Listed 100 (total found 176) sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "STEREA HELLAS Region GREECE" .
KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
A Greek poet of the New Comedy, born at Carystus, between B.C. 300 and 260. He wrote forty-seven plays, and won five victories. From him Terence borrowed the plots of his Phormio and Hecyra.
Apollodorus of Carystus. The ancients distinguish between two comic poets of the
name of Apollodorus: the one is called a native of Gela in Sicily, and the other
of Carystus in Euboea. Suidas speaks of an Athenian comic poet Apollodorus, and
this circumstance has led some critics to imagine that there were three comic
poets of the name of Apollodorus. But as the Athenian is not mentioned anywhere
else, and as Suidas does not notice the Carystian, it is supposed that Suidas
called the Carystian an Athenian either by mistake, or because he had the Athenian
franchise. It should, however, be remembered that the plays of the Carystian were
not performed at Athens, but at Alexandria (Athen. xiv.). Athenaeus calls him
a contemporary of Machon; so that he probably lived between the years B. C. 300
and 260. Apollodorus of Carystus belonged to the school of the new Attic comedy,
and was one of the most distinguished among its poets. This is not only stated
by good authorities, but may also be inferred from the fact, that Terence took
his Hecyra and Phormio from Apollodorus of Carystus (A. Mai, Fragm. Plandi et
Terenti). According to Suidas Apollodorus wrote 47 comedies, and five times gained
the prize. We know the titles and possess fragments of several of his plays; but
ten comedies are mentioned by the ancients under the name of Apollodorus alone,
and without any suggestion as to whether they belong to Apollodorus of Carystus
or to Apollodorus of Gela.
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Lysimachus. A comic poet, mentioned by Lucian, who ridicules him for the absurd pedantry with which, though born in Boeotia, he affected to carry the Attic use of T for S to an extreme, using not only such words as tettarakonta, temeron, kattiteron, kattuma and pittan, but even basilittaa. (Lucian, Jud. Vocal.) Nothing more is known of this Lysimachus, and possibly the name is fictitious.
SKYROS (Island) STEREA HELLAS
1919 - 1977
Scholar of the pro-ceramic and mesolithic civilization of Thessaly.
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Phryne (Phrune), one of the most celebrated Athenian hetairae, was the daughter
of Epicles, and a native of Thespiae in Boeotia. She was of very humble origin,
and originally gained her livelihood by gathering capers; but her beauty procured
for her afterwards so much wealth that she is said to have offered to rebuild
the walls of Thebes, after they had been destroyed by Alexander, if she might
be allowed to put up this inscription on the walls : "Alexander destroyed them,
but Phryne, the hetaira, rebuilt them." She had among her admirers many of the
most celebrated men of the age of Philip and Alexander, and the beauty of her
form gave rise to some of the greatest works of art. The orator Hyperides was
one of her lovers, and he defended her when she was accused by Euthias on one
occasion of some capital charge; but when the eloquence of her advocate failed
to move the judges, he bade her uncover her breast, and thus ensured her acquittal.
The most celebrated picture of Apelles, his "Venus Anadyomene", is said to have
been a representation of Phryne, who, at a public festival at Eleusis, entered
the sea with dishevelled hair. The celebrated Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles, who
was one of her lovers, was taken from her, and he expressed his love for her in
an epigram which he inscribed on the base of a statue of Cupid, which he gave
to her, and which she dedicated at Thespiae. Such admiration did she excite, that
her neighbours dedicated at Delphi a statue of her, made of gold, and resting
on a base of Pentelican marble. According to Apollodorus (ap. Athen. xiii. p.
591, e.) there were two hetairae of the name of Phryne, one of whom was surnamed
Clausilegos and the other Saperdium; and according to Herodicus (Ibid.) there
were also two, one the Thespian, and the other surnamed Sestus. The Thespian Phryne,
however, is the only one of whom we have any account. (Athen. xiii. pp. 590, 591,
558, c. 567, e, 583, b. c. 585, e. f.; Aelian, V. H. 32 ; Alciphron, Ep. i. 31;
Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 10; Propert. ii. 5; Jacobs, Att. Alus. vol. iii.
pp. 18,36)
Phryne. A celebrated Athenian courtesan, born at Thespis in Boeotia. She flourished in the times of Philip and Alexander the Great, and was the mistress of some of the most distinguished men of the day. She became so wealthy that she is said to have offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, when destroyed by Alexande:--an offer which was rejected. The famous painting of Apelles, entitled "Aphrodite Anadyomene", or Aphrodite rising from the sea, is said to have had Phryne for its model. Praxiteles, the sculptor, who was another of her lovers, used her as a model for his "Cnidian Aphrodite". At one time she was accused of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries, and was brought before the court of the Heliasts; but her advocate, Hyperides, threw off her veil, and exposed her breasts to the judges, who at once acquitted her amid the applause of the people, by whom she was carried in triumph to the temple of Aphrodite.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Phryne (Phrune), one of the most celebrated Athenian hetairae, was the daughter of Epicles, and a native of Thespiae in Boeotia. She was of very humble origin, and originally gained her livelihood by gathering capers; but her beauty procured for her afterwards so much wealth that she is said to have offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, after they had been destroyed by Alexander, if she might be allowed to put up this inscription on the walls : "Alexander destroyed them, but Phryne, the hetaira, rebuilt them". She had among her admirers many of the most celebrated men of the age of Philip and Alexander, and the beauty of her form gave rise to some of the greatest works of art. The orator Hyperides was one of her lovers, and he defended her when she was accused by Euthias on one occasion of some capital charge; but when the eloquence of her advocate failed to move the judges, he bade her uncover her breast, and thus ensured her acquittal. The most celebrated picture of Apelles, his "Venus Anadyomene", is said to have been a representation of Phryne, who, at a public festival at Eleusis, entered the sea with dishevelled hair. The celebrated Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles, who was one of her lovers, was taken from her, and he expressed his love for her in an epigram which he inscribed on the base of a statue of Cupid, which he gave to her, and which she dedicated at Thespiae. Such admiration did she excite, that her neighbours dedicated at Delphi a statue of her, made of gold, and resting on a base of Pentelican marble. According to Apollodorus (ap. Athen. xiii.) there were two hetairae of the name of Phryne, one of whom was surnamed Clausilegos and the other Saperdium; and according to Herodicus (Ibid.) there were also two, one the Thespian, and the other surnamed Sestus. The Thespian Phryne, however, is the only one of whom we have any account. (Athen. xiii.; Aelian, V. H. 32 ; Alciphron, Ep. i. 31; Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19.10; Propert. ii. 5)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
Diocles Carystius, (Diokles ho Karustios), a very celebrated Greek physician,
was born at Carystus in Euboea, and lived in the fourth century B. C., not long
after the time of Hippocrates, to whom Pliny says he was next in age and fame.
(H. N. xxvi. 6.) He belonged to the medical sect of the Dogmatici (Gal. de Aliment.
Facult. i. 1, vol. vi.), and wrote several medical works, of which only the titles
and some fragments remain, preserved by Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, Oribasius,
and other ancient writers. The longest of these is a letter to king Antigonus,
entitled Epistole Prophulaktike, " A Letter on Preserving Health," which
is inserted by Paulus Aegineta at the end of the first book of his medical work,
and which, if genuine, was probably addressed to Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia,
who died B. C. 239, at the age of eighty, after a reign of forty-four years. It
resembles in its subject matter several other similar letters ascribed to Hippocrates
(see Ermerins, Anecd. Med. Graeca, praef.), and treats of the diet fitted for
the different seasons of the year. It is published in the various editions of
Paulus Aegineta, and also in several other works.
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
ATHANASSIOS DIAKOS (Village) PARNASSOS
1786 - 1821
DYO VOUNA (Village) GORGOPOTAMOS
1798 - 1880
Son of Ioannis Dyovouniotis, who participated in the Greek Revolution of 1821.
