Listed 12 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "CRETE Island GREECE".
Sculptors, pupils or sons of Daedalus (Paus). The very first men to become famous as marble sculptors were Dipoenus and Scyllis, born in Crete while the Median empire still existed and before Cyrus began to rule in Persia. This was approximately in the 50th Olympiad [580-577]. They moved to Sicyon, which had long been the home of all such industries.
List of works, referred by ancients:
- Apollo, Artemis, Herakles, and Athena, at Sikyon
- Athena, at Kleonai
- The Dioskouroi, their wives and children, at Argos; ebony and ivory
- Herakles, at Tiryns
- Herakles, in Lydia, plundered by Cyrus (547/6)
- Athena, at Lindos, later in Constantinople (from ca. A.D. 330)
Dipoenus and Scyllis, (Dipoinos kai Skullis), very ancient Greek statuaries, who are always mentioned together. They belonged to the style of art called Daedalian. Pausanias says that they were disciples of Daedalus, and, according to some, his sons. (ii. 15.1, iii. 17.6.) There is, however, no doubt that they were real persons; but they lived near the end, instead of the beginning, of the period of the Daedalids. Pliny says that they were born in Crete, during the time of the Median empire, and before the reign of Cyrus, about the 50th Olympiad (B. C. 580: the accession of Cyrus was in B. C. 559). From Crete they went to Sicyon, which was for a long time the chief seat of Grecian art. There they were employed on some statues of the gods, but before these statues were finished, the artists, complaining of some wrong, betook themselves to the Aetolians. The Sicyonians were immediately attacked by a famine and drought, which, they were informed by the Delphic oracle, would only be removed when Dipoenus and Scyllis should finish the statues of the gods, which they were induced to do by great rewards and favours. The statues were those of Apollo, Artemis, Heracles, and Athena (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4.§ 1), whence it seems likely that the whole group represented the seizure of the tripod, like that of Amyclaeus. Pliny adds that Ambracia, Argos, and Cleonae, were full of the works of Dipoenus. (§ 2.) He also says (§§ 1, 2), that these artists were the first who were celebrated for sculpturing in marble, and that they used the white marble of Paros. Pausanias mentions, as their works, a statue of Athena, at Cleonae (l. c.), and at Argos a group representing Castor and Pollux with their wives, Elaeira and Phoebe, and their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous. The group was in ebony, except some few parts of the horses, which were of ivory. (Paus. ii. 22.6.) Clement of Alexandria mentions these statues of the Dioscuri, and also statues of Hercules of Tiryns and Artemis of Munychia, at Sicyon. (Protrep.; comp. Plin. l. c.) The disciples of Dipoenus and Scyllis were Tectaeus and Angelion, Learchus of Rhegium, Doxycleidas and his brother Medon, Dontas, and Theocles, who were all four Lacedaemonians. (Paus. ii. 32. 4, iii. 17.6, v. 17. 1, vi. 19.9.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A Greek sculptor, born in Crete, who flourished in Argos and Sicyon about B.C. 560. In conjunction with his countryman Scyllis he founded an influential school of sculpture in the Peloponnesus of the Daedalian style.
Chrysothemis. A Cretan, who first obtained the poetical prize at the Pythian games.
Hybreas. A Cretan lyric poet, the author of a drinking-song preserved in Athenaeus
Hybrias, (Hubrias) of Crete, a lyric poet, the author of a highly esteemed scholion which is preserved by Athenaens (xv. p. 695-6) and Eustathius (ad Odyss. p. 276, 47), and in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 159; see Jacobs's notes, and Ilgen, Schol. s. Carm. Conviv. Graec. p. 102.)
There were times, indeed, when the barbarians caused a great deal of trouble even to the troops who had climbed to a higher position, when they were coming down again; for their men were so agile that even if they took to flight from close at hand, they could escape; for they had nothing to carry except bows and slings. As bowmen they were most excellent; they had bows nearly three cubits long and their arrows were more than two cubits, and when they shot, they would draw their strings by pressing with the left foot against the lower end of the bow; and their arrows would go straight through shields and breastplates.Whenever they got hold of them, the Greeks would use these arrows as javelins, fitting them with thongs. In these regions the Cretans made themselves exceedingly useful. They were commanded by a Cretan named Stratocles.
