Aristarete
ancient Greek painter

Aristarete or Aristareta (Ancient Greek: Ἀρισταρέτη) was an ancient Greek painter. Little is known about her, including where and when she lived.
Although none of her works are known to be extant, Pliny the Elder's Natural History mentions her work depicting Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Pliny includes Aristarete in a list of six ancient Greek female artists, among which Timarete, Irene, and Calypso.
Pliny also writes that Aristarete was trained by her father, Nearchos.
Account by Pliny
The standard Teubner edition of Pliny the Elder's Natural History mentions the painter Aristarete in the following passage from the 147th chapter of its 35th book:Pinxere et mulieres: Timarete, Miconis filia, Dianam, quae in tabula Ephesi est antiquissimae picturae; Irene, Cratini pictoris filia et discipula, puellam, quae est Eleusine, Calypso, senem et praestigiatorem Theodorum, Alcisthenen saltatorem; Aristarete, Nearchi filia et discipula, Aesculapium.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q664627. VIAF identifies the subject as 96123108. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Aristarete” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.