1757 - 1831
KARPENISSI (Town) EVRYTANIA
1770 - 1821
He played a significant part in the Greek Revolution of 1821.
PANOURGIAS (Village) PARNASSOS
1759 - 1834
AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
420 - 362
A Theban statesman and soldier, son of Polymnis, and in whose praise, for both
talents and rectitude, there is a remarkable concurrence of ancient writers. Nepos
observes that before Epaminondas was born and after his death Thebes was always
in subjection to some other power; while he directed her councils she was at the
head of Greece. His public life extends from the restoration of democracy by Pelopidas
and the other exiles, B.C. 379, to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362. In the conspiracy
by which that revolution was effected he took no part, but thenceforward he became
the prime mover of the Theban State. His policy was first directed to assert the
right and to secure the power to Thebes of controlling the other cities of Boeotia,
several of which claimed to be independent. In this cause he ventured to engage
his country, single-handed, in war with the Spartans, who marched into Boeotia,
B.C. 371, with a force superior to any which could be brought against them. The
Theban generals were divided in opinion whether a battle should be risked, for
to encounter the Lacedaemonians with inferior numbers was universally esteemed
hopeless. Epaminondas prevailed upon his colleagues to venture it, and devised
on this occasion a new method of attack. Instead of joining battle along the whole
line he concentrated an overwhelming force on one point, directing the weaker
part of his line to keep back. The Spartan right being broken and their king slain,
the rest of the army found it necessary to abandon the field. This memorable battle
was fought at Leuctra (B.C. 371). The moral effect of it was much more important
than the mere loss inflicted upon Sparta, for it overthrew the prescriptive superiority
in arms claimed by that State ever since its reformation by Lycurgus.
This brilliant success led Epaminondas to the second object of his policy, the
overthrow of the supremacy of Sparta and the substitution of Thebes as the leader
of Greece in the democratic interest. In this hope a Theban army, under his command,
marched into the Peloponnesus early in the winter, B.C. 369, and, in conjunction
with the Eleans, Arcadians, and Argives, invaded and laid waste a large part of
Laconia. Numbers of the Helots took that opportunity to shake off a most oppressive
slavery; and Epaminondas struck a deadly blow at the power of Sparta by establishing
these descendants of the old Messenians on Mount Ithome in Messenia, as an independent
State, and inviting their countrymen, scattered through Italy and Sicily, to return
to their ancient patrimony. Numbers obeyed the call. This memorable event is known
in history as the return of the Messenians, and two hundred years had elapsed
since their expulsion. In B.C. 368, Epaminondas again led an army into the Peloponnesus;
but, not fulfilling the expectations of the people, he was disgraced and, according
to Diodorus, was ordered to serve in the ranks: In that capacity he is said to
have saved the army in Thessaly when entangled in dangers which threatened it
with destruction, being required by the general voice to assume the command. He
is not again heard of in a public capacity till B.C. 366, when he was sent to
support the democratic interest in Achaia, and by his moderation and judgment
brought that whole confederation over to the Theban alliance without bloodshed
or banishment. It soon became plain, however, that a mere change of masters--Thebes
instead of Sparta--would be of no service to the Grecian States. Achaia first,
then Elis, then Mantinea and a great part of Arcadia, returned to the Lacedaemonian
alliance. To check this defection, Epaminondas led an army into the Peloponnesus
for the fourth time, in B.C. 362. Joined by the Argives, Messenians, and part
of the Arcadians, he entered Laconia and endeavoured to take Sparta by surprise;
but the vigilance of Agesilaus just frustrated his scheme. Epaminondas then marched
against Mantinea, near which was fought the celebrated battle in which he fell.
The disposition of his troops on this occasion was an improvement on that by which
he had gained the battle of Leuctra, and would have had the same decisive success,
but that, in the critical moment, when the Lacedaemonian line was just broken,
he received a mortal wound, said to have been inflicted by Gryllus, the son of
Xenophon. The Theban army was paralyzed by this misfortune; nothing was done to
profit by a victory which might have been made certain; and this battle, on which
the expectation of all Greece waited, led to no important result.
Whether Epaminondas could much longer have upheld Thebes in the rank to which
he had raised her is very doubtful; without him she fell at once to her former
obscurity. His character is certainly one of the noblest recorded in Greek history.
His private life was moral and refined, his public conduct uninfluenced by personal
ambition or by personal hatred. He was a sincere lover of his country; and if,
in his schemes for her advancement, he was indifferent to the injury done to other
members of the Grecian family, this is a fault from which, perhaps, no Greek statesman
except Aristides was free.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Epaminondas, (Epameinondas), the Theban general and statesman, son of Polymnis,
was born and reared in poverty, though his blood was noble. In his early years
he is said to have enjoyed the instructions of Lysis of Tarentum, the Pythagorean,
and we seem to trace the practical influence of this philosophy in several passages
of his later life. (Plut. Pelop. 3, de Gen. Soc. 8, &c.; Ael. V. H. ii. 43, iii.
17, v. 5, xii. 43; Paus. iv. 31, viii. 52, ix. 13; C. Nep. Epam. 1, 2; comp. Fabric.
Bibl. Graec. vol. i., and the works of Dodwell and Bentley there referred to.)
His close and enduring friendship with Pelopidas, unbroken as it was through a
long series of years, and amidst all the military and civil offices which they
held together, strikingly illustrates the tendency which contrast of character
has to cement attachments, when they have for their foundation some essential
point of similarity and sympathy. According to some, their friendship originated
in the campaign in which they served together on the Spartan side against Mantineia,
where Pelopidas having fallen in a battle, apparently dead, Epaminondas protected
his body at the imminent risk of his own life, B. C. 385. (Plut. Pelop. 4; Xen.
Hell. v. 2.1, &c.; Diod. xv. 5, 12; Paus. viii. 8.) When the Theban patriots engaged
in their enterprise for the recovery of the Cadmeia, in B. C. 379, Epaminondas
held aloof from it at first, from a fear, traceable to his Pythagorean religion,
lest innocent blood should be shed in the tumult. To the object of the attempt,
however,--the delivers of Thebes from Spartan domination,--he was of course favourable.
He had studiously exerted himself already to raise the spirit and confidence of
the Theban youths, urging them to match themselves in gymnastic exercises with
the Lacedaemonians of the citadel, and rebuking them, when successful in these,
for the tameness of their submission to the invaders ; and, when the first step
in the enterprise had been taken, ard Archias and Leontiades were slain, he came
forward and took part decisively with Pelopidas and his confederates. (Plut. Pelop.
5, 12, de Gen. Soc. 3; Polyaen. ii. 2; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 2, &c.) In B. C. 371,
when the Athenian envoys went to Sparta to negotiate peace, Epaminondas also came
thither, as an ambassador, to look after the interests of Thebes, and highly distinguished
himself by his eloquence and ready wit in the debate which ensued on the question
whether Thebes should be allowed to ratify the treaty in the name of all Boeotia,
thus obtaining a recognition of her claim to supremacy over the Boeotian towns.
This being refused by the Spartans, the Thebans were excluded from the treaty
altogether, and Cleombrotus was sent to invade Bocotia. The result was the battle
of Leuctra, so fatal to the Lacedaemonians, in which the success of Thebes is
said to have been owing mainly to the tactics of Epaminondas. He it was, indeed,
who most strongly urged the giving battle, while he employed all the means in
his power to raise the courage of his countrymen, not excluding even omens and
oracles, for which, when unfavourable, he had but recently expressed his contempt.
(Xen. Hell. vi. 3.18-20, 4.1-15; Diod. xv. 33, 51-56; Plut. Ages. 27, 28, Pelop.