Andromachus (Andromachos). A physician of Crete in the age of Nero. He was physician to the emperor, and inventor of the famous medicine, called after him, theriaca Andromachi. It was intended at first as an antidote against poisons, but became afterwards a kind of panacea. This medicine enjoyed so high a reputation among the Romans that the emperor Antoninus, at a later period, took some of it every day, and had it prepared every year in his palace. It consisted of sixty-one ingredients, the principal of which were squills, opium, pepper, and dried vipers.
Andromachus (Andromachos). Commonly called "the Elder", to distinguish him from his son of the same name, was born in Crete, and was physician to Nero, A. D. 54--68. He is principally celebrated for having been the first person on whom the title of " Archiater" is known to have been conferred (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Archiater), and also for having been the inventor of a very famous compound medicine and antidote, which was called after his name " Theriaca Andromachi," which long enjoyed a great reputation, and which retains its place in some foreign Pharmacopoeias to the present day. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Theriaca). Andromachus has left us the directions for making this strange mixture in a Greek elegiac poem, consisting of one hundred and seventy-four lines, and dedicated to Nero. Galen has inserted it entire in two of his works, and says, that Andromachus chose this form for his receipt as being more easily remembered than prose, and less likely to be altered. The poem has been published in a separate form by Franc. Tidicaeus, Tiguri, 1607, with two Latin translations, one in prose and the other in verse. Some persons suppose him to be the author of a work on pharmacy, but this is generally attributed to his son, Andromachus the Younger.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
360 - 300
Admiral of Alexander the Great, famous for his exploration of the Indian Ocean
and the Persian Gulf.
Nearchus was born on Crete,
but his father Androtimus moved to Amphipolis
in Macedonia; here, Nearchus grew up. Androtimus must have been an important man,
because his son was educated together with the crown prince, Alexander, the son
of king Philip of Macedonia (356-336). When the king sent his son briefly into
exile in 337, Nearchus shared the banishment and returned with his friend.
When Alexander, whose reign had started in 336, invaded Asia in May
334, Nearchus was with him, and at the beginning of the next year, he was appointed
satrap of Lycia and Pamphylia.
This meant that Nearchus was responsible for the ports in southern Turkey; as
long he held them, the Persian navy was forced to sail from Cyprus
to the Aegean Sea through open waters, which was very risky. He did his job well:
during 333, the Persian commanders Memnon of Rhodes and Pharnabazus were active
in the Aegean waters, but they received no reinforcements.
The naval war ended when Alexander conquered Phoenicia,
the Persian naval base. He went on to Egypt
and Babylonia, took the Persian capitals Susa,
Persepolis, Pasargadae and
Ecbatana, pursued the defeated
Persian king Darius III Codomannus and went on to the northeastern provinces of
the former Achaemenid empire, Bactria and Sogdiana.
It was at this stage of the war, in the first months of 329, that
he recalled Nearchus, who was to come to the east and bring Greek mercenaries.
The former satrap of Lycia and Pamphylia shared this command with Asander, who
had been satrap of Lydia.
It is likely that Nearchus was surprised to see how his youth friend had changed:
he was now calling himself Son of Zeus and King of Asia, and wore a diadem and
the Persian royal tunic.
We do not know what Nearchus did during the Sogdian campaign; during
the invasion of India (January
326), however, he was one of the two commanders of the Shield bearers, a heavy
infantry unit. He was almost immediately replaced by Seleucus, who commanded these
men during the battle on the Hydaspes (May).
Although they were victorious, the Macedonian and Greek soldiers refused
to go any further and Alexander decided to return to Babylonia. He ordered the
construction of a large fleet, which was to be commanded by Nearchus. The voyage
down the Indus lasted from November 326 to July 325. It was not an easy cruise:
several times, the Macedonians had to fight a way along resisting native towns.
Finally, the reached Patala (Old Indian for 'camp for ships'), modern Bahmanabad,
75 kilometers north-east of Hyderabad.
Not all soldiers continued to the Ocean. The army was too big to remain
united. In June, general Craterus had already left the main force and had gone
to Carmania with a third of the soldiers. In August, Alexander and half of what
remained of the army set out for a long and difficult march through the Gedrosian
desert. Nearchus was to ship the remaining half of the soldiers, c.33,000 men,
to Carmania and Babylonia. He was not the first westerner to make the expedition:
one Scylax of Caryanda had made the same voyage in the late sixth century BCE.
