,Athenaeus andIamblichus, although little is known about her life. As the sect credited Pythagoras with authorship for members' work, it is likely that Damo contributed to the doctrines ascribed to the philosopher.^[6] According to one story, Pythagoras bequeathed his writings to Damo, and she kept them safe, refusing to sell them, believing that poverty and her father's solemn injunctions were more precious than gold.^[2] Damo, in turn, passed the writings (memorandahypomnemata) on to her daughterBitale andTelauges, and to her mother's brother.^[5][4] The writings, as well as those by Damo herself, are not known to have survived. According to Iamblichus, she was a sister of Telauges.^[4]

• Coppleston, Frederick, S.J.A History of Philosophy. London: Search Press, 1946.
• Guthrie, W.K.C. "Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism," inEncyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 7. Edited by Paul Edwards. NY: Macmillan, 1967.
• Jamblichus, C.Life of Pythagoras. London: John M. Watkins, 1926.
• Kersey, Ethel M.Women Philosophers: a Bio-critical Source Book. CT: Greenwood Press, 1989.
• Philip, J.A.Pythagoras and Early Pythagoreanism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966.
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• Waithe, Mary Ellen, ed.A History of Women Philosophers. Vol. 1. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987.