20-23, Cam. 19, Reg. et Imp. Apoph., ed. Tauchn., De seips. cit. inv. land. 16,
De San. Tuend. Prace. 23; Paus. viii. 27, ix. 13; Polyaen. ii. 2; C. Nep. Epam.
6; Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 46, de Off. i. 24; Suid. s. v. Epaminondas.) The project
of Lycomedes for the founding of Megalopolis and the union of Arcadia was vigorously
encouraged and forwarded by Epaminondas, B. C. 370, as a barrier against Spartan
dominion, though we need not suppose with Pausanias that the plan originated with
him. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5.6, &c.; Paus. viii. 27, ix. 14; Diod. xv. 59; Aristot.
Polit. ii. 2, ed. Bekk.) In the next year, B. C. 369, the first invasion of the
Peloponnesus by the Thebans took place, and when the rest of their generals were
anxious to return home, as the term of their command was drawing to a close, Epaminondas
and Pelopidas persuaded them to remain and to advance against Sparta. The country
was ravaged as far as the coast, and the city itself, thrown into the utmost consternation
by the unprecedented sight of an enemy's fires, and endangered also by treachery
within, was saved only by the calm firmness and the wisdom of Agesilaus. Epaminondas,
however, did not leave the Peloponnesus before he had inflicted a most serious
blow on Sparta, and planted a permanent thorn in her side by the restoration of
the Messenians to their country and the establishment of a new city, named Messene,
on the site of the ancient Ithome,--a work which was carried into effect with
the utmost solemnity, and, as Epaminondas wished to have it believed, not without
the special interposition of gods and heroes. Meanwhile the Lacedaemtonians had
applied successfully for aid to Athens; but the Athenian general, Iphicrates,
seems to have acted on this occasion with less than his usual energy and ability,
and the Theban army made its way back in safety through an unguarded pass of the
Isthmus. Pausanias tells us that Epaminondas advanced to the walls of Athens,
and that Iphicrates restrained his countrymen from marching out against him; but
the several accounts of these movements are by no means clear. (Xen. Hell. vi.
5.22, &c., 33-52. vii. 1.27; Arist. Polit. ii. 9, ed. Bekk.; Plut. Pel. 24, Ages.
31-34 ; Diod. xv. 62-67; Paus. iv. 26, 27, ix. 14 ; Polyb. iv. 33; C. Nep. Iph.
21.) On their return home Epaminondas and Pelopidas were impeached by their enemies
on a capital charge of having retained their command beyond the legal term. The
fact itself was true enough, but they were both honourably acquitted, Epaminondas
having expressed his willingness to die if the Thebans would record that he had
been put to death because he had humbled Sparta and taught his countrymen to face
and to conquer her armies. Against his accusers he was philosophical and magnanimous
enough, unlike Pelopidas, to take no measures of retaliation. (Plut. Pelop. 25,
De seips. cit. inv. laud. 4, Reg. et Imp. Apoph., ed. Tauchn. ; Paus. ix. 14;
Ael. V. H. xiii. 42; C. Nep. Epam. 7, 8.)
In the spring of 368 he again led a Theban army into the Peloponnesus,
and having been vainly opposed at the Isthmus by the forces of Sparta and her
allies, including Athens, he advanced against Sicyon and Pellene, and obliged
them to relinquish their alliance with the Lacedaemonians; but on his return,
he was repulsed by Chabrias in an attack which he made on Corinth. It seems doubtful
whether his early departure home was owing to the rising jealousy of the Arcadians
towards Thebes, or to the arrival of a force, chiefly of Celts and Iberians, sent
by Dionysius I. to the aid of the Spartans. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1.15-22; Diod. xv.
68-70; Paus. ix. 15.) In the same year we find him serving, but not as general,
in the Theban army which was sent into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas from Alexander
of Pherae, and which Diodorus tells us was saved from utter destruction only by
the ability of Epaminondas. According to the same author, he held no command in
the expedition in question because the Thebans thought he had not pursued as vigorously
as he might his advantage over the Spartans at the Isthmus in the last campaign.
The disaster in Thessaly, however, proved to Thebes his value, and in the next
year (367) he was sent at the head of another force to release Pelopidas, and
accomplished his object, according to Plutarch, without even striking a blow,
and by the mere prestige of his name. (Diod. xv. 71, 72, 75; Plut. Pelop. 28,
29.) It would appear--and if so, it is a noble testimony to his virtue--that the
Thebans took advantage of his absence on this expedition to destroy their old
rival Orchomenus,--a design which they had formed immediately after their victory
at Leuctra, and which had been then prevented only by his remonstrances. Diod.
xv. 57, 79; Paus ix. 15; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v.) In the spring of 366 he
invaded the Peloponnesus for the third time, with the view chiefly of strengthening
the influence of Thebes in Achaia, and so indirectly with the Arcadians as well,
who sere now more than half alienated from their former ally. Having obtained
assurances of fidelity from the chief men in the several states, he did not deem
it necessary to put down the oligarchical governments which had been established
under Spartan protection ; but the Arcadians made this moderation a ground of
complaint against him to the Thebans, and the latter then sent harmosts to the
different Achaean cities, and set up democracy in all of them, which, however,
was soon overthrown every-where by a counter-revolution. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1.41-43;
Diod. xv. 75.) In B. C. 363, when the oligarchical party in Arcadia had succeeded
in bringing about a treaty of peace with Elis, the Theban officer in command at
Tegea at first joined in the ratification of it; but afterwards, at the instigation
of the chiefs of the democratic party, he ordered the gates of Tegea to be closed,
and arrested many of the higher class. The Mantineians protested strongly against
this act of violence, and prepared to resent it, and the Theban then released
the prisoners, and apologized for his conduct. The Mantineians, however, sent
to Thebes to demand that he should be capitally punished; but Epaminondas defended
his conduct, saying, that he had acted more properly in arresting the prisoners
than in releasing them, and expressed a determination of entering the Peloponnesus
to carry on the war in conjunction with those Arcadians who still sided with Thebes.
(Xen. Hell. vii. 4.12-40.) The alarm caused by this answer as symptomatic of an
overbearing spirit of aggression on the part of Thebes, withdrew from her most
of the Peloponnesians, though Argos, Messenia, Tegea, and Megalopolis still retained
their connexion with her. It was then against formidable coalition of states,
including Athens and Sparta, that Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnesus, for the
fourth time, in B. C. 362. The difficulties of his situation were great, but his
energy and genius were fully equal to the crisis, and perhaps at no period of
his life were they so remarkably displayed as at its glorious close. Advancing
to Tegea, he took up his quarters there; but the time for which he held his command
was drawing to an end, and it was necessary for the credit and interest of Thebes
that the expedition should not be ineffectual. When then he ascertained that Agesilaus
was on his march against him, he set out from Tegtea in the evening, and marched
straight on Sparta, hoping to find it undefended; but Agesilaus received intelligence
of his design, and hastened back before his arrival, and the attempt of the Thebans
on the city was baffled. They returned accordingly to Tegea, and thence marched
on to Mantineia, whither their cavalry had preceded them. In the battle which
ensued at this place, and in which the peculiar tactics of Epaminondas were brilliantly
and successfully displayed, he himself, in the full career of victory, received
a mortal wound, and was borne away from the throng. He was told that his death
would follow directly on the javelin being extracted from the wound; but he would
not allow this to be done till he had been assured that his shield was safe, and
that the victory was with his countrymen. It was a disputed point by whose hand
he fell : among others, the honour was assigned to Gryllus, the son of Xenophon.
He was buried where he died, and his tomb was surmounted by a column, on which
a shield was suspended, emblazoned with the device of a dragon--symbolical (says
Pausanias) of his descent from the blood of the Spartoi, the children of the dragon's
teeth. (Xen. Hell. vii. 5 ; Isocr. Ep. ad Arch. § 5; Diod. xv. 82-87; Plut. Ages.