Later, Nearchus wrote a book about the naval expedition, which was
also to be a voyage of discovery. The Indike is now lost, but its contents are
well-known from several sources, especially the Indike by Arrian. It seems to
have consisted of two parts: the first half contained a description of India's
borders, size, rivers, population, castes, animals -especially elephants-, armies
and customs; the second half described Nearchus' voyage home.
On September 15, Nearchus' set out from Patala, having waited for
the Southwest monsoon to subside. It is not easy to reconstruct the voyage in
detail, because it was impossible for the ancients to measure distances at sea;
all Nearchus' indications of distance are, therefore, merely guesswork and can
hardly be relied upon to reconstruct his expedition. Nonetheless, the information
in the Indike is sufficient to have a general idea of the route and the troubles
encountered.
Almost immediately after leaving Patala, it was clear that the Macedonian
fleet had set out too soon. (Perhaps the native population had forced Nearchus
to leave earlier than he wanted to.) The ships encountered adversary winds and
it took them almost a week to reach Ocean. Then, they headed for the North, through
the laguna between the mouths of the rivers Indus and Hab. This was easier, but
when they turned to the East, the renewed Southwest monsoon proved too strong
to continue. The Macedonians had to wait and fortified their camp with a wall
of stone, fearing enemy attacks. They soon discovered that their supplies were
running out. They were forced to hunt for mussels, oysters, and so-called razor-fish
and had to drink briny water.
They had to remain there for twenty-four days, but were able to continue
and after several days reached a place called Morontobara or Woman's Harbor (modern
Karachi) and reached the mouth of the Hab. They continued along the coast thought
the Sonmiani Bay. One night, they camped on the battlefield where Leonnatus, one
of Alexander's generals, had defeated the native population, the Oreitans ('Mountain
people'). He had left a large food deposit for Nearchus' men: enough for ten days.
With the wind behind them and sufficient supplies, they were able
to speed up their journey and reached the Hingol river. At this point, the Indike
describes how a native village was destroyed and its inhabitants were killed.
It is remarkable that the author (Arrian/Nearchus) makes no attempt to justify
the attack.
Continuing their voyage, Nearchus and his men arrived in the country
of the Fish eaters. (It was a common practice among the Greeks to describe people
not by their own name, but by one of their most remarkable customs.) These were
very poor people living on the sandy strip of land between the Ocean and the Gedrosian
desert, and the Macedonians had big difficulties finding supplies. Fortunately,
they found an excellent harbor, called Bagisara (modern Ormara).
The next stage of the voyage is well-understood: they put in at Colta
(Ras Sakani), Calima (Kalat) and an island called Carnine (Astola), where, according
to Nearchus, even the mutton had a fishy taste. They continued and passed Cysa
(near Pasni) and Mosarna (near Ras Shahid). Here, a Gedrosian pilot joined them,
who led them in two days to modern Gwadar, where they were delighted to see date-palms
and gardens. Three days later, Nearchus' men surprised Cyisa, a town near modern
Ra's Beris and took away their supplies. Next, they anchored near a promontory
dedicated to the Sun, called Bageia ('dwelling of the gods') by the natives; it
is probably identical to Ra's Kuh Lab.
From now on, the Macedonians were really hungry, and they must have
been happy to see that they could cover large distances. The places that Nearchus
mentions in his account of the voyage (Talmena, Canasis, Canate, Taa, Dagaseira
- can not be identified, although it is plausible that the last mentioned town
is modern Jask. Now Nearchus had reached Carmania and was approaching the Straits
of Hormuz. In the Indike, he notes that the country produced corn, vines and many
cultivated trees, except the olive tree that the Greeks loved so much. The sailors
saw the Oman peninsula, and Nearchus describes how the helmsman of the flagship,
Onesicritus, said that they should go over there, and that Nearchus replied that
he did not want to expose the fleet to new dangers.