34, 35, Apoph. 24; Paus. viii. 11, ix. 15 ; Just. vi. 7, 8; Cic. ad Fam. v. 12,
de Fin. ii. 30 ; Suid. s. v. Epaminondas; C. Nep. Epam. 9; Polyb. iv. 33.) The
circumstances of ancient Greece supplied little or no scope for any but the narrowest
patriotism, and this evil is perhaps never more apparent than when we think of
it in connexion with the noble mind of one like Epaminondas. We do indeed find
him rising above it, as, for instance, in his preservation of Orchomenus; but
this was in spite of the system under which he lived, and which, while it checked
throughout the full expansion of his character, sometimes (as in his vindication
of the outrage at Tegea) seduced him into positive injustice. At the best, amidst
all our admiration of his genius and his many splendid qualities, we cannot forget
that they were directed, after all, to the one petty object of the aggrandizement
of Thebes. In the ordinary characters of Grecian history we look for no more than
this ;--it comes before us painfully in the case of Epaminondas. (Ael. V. H. vii.
14; Cic. de Orat. iii. 34, de Fin. ii. 19, Brut. 13, Tusc. Disp,. i. 2; Polyb.
vi. 43, ix. 8, xxxii. 8, Fragm. Hist. 15; C. Nep. Epam. 10; Aesch. de Fals. Leg.)
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
Epaminondas : Various WebPages
Born in Thebes, Epaminondas is known as a great tactic, general and
statesman.
He was a very severe person and did not stand any kind of lies, not
even in jokes. As a young man he had trained himself in ascetic ways, and had
studied music and philosophy according to Pythagoras.
After the liberation of Thebes from the Spartans, Epaminondas was
elected representative at the peace meeting in Sparta.
He had no success there, and left the meeting after an argument with the Spartan
king Agesilaus.
As a military leader, Epaminondas invented the ingenious strategy
of putting the emphasis of the phalanx to the left, as well as making it attack
sideways instead of straight on, which made the enemy's left held shields weak.
He defeated the Spartans at Leuctra, which gave Thebes a leading position among
the Greek city-states. He also liberated Messenia from the Spartans, and founded
Megalopolis as capital of the Arcadian Laegue. These victories were to end Spartas
leading role.
On his return to Thebes, Epaminondas was charged and sentenced to
death for having kept his high office for much longer than the given month. The
sentence was soon revoked though, after Epamindondas had held a speech about how
he had saved Thebes. Epaminondas died during a campaign against the Spartan League,
hit by a spear. Dying he asked the Thebans to ask for peace with the enemies,
which happened, forever crushing Thebes' aspirations of becoming the leading state
of Greece.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
AMVROSSOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Perseus Encyclopedia
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Arimnestus (Arimnestos), the commander of the Plataeans at the battles of Marathon and Plataea. (Paus. ix. 4.1; Herod. ix. 72; Plut. Arist. c. 11). The Spartan who killed Mardonius is called by Plutarch Arimnestus, but by Herodotus Aeimestus.
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
commanding Thespian force at Thermopylae.
While the Peloponnesians and their allies in Attica were engaged in the work of fortification, their countrymen at home sent off, at about the same time, the heavy infantry in the merchant vessels to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians furnishing a picked force of Helots and Neodamodes ‘or freedmen), six hundred heavy infantry in all, under the command of Eccritus, a Spartan; and the Boeotians three hundred heavy infantry, commanded by two Thebans, Xenon and Nicon, and by Hegesander, a Thespian.
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
410 - 364
A Theban general and statesman, son of Hippoclus. He was descended from a noble
family, and inherited a large estate, of which he made a liberal use. He lived
always in the closest friendship with Epaminondas, to whose simple frugality,
as he could not persuade him to share his riches, he is said to have conformed
his own mode of life. He took a leading part in expelling the Spartans from Thebes,
B.C. 379; and from this time until his death there was not a year in which he
was not intrusted with some important command. In 371 he was one of the Theban
commanders at the battle of Leuctra, so fatal to the Lacedaemonians, and joined
Epaminondas in urging the expediency of immediate action. In 369 he was also one
of the generals in the first invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Thebans. In 368
Pelopidas was sent again into Thessaly, on two separate occasions, in consequence
of complaints against Alexander of Pherae. On his first expedition Alexander of
Pherae sought safety in flight, and Pelopidas advanced into Macedonia to arbitrate
between Alexander II. and Ptolemy of Alorus. Among the hostages whom he took with
him from Macedonia was the famous Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. On
his second visit to Thessaly, Pelopidas went simply as an ambassador, not expecting
any opposition, and unprovided with a military force. He was seized by Alexander
of Pherae, and was kept in confinement at Pherae till his liberation in 367 by
a Theban force under Epaminondas. In the same year in which he was released he
was sent as ambassador to Susa to counteract the Lacedaemonian and Athenian negotiations
at the Persian court. In 364 the Thessalian towns again applied to Thebes for
protection against Alexander, and Pelopidas was appointed to aid them. His forces,
however, were dismayed by an eclipse of the sun (June 13), and, therefore, leaving
them behind, he took with him into Thessaly only three hundred horse. On his arrival
at Pharsalus he collected a force which he deemed sufficient, and marched against
Alexander, treating lightly the great disparity of numbers, and remarking that
it was better as it was, since there would be more for him to conquer. At Cynoscephalae
a battle ensued, in which Pelopidas drove the enemy from their ground, but he
himself was slain as, burning with resentment, he pressed rashly forward to attack
Alexander in person. The Thebans and Thessalians made great lamentations for his
death, and the latter, having earnestly requested leave to bury him, celebrated
his funeral with extraordinary splendour.
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410 - 364
Saved in battle by Epaminondas, imprisoned by Alexander in Thessaly, rescued by Epaminondas.
Pelopidas: Perseus Project index.
Lives, by Plutarch: Pelopidas
General from Thebes, who was exiled by the oligarchic party, only
to return after some time in Athens,
taking over the citadel and establishing a democracy.
Dressed as farmers, Pelopidas and his men managed to get into Thebes
without being recognized and then, at a friends' house, disguised themselves as
female dancers, performing for the leading aristocrats. When the leaders were
drunk, Pelopidas and his party took out their daggers and slayed the aristocrats.
Pelopidas led the Sacred Band of Theban Youth, an important factor
in the Theban general Epaminondas' victory over the Spartans at Leuctra
in 371 BC.
Three years later Pelopidas was taken prisoner by the Thessalian tyrant
Alexander of Pherae after
an unsuccsessful expedition, and Epaminondas came to his rescue, releasing him
from the tyrant. After this, Pelopidas served as Theban ambassador in Susa,
Persia.
He defeated Alexander of Pherae
at the Battle of Cynoscephalae,
but was killed in action.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Pelopidas: Various WebPages
Theban general, defeated by Cleombrotus.
Coeratadas (Koiratadas), a Theban, commanded some Boeotian forces under Clearchus, the Spartan harmost at Byzantium, when that place was besieged by the Athenians in B. C. 408. When Clearchus crossed over to Asia to obtain money from Pharnabazus, and to collect forces, he left the command of the garrison to Helixus, a Megarian, and Coeratadas, who were soon after compelled to surrender themselves as prisoners when certain parties within the town had opened the gates to Alcibiades. They were sent to Athens, but during the disembarkation at the Peiraeeus, Coeratadas contrived to escape in the crowd, and made his way in safety to Deceleia (Xen. Hell. i. 3.15-22; Diod. xiii. 67; Plut. Alc. 31). In B. C. 400, when the Cyrean Greeks had arrived at Byzantium, Coeratadas, who was going about in search of employment as a general, prevailed on them to choose him as their commander, promising to lead them into Thrace on an expedition of much profit, and to supply them plentifully with provisions. It was however almost immediately discovered that he had no means of supporting them for even a single day, and he was obliged accordingly to relinquish his command. (Xen. Anab. vii. 1.33-41)
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Eurymachus, (Eurumachos), grandson of another Eurymachus and son of Leontiades, the Theban commander at Thermopylae, who led his men over to Xerxes. Herodotus in his account of the father's conduct relates, that the son in after time was killed by the Plataeans, when at the head of four hundred men and occupying their city. (Herod. vii. 233.) This is, no doubt, the same event which Thucydides (ii. 1-7) records as the first overt act of the Peloponnesian war, B. C. 431. The number of men was by his account only a little more than three hundred, nor was Eurymachus the actual commander, but the enterprise had been negotiated by parties in Plataea through him, and the conduct of it would therefore no doubt be entrusted very much to him. The family was clearly one of the great aristocratical houses. Thucydides (ii. 2) calls Eurymachus "a man of the greatest power in Thebes."
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Ismenias, a Theban, of the party adverse to Rome and friendly to Macedonia. When he was chosen Boeotarch, a considerable number of the opposite faction were driven into exile, and condemned to death by him in their absence. These men met, at Larissa in Thessaly, the Roman commissioners, who were sent into Greece in B. C. 171, preparatory to the war with Perseus; and on being upbraided with the alliance which Boeotia had made with the Macedonians, they threw the whole blame on Ismenias. Shortly after they appeared before the commissioners at Chalcis; and here Ismenias also presented himself, and proposed that the Boeotian nation should collectively submit to Rome. This proposal, however, did not at all suit Q. Marcius and his colleagues, whose object was to divide the Boeotian towns, and dissolve their confederacy. They therefore treated Ismenias with great contumely; and his enemies being thereby emboldened to attack him, he narrowly escaped death by taking refuge at the Roman tribunal. Meanwhile, the Roman party entirely prevailed at Thebes, and sent an embassy to the Romans at Chalcis, to surrender their city, and to recal the exiles. Ismenias was thrown into prison, and, after some time, was put to death, or (as we may perhaps understand the words of Polybius) committed suicide. (Liv. xlii. 38, 43, 44; Polyb. xxvii. 1, 2.)
Lacrates (Lakrates).A general sent out by the Thebans, at the head of 1000 heavyarmed troops, to assist Artaxerxes Ochus in his invasion of Egypt, B. C. 350. He commanded that division of the royal forces sent against Pelusium. (Diod. xvi. 44, 49).
Leontiades, a Theban, of noble family, commanded at Thermopylae the forces supplied by Thebes to the Grecian army. (Herod. vii. 205; comp. Diod. xi. 4.) They came unwillingly, according to Herodotus, and therefore were retained by Leonidas, rather as hostages than allies, when he sent away the main body of the Greeks (Herod. vii. 220-222; but see Plut. de Herod. Mal 31; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. ii. p. 287.). In the battle -a hopeless one for the Greeks- which was fought after the Persians had been conducted over Callidromus, Leontiades and the force under his command surrendered to the enemy and obtained quarter. Herodotus tells us, however, that some of them were nevertheless slain by the barbarians, and that most of the remainder, including Leontiades, were branded as slaves by the order of Xerxes (Herod. vii. 233). Plutarch contradicts this (de Herod. Mal. 33), -if, indeed, the treatise be his,- and also says that Anaxander, and not Leontiades, commanded the Thebans at Thermopylae.
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Leontiades, son of Eurymachus. and grandson, apparently, of the above, was one of the polemarchs at Thebes, in B. C. 382, when the Spartan commander, Phoebidas, stopped there on his way against Olynthus. Unlike Ismenias, his democratic colleague, Leontiades courted Phoebidas from the period of his arrival, and, together with Archias and Philip, the other chiefs of the oligarchical party, instigated him to seize the Cadmeia with their aid. This enterprise having been effected on a day when the women were keeping the Thesmophoria in the citadel, and the council therefore sat in or near the agora, Leontiades proceeded to the council and announced what had taken place, with an assurance that no violence was intended to such as remained quiet. Then, asserting that his office of polemarch gave him power to apprehend any one under suspicion of a capital offence, he caused Ismenias to be seized and thrown into prison. Archias was forthwith appointed to the office thus vacated, and Leontiades went to Sparta and persuaded the Lacedaemonians to sanction what had been done. Accordingly, they sent commissioners to Thebes, who condemned Ismenias to death, and fully established Leontiades and his faction in the government under the protection of the Spartan garrison (Xen. Hell. v. ii. 25-36; Diod. xv. 20; Plut. Ages. 23, Pelop. 5, de Gen. Soc. 2). In this position, exposed to the hostility and machinations of some 400 democratic exiles, who had taken refuge at Athens (Xen. Hell. v. 2.31), Leontiades, watchful, cautious, and energetic, presented a marked contrast to Archias, his voluptuous colleague, whose reckless and insolent profligacy he discountenanced, as tending obviously to the overthrow of their joint power. His unscrupulousness, at the same time, was at least equal to his other qualifications for a party-leader; for we find him sending emissaries to Athens to remove the chief of the exiles by assassination, though Androcleidas was the only one who fell a victim to the plot. In B. C. 379, when the refugees, associated with Pelopidas, had entered on their enterprise for the deliverance of Thebes, Pelopidas himself, with Cephisodorus, Damocleidas, and Phyllidas, went to the house of Leontiades, while Mellon and others were dealing with Archias. The house was closed for the night, and it was with some difficulty that the conspirators gained admittance. Leontiades met them at the door of his chamber, and killed Cephisodorus, who was the first that entered; but, after an obstinate struggle, he was himself despatched by Pelopidas (Xen. Hell. v. 4. 1-7; Plut. Pel. 6, 11, Ages. 24, de Gen. Soc. 4, 6, 31; Diod. xv. 25). It may be remarked that Plutarch calls him, throughout, Leontidas (Schn. ad Xen. Hell. v. 2.25).
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
CHALKIS (Ancient city) EVIA
Dionysius of Chalcis, a Greek historian, who lived before the Christian era. He wrote a work on the
foundation of towns (ktiseis) in five books, which is frequently referred to by
the ancients. A considerable number of fragments of the work have thus been preserved,
but its author is otherwise unknown (Marcian. Heracl. Peripl.; Suid. s. v. Chalkidike;
Harpocrat. s. v. Hephaistia and Heraion teichos; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 558,
1024, iv. 264, ad Aristoph. Nub. 397; Dionys. Hal. A. R. i. 72; Strab. xii.; Plut.
de Malign. Herod. 2; Seymnus, 115; Clem. Alex. Strom. i.; Zenob. Proverb. v. 64;
Apostol. xviii. 25; Photius, s. vv. Praxidike, Telmiseis; Eudoc.)
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Daemachus or Deimachus (Daimachos or Deimachos), of Plataeae, a Greek historian, whose age
is determined by the fact, that he was sent as ambassador to Allitrochades, the
son of Androcottus or Sandrocottus, king of India (Strab. ii.), and Androcottus
reigned at the time when Seleucus was laying the foundation of the subsequent
greatness of his empire, about B. C. 312. (Justin. xv. 4.) This fact at once shews
the impossibility of what Casaubon (ad Diog. Laert. i. 1) endeavoured to prove,
that the historian Ephorus had stolen whole passages from Daimachus's work, since
Ephorus lived and wrote before Daimachus. The latter wrote a work on India, which
consisted of at least two books. He had probably acquired or at least increased
his knowledge of those eastern countries during his embassy; but Strabo nevertheless
places him at the head of those who had circulated false and fabulous accounts
about India. (Comp. Athen. ix.; Harpocrat. s. v. engutheke; Schol. ad Apollon.
Rhod. i. 558.) We have also mention of a very extensive work on sieges (poliorketika
hupomnemata) by one Daimachus, who is probably the same as the author of the Indica.
If the reading in Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Lakedaimon) is correct, the work
on sieges consisted of at least 35 (le) books. (Comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Il. ii.