Nearchus describes Onesicritus as a fool and also mentions that Onesicritus
had (later) falsely claimed to have been the fleet-commander. Most scholars accept
Nearchus words, but there may be more to it than meets they eyes. Alexander had
started to give important commands to two people at the same time, who had to
act as colleagues (e.g., Nearchus had shared the command of Alexander's Greek
mercenaries with Asander and had been in charge of the Shield bearers with one
Antiochus). It is possible that Onesicritus was not just the helmsman of the flagship,
but Nearchus' equal, and it is also possible that Alexander had ordered his navy
to conquer the Oman peninsula, which was a Persian satrapy, Maka. Perhaps we should
not believe Nearchus' own words.
Two days later, the Macedonian navy reached Harmozeia (modern Minab),
one of the largest ports in the Persian Gulf. Here they had a rendez-vous with
Alexander, who had marched through the Gedrosian desert. Nearchus had believed
Alexander was lost and Alexander had believed that he had lost his navy, so it
was a happy encounter.
It was January 324 when the Macedonian fleet continued its voyage
along the coasts of Carmania and Persis. But now, they were traveling along familiar
shores and made progress. Among the identifiable places they visited are the island
Qeshm, Cape Ra's-e Bostaneh, the island Queys, Band-e Nakhilu, the island Lazeh
(where they watched pearl divers), the Bandar-e Shiu promontory, Nay Band, Kangan,
the river Mand, Busher, the river Dasht-e Palang, Jazireh-ye Shif and the river
Hendiyan, which is the border of Persis and Susiana. Here, the ships could no
longer continue along the coast because of the breakers. However, the finally
reached the mouth of the Tigris safely.
When Nearchus heard that Alexander was approaching from the east,
he decided to wait for his king at Susa, the capital of Susiana. Here, Alexander
celebrated the homecoming of his army and navy. Nearchus, Onesicritus and several
others received a golden diadem as a reward for their deeds.
It was Alexander's wish that his friends and then other Macedonians
would marry native women; therefore, Nearchus married to a daughter of Alexander's
Persian mistress Barsine. It is not known whether they had children, but it is
remarkable that during the conflicts after Alexander's death, Nearchus backed
Heracles, the son of Alexander and Barsine, and stayed with his wife. The other
Macedonians usually divorced their Persian wives.
In the last months of Alexander's life, Nearchus was usually with
him, which may have something to do with the fact that Alexander was making plans
for a naval expedition against the Arabs of modern Yemen. However, Alexander died
on June 11, 323 (click here for a discussion of the date). This was the beginning
of the era of Alexander's successors, the Diadochi.
As already said, Nearchus backed the son of his wife, Heracles, but
the boy and Barsine were probably killed by Polyperchon, one of the generals fighting
for a share of Alexander's inheritance (309). Nearchus spend some time with another
general, Antigonus, and educated his son Demetrius. When Demetrius had his first
independent command in a war against Ptolemy, Nearchus assisted him. The two were
defeated near Gaza (312).
Nearchus' year of death is unknown.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Lasthenes. A Cretan who took a prominent part in urging his countrymen to resist the attack of M. Antonius in B. C. 70. On this account, when the Cretans, after the defeat of Antonius, sent an embassy to Rome to excuse their past conduct, and sue for peace, one of the conditions imposed by the senate was the surrender of Lasthenes and Panares, as the authors of their offence. (Diod. Exe. Legat. xl.; Appian, Sic. 6; Dion Cass. Fragm. 177). These terms were rejected by the Cretans; and in the war that followed against Q. Metellus (B. C. 68) Lasthenes was one of the principal leaders. Together with Panares, he assembled an army of 24,000 men, with which they maintained the contest against the Roman army for near three years: the excellence of the Cretans as archers, and their great personal activity, giving them many advantages in desultory warfare. At length, however, Lasthenes was defeated by Metellus near Cydonia, and fled for refuge to Cnossus, where, finding himself closely pressed by the Roman general, he is said to have set fire to his own house, and consumed it with all his valuables. After this he made his escape from the city, and took refuge in Lyttus, but was ultimately compelled to surrender, stipulating only that his life should be spared. Metellus intended to retain both Lasthenes and Panares as prisoners, to adorn his triumph, but was compelled to give them up by Pompey, under whose protection the Cretans had placed themselves. (Diod. l. c. ; Appian, Sic. 6. 1, 2; Phlegon, ap. Phot.; Dion Cass. xxxvi. 2; Vell. Pat ii. 34.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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