581.) The work on India is lost, but the one on sieges may possibly be still concealed
somewhere, for Magius (in Gruter's Fax Artium) states, that he saw a MS. of it.
It may be that our Daimachus is the same as the one quoted by Plutarch (Comparat.
Solon. cum Publ. 4) as an authority on the military exploits of Solon. In another
passage of Plutarch (Lysand. 12) one Laimachus (according to the common reading)
is mentioned as the author of a work peri eusebeias, and modern critics have changed
the name Laimachus into Daimachus, and consider him to be the same as the historian.
In like manner it has been proposed in Diogenes Laertius (i. 30) to read Daimachos
ho Plataieus instead of Daidachos ho Platonikos, but these are only conjectural
emendations.
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THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Aristophanes, a Boeotian (Plut. de Malign. Herod.), of whom Suidas (s. vv. Homoloios, Thebaious horous; comp. Steph. Byz. s. v. Antikonduleis) mentions the second book of a work on Thebes (Thebaika). Another work bore the name of Boiotika, and the second book of it is quoted by Suidas. (s. v. Chaironeia)
Armenidas or Armenides, a Greek author, who wrote a work on Thebes (Thebaika), which is referred to by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (i. 551) and Stephanus Byzantius. (s. v. Hhaliartos. But whether his work was written in prose or in verse, and at what time the author lived, cannot be ascertained.
Cephisodorus, an Athenian orator, a most eminent disciple of Isocrates, wrote
an apology for Isocrates against Aristotle. The work against Aristotle was in
four books, under the title of hai pros Aristotele antigraphai. He also attacked
Plato.
A writer of the same name is mentioned by the Scholiast on Aristotle
(Eth. Nicom. iii. 8) as the author of a history of the Sacred War. As the disciples
of Isocrates paid much attention to historical composition, Ruhnken conjectures
that the orator and the historian were the same person (Hist. Crit. Orat. Graec.38).
There is a Cephisodorus, a Theban, mentioned by Athenaeus (xii.) as an historian.
It is possible that he may be the same person. If so, we must suppose that Cephisodorus
was a native of Thebes, and settled at Athens as a metoikos: but this is mere
conjecture.
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Anaxis, a Boeotian, wrote a history of Greece, which was carried down to B. C. 360, the year before the accession of Philip to the kingdom of Macedonia. (Diod. xv. 95.)
Ctesiphon, the author of a work on Boeotia, of which Plutarch (Parall. Min. 12) quotes the third book. Whether he is the same as the Ctesiphon who wrote on plants and trees (Plut. de Fluv. 14, 18) is uncertain.
Dionysodorus, (Dionusodoros). A Boeotian, who is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (xv. 95) as the author of a history of Greece, which came down as far as the reign of Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great. It is usually supposed that he is the same person as the Dionysodorus in Diogenes Laertius (ii. 42), who denied that the paean which went by the name of Socrates, was the production of the philosopher. (Comp. Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 917.) It is uncertain also whether he is the auther of a work on rivers (peri potamon, Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 122), and of another entitled ta tara tois tragoidois hemartemena, which is quoted by a Scholiast. (Ad Eurip. Rhes. 504.)
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
TRACHIS (Ancient city) FTHIOTIDA
Ephialtes. A Malian, who, in B. C. 480, when Leonidas was defending the pass of Thermopylae, guided the body of Persians called the Immortals over the mountain path (the Anopaea), and thus enabled them to fall on the rear of the Greeks. Fearing after this the vengeance of the Spartans, he fled into Thessaly, and a price was set on his head by the Amphictyonic council. He ultimately returned to his country, and was put to death by one Athenades, a Trachinian, for some cause unconnected with his treason, but not further mentioned by Herodotus. (Her. vii. 213, &c.; Paus. i. 4; Strab. i.; Polyaen. vii. 15.)
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Perseus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
ASKRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Ctesibius (Ktesibios). A native of Ascra and contemporary of Archimedes, who flourished during the reigns of Ptolemy II. and Ptolemy III., or between B.C. 260 and 240. He was the son of a barber, and for some time exercised at Alexandria the calling of his parent. His mechanical genius, however, soon caused him to emerge from obscurity, and he became known as the inventor of several very ingenious contrivances for raising water, etc. The invention of clepsydrae, or water clocks, is also ascribed to him. (Cf. Vitruvius, ix. 9.) He wrote a book on hydraulic machines, which is now lost.
Ctesibica Machina. An hydraulic engine named after its inventor, Ctesibius of
Alexandria. In the language of modern hydraulics it is a double-action forcing
pump. Vitruvius, in his description (x. 10.7), speaks of it as designed to raise
water, while Ctesibius's pupil, Hero (Pneumat. p. 180), describes, under the name
of siphon, a machine identical in principle, but of improved construction, and
says that it was used as a fireengine (eis tous empresmous). Indeed, the same
principle has been employed in modern fire-engines. The remains of such a siphon
were discovered at Castrum Novum, near Civita Vecchia, in 1795, having probably
served to supply the public baths with water.
The following cut (in URL below) illustrates the construction of Ctesibius's
invention as described by Vitruvius. Two cylinders (modioli), B B, are connected
by pipes with a receiver (catinus), A, which is closed by a cowl (paenula), D.
In each cylinder a piston (embolus masculus), C, is worked by means of its rod
(regula). In the bottom of each cylinder, and at the opening of each pipe into
the receiver, is a movable lid or valve (assis), which only opens upwards. The
bottoms of the cylinders are inserted into a reservoir, or connected with it by
pipes. When one of the pistons is raised, a vacuum is produced in the cylinder,
and the atmospheric pressure forces a stream of water past the raised valve into
the cylinder. When this stream ceases, the valve falls; and if the piston is forced
down, the water is driven out of the cylinder into the pipe, and past the valve
into the receiver, and retained there by the closing of the valve. If the two
pistons are worked alternately, so that one descends as the other rises, a continuous
stream of water is forced out of the top of the paenula.
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Horologium (horologion) was the name of the various instruments by means of which
the ancients measured the time of the day and night. The earliest and simplest
horologia of which mention is made, were called polos and gnomon. Herodotus (ii.
109) ascribes their invention to the Babylonians, and Prof. Sayce says, This is
perfectly correct; Favorinus (ap. Diog. Laert. ii. 1, 3; compare Suidas, s. v.
Inomon and Anaximandros) to Anaximander, but this means only that he was the first
to set one up in Greece, at Sparta; and Pliny, probably by an oversight (H. N.
ii.187), to his disciple Anaximenes. Herodotus mentions the polos and gnomon as
two distinct instruments. Both, however, divided the day into twelve equal parts,
and were a kind of sun-dial. The gnomon, which was also called stoicheion was
the more simple of the two, and probably the more ancient. It consisted of a staff
or pillar standing perpendicular, in a place exposed to the sun (skiatheron),
so that the length of its shadow might be easily ascertained. The shadow of the
gnomon was measured by feet, which were probably marked on the place where the
shadow fell (Hesych. s. v. Heptapous skia and dodekapodos: Pollux, i. 72). The
gnomon is almost without exception mentioned in connexion with the deipnon or
the bath; and the time for the former was towards sunset, or at the time when
the shadow of the gnomon measured 10 or 12 feet (Aristoph. Eccles. 652, with the
Schol.; Pollux, l. c.; Menander, ap. Athen. vi. p. 243; Hesych. s. v. Dekapoun
Stoicheion). The longest shadow of the gnomon, at sunrise and sunset, was 12 feet:
it is only in jest that Eubulus, ap. Athen. i. p. 8 (fr. 118 Meineke), represents
it as double the length, where it is consulted by a very big man. The time for
bathing was when the gnomon threw a shadow of 6 feet (Lucian, Cronos, c. 17; Somn.
s. Gall. c. 9). In later times the name gnomon was applied to any kind of sun-dial,
and especially to its finger, which threw the shadow, and thus pointed to the
hour. Even the clepsydra is sometimes called gnomon (Athen. ii. p. 42).
The gnomon was evidently a very imperfect instrument, and it was impossible
to divide the day into twelve equal spaces by it. This may be the reason that
we find it only used for such purposes as are mentioned above. The polos or heliotropion,
on the other hand, seems to have been a more perfect kind of sun-dial; but it
appears, nevertheless, not to have been much used, as it is but seldom mentioned
(Aristoph. ap. Polluc. ix. 46). It consisted of a basin (lekanis), in the middle
of which the perpendicular staff or finger (gnomon) was erected, and in it the
twelve parts of the day were marked by lines (Alciphron, Epist. iii. 4; Lucian,
Lexiph. c. 4).
Another kind of horologium was the clepsydra (klepsudra). It derived
its name from (kleptein and hudor, as in its original and simple form it consisted
of a vessel with several little openings (trupemata) at the bottom, through which
the water contained in it escaped, as it were, by stealth. This instrument seems
at first to have been used only for the purpose of measuring the time during which
persons were allowed to speak in the courts of justice at Athens. The time of
its invention or introduction is not known; but in the age of Aristophanes (see
Acharn. 692; Vesp. 93 and 857) it appears to have been in common use. Its form
and construction may be seen very clearly from a passage of Aristotle (Problem.
xvi. 8). The clepsydra was a hollow globe, probably somewhat flat at the top part,
where it had a short neck (aulos), like that of a bottle, through which the water
was poured into it. This opening might be closed by a lid or stopper (poma), to
prevent the water running out at the bottom. The clepsydra which Aristotle had
in view was probably not of glass or of any transparent material, but of bronze
or brass, so that it could not be seen in the clepsydra itself what quantity of
water had escaped. As the time for speaking in the Athenian courts was thus measured
by water, the orators frequently use the term hudor instead of the time allowed
to them (en toi emoi hudati, Demosth. de Coron. p. 274,139; ean enchorei to hudor,
c. Leoch. p. 1094,45). Aeschines (c. Ctesiph.197), when describing the order in
which the several parties were allowed to speak, says that the first water was
given to the accuser, the second to the accused, and the third to the judges.
An especial officer (ho eph hudor) was appointed in the courts for the purpose
of watching the clepsydra, and stopping it when any documents were read, whereby
the speaker was interrupted; and it is to this officer that Demosthenes calls
out: su de epilabe to hudor (c. Steph. i. p. 1103;8; cf. c. Conon. p. 1268,36,
with Sandys' note). The time, and consequently the quantity of water allowed to
a speaker depended upon the importance of the case; and we are informed that in
a graphe parapresbeias the water allowed to each party amounted to eleven amphorae
(Aeschin. de Fals. Leg.126), whereas in trials concerning the right of inheritance
only one amphora was allowed (Demosth. c. Macart. p. 1052,8) Those actions in
which the time was thus measured to the speakers are called by Pollux (viii. 113)
dikai pros hudor: others are termed dikai aneu hudatos, and in these the speakers
were not tied down to a certain space of time. The only instance of this kind
of actions of which we know, is the graphe kakoseos (Harpocrat. s. v. kakosis).
The clepsydra used in the courts of justice however was, properly
speaking, no horologium; but smaller ones, made of glass, and of the same simple
structure, were undoubtedly used very early in families for the purposes of ordinary
life, and for dividing the day into twelve equal parts. In these glass clepsydrae
the division into twelve parts must have been visible, either on the glass globe
itself, or in the basin into which the water flowed. These instruments, however,
did not show the time quite correctly all the year round: first, because the water
ran out of the clepsydra sometimes quicker and sometimes slower, according to
the different temperature of the water (Athen. ii. p. 42; Plut. Quaest. Natur.
c. 7); and secondly, because the length of the hours varied in the different seasons
of the year. To remove the second of these defects the inside of the clepsydra
was covered with a coat of wax during the shorter days, and when they became longer
the wax was gradually taken away again (Aen. Tact. c. 22,10). Plato is said to
have used a nukterinon horologion in the shape of a large clepsydra, which indicated
the hours of the night, and seems to have been of a complicated structure (Athen.
iv. p. 174). This instance shows that at an early period improvements
were made on the old and simple clepsydra. But all these improvements were excelled
by the ingenious invention of Ctesibius, a celebrated mathematician of Alexandria
(about 135 B.C.). It is called horologion hudraulikon, and is described
by Vitruvius (ix. 9; compare Athen. l. c.), and more fully by Galen (v. p. 82
K.): cf. Marquardt, Privatalt. ii. 377 ff. Water was made to drop upon wheels
which were thereby turned. The regular movement of these wheels was communicated
to a small statue, which, gradually rising, pointed with a little stick to the
hours marked on a pillar which was attached to the mechanism. It indicated the
hours regularly throughout the year, but still required to be often attended to
and regulated. This complicated crepsydra seems never to have come into general
use, and was probably only found in the houses of very wealthy persons. The sun-dial
or gnomon, and a simpler kind of clepsydra, on the other hand, were much used
down to a very late period. The twelve parts of the day were not designated by
the name ora until the time of the Alexandrian astronomers, and even then the
old and vague divisions, described in the article DIES were preferred in the affairs
of common life. At the time of the geographer Hipparchus, however (about 150 B.C.),
it seems to have been very common to reckon by hours. (Comp. Becker-Goll, Charikles,
vol. i. p. 321 ff.)
There is still existing, though in ruins, a horological building,
which is one of the most interesting monuments at Athens. It is the structure
formerly called the Tower of the Winds, but now known as the Horological Monument
of Andronicus Cyrrhestes. It is expressly called horologium by Varro (R. R. iii.
5,17). This building is fully described by Vitruvius (i. 6,4), and the following
woodcuts show its elevation and ground-plan, as restored by Stuart. The structure
is octagonal; with its faces to the points of the compass. On the N.E. and N.W.
sides are distyle Corinthian porticoes, giving access to the interior; and to
the south wall is affixed a sort of turret, forming three quarters of a circle,
to contain the cistern which supplied water to the clepsydra in the interior.
On the summit of the building was a bronze figure of a Triton, holding a wand
in his hand; and this figure turned on a pivot, so that the wand always pointed
above that side of the building which faced the wind then blowing. The directions
of the several faces were indicated by figures of the eight winds on the frieze
of the entablature. On the plain wall below the entablature of each face, lines
are still visible, which, with the gnomons that stood out above them, formed a
series of sun-dials. In the centre of the interior of the building was a clepsydra,
the remains of which are still visible, and are shown on the plan, where the dark
lines represent the channels for the water, which was supplied from the turret
on the south, and escaped by the hole in the centre. Three other Athenian horologia
are extant, one in the monument of Thrasyllus, another that of Phaedrus in the
British Museum (C. I. G n. 522), a third in the Theatre of Dionysus, besides others
from different parts of Greece.
The first horologium with which the Romans became acquainted was a
sun-dial (solarium, or horologium sciothericum), and was, according to some writers,
brought to Rome by Papirius Cursor twelve years before the war with Pyrrhus, and
placed before the temple of Quirinus (Plin H. N. vii.213); Varro (cf. Censorinus,
de Die Nat. 23) stated that it was brought to Rome from Catina in Sicily, at the
time of the first Punic war, by the Consul M. Valerius Messala, and erected on
a column behind the Rostra. But this solarium being made for a different latitude
did not show the time at Rome correctly. Ninety-nine years afterwards, the Censor
Q. Marcius Philippus erected by the side of the old solarium a new one, which
was more carefully regulated according to the latitude of Rome. But as sun-dials,
however perfect they might be, were useless when the sky was cloudy, P. Scipio
Nasica, in his censorship, 159 B.C., established a public clepsydra, which indicated
the hours both of day and night. This clepsydra was in after-times generally called
solarium (Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 3. 4, 87; Plin. H. N. vii.215; Censorin. de Die
Nat. c. 23). The word hora for hour was introduced at Rome at the time when the
Romans became acquainted with the Greek horologia, and was in this signification
well known at the time of Plautus (Pseudol. 1307). After the time of Scipio Nasica
several horologia, chiefly solaria, seem to have been erected in various public
places at Rome. In a fragment of the Boeotia ascribed by Ribbeck to Aquilius,
but by others to Plautus (cf. Ritschl, Parerg. 83 ff., 123 ff.), we have jam oppletum
oppidumst solariis. Cf. Ribbeck, Frag. Com. p. 33. A magnificent horologium was
erected by Augustus in the Campus Martius. It was a gnomon in the shape of an
obelisk; but Pliny (H. N. xxxvi.73) complains that in the course of time it had
become incorrect. Another horologium stood in the Circus Flaminius (Vitruv. ix.
9, 1). Sometimes solaria were attached to the front side of temples and basilicas
(Varro, L. L. vi. 4; Gruter, Inscript. vi. 6). The old solarium which had been
erected behind the Rostra seems to have existed on that spot till a very late
period, and it would seem that the place was called ad Solarium, so that Cicero
uses this expression as synonymous with Rostra or Forum (pro Quint. 18, 59; ad
Herenn. iv. 10, 14). Horologia of various descriptions seem also to have been
commonly kept by private individuals (Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 1. 8, 3; Dig. 33, 7, 12,
23); and at the time of the emperors, the wealthy Romans used to keep slaves whose
special duty it was to announce the hours of the day to their masters. (Juven.
x. 216, with Mayor's note; Mart. viii. 67; Petron. 26.)
From the number of solaria which have been discovered in modern times
in Italy (thirteen having been discovered in the neighbourhood of Rome alone),
we must infer that they were very generally used among the ancients. The following
woodcut represents one of the simplest horologia which have been discovered; it
seems to bear great similarity to that, the invention of which Vitruvius ascribes
to Berosus. It was discovered in 1741, on the hill of Tusculum, and is described
by Zuzzeri, in a work entitled D'una antica villa scoperta sul dosso del Tusculo,
e d'un antico orologio a sole, Venezia, 1746, and by G. H. Martini, in his Abhandlung
von den Sonnenuhren der Alten, Leipzig, 1777, p. 49, &c.
The breadth as well as the height (A O and P A) are somewhat more
than 8 inches; and the length (A B) a little more than 16 inches. The surface
(A O R B) is horizontal. S P Q T is the basis of the solarium, which, originally,
was probably erected upon a pillar. Its side, A S T B, inclines somewhat towards
the basis. This inclination was called enklima, or inclinatio solarii and enclima
succisum (Vitruv. l. c.), and shows the latitude or polar altitude of the place
for which the solarium was made. The angle of the enclima is about 40° 43?, which
coincides with the latitude of Tusculum. In the body of the solarium is the almost
spherical excavation, H K D M I F N, which forms a double hemicyclium (hemicyclium
excavatum ex quadrato, Vitruv.). Within this excavation the eleven hour-lines
are marked which pass through three semicircles, H L N, K E F, and D M J. The
middle one, K E F, represents the equator, the two others the tropic lines of
winter and summer. The curve representing the summer tropic is somewhat more than
a semicircle, the other two curves somewhat smaller. The ten middle parts or hours
in each of the three curves are all equal to one another; but the two extreme
ones, though equal to each other, are by one-fourth smaller than the rest. In
the middle, G, of the curve D K H N I J, there is a little square hole, in which
the gnomon or pointer must have been fixed, and a trace of it is still visible
in the lead by means of which it was fixed. It must have stood in a perpendicular
position upon the surface A B R O, and at a certain distance from the surface
it must have turned in a right angle above the spheric excavation, so that its
end (C) extended as far as the middle of the equator, as it is restored in the
above woodcut. Another solarium is described in G. H. Martini's Antiquorum Monumentorum
Sylloge, p. 93 f. (Lips. 1783); cf. Overbeck's Pompeii, p. 411.
Clepsydrae were used by the Romans in their camps, chiefly for the
purpose of measuring accurately the four vigiliae into which the night was divided
(Caes. de Bell. Gall. v. 13; Veget. de Re Milit. iii. 8; Aen. Tact. c. 22).
The custom of using clepsydrae as a check upon the speakers in the
courts of justice at Rome is said to have been introduced by a law of Cn. Pompeius,
in his third consulship (Tac. de clar. Orat. 38), who adds, before that time the
speakers had been under no restrictions, but spoke as long as they deemed proper.
But there is some inaccuracy here, as Cicero in B.C. 70 (in Verr. i. 9, 25) speaks
of his legitimae horae; in B.C. 63 (pro Rab. Perd. 2, 6) his defence is limited
to half an hour, and in B.C. 59 (pro Flacc. 33, 82) six hours are allotted. At
Rome, as at Athens, the time allowed to the speakers depended upon the importance
of the case. Pliny (Epist. ii. 11) states that on one important occasion he spoke
for nearly five hours, ten large clepsydrae having been granted to him by the
judices, but the case was so important that four others were added. (Compare Plin.
Epist. vi. 2; Martial, vi. 35, viii. 7.) The law of Pompeius only limited the
time during which the accuser was allowed to speak to two hours, while the accused
was allowed three hours in the case of prosecutions de vi. (Ascon. in Milon. p.
37, ed. Orelli.) It is clear from the case of Pliny and others that this restriction
was not observed on all occasions. In a case mentioned by Pliny (Epist. iv. 9),
according to law (e lege) the accuser had six hours, while the accused had nine.
An especial officer was at Rome as well as at Athens appointed to stop the clepsydra
during the time when documents were read. (Apul. Apolog. i. and ii.; compare Ernesti,
de Solariis, in his Opuscul. Philolog. et Grit. pp. 21-31; Wopcke, Disquisitiones
arch. math. circa Solaria veterum, Berol. 1842; Becker-Goll, Gallus, ii p. 407
ff.; and especially Marquardt, Privatl. 370 ff.)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hydraulus (hudraulos). A water-organ. According to Athenaeus, it was the invention
of Ctesibius of Alexandria, who evidently took the idea of his organ from the
syrinx or Pandean pipes, a musical instrument of the highest antiquity among the
Greeks. His object being to employ a row of pipes of great size, and capable of
emitting the most powerful as well as the softest sounds, he contrived the means
of adapting keys with levers (ankoniskoi), and with perforated sliders (pomata)
to open and shut the mouths of the pipes (glossokoma), a supply of wind being
obtained, without intermission, by bellows, in which the pressure of water performed
the same part which is fulfilled in the modern organ by a weight (Hero , Spirit.
228). On this account the instrument invented by Ctesibius was called the water-organ
(hudraulis, hudraulikon organon, Heron, Spirit.; hydraulica machina, Vitruv. x.
13; hydraulus, Pliny , Pliny H. N.ix. 24; Cic. Tusc.iii. 18. 43). It is described
in an epigram by the emperor Julian (Brunck, Anal.ii. 403=Anth. Pal. ix. 365),
who mentions the swift fingers of the performer, but not the water-bellows; and
more clearly in the lines of Claudian (De Manl. Theod. Cons. 316-319). We have
here the keys, the innumerable pipes of metal, the lever as large as a beam which
sets the water in motion. Its pipes were partly of bronze (chalkeie aroura, Julian
; seges aena, Claudian), and partly of reed (donakes, Julian ). The number of
its stops, and consequently of its rows of pipes, varied from one to eight, so
that Tertullian (De Anima, 14) describes it with reason as an exceedingly complicated
instrument. We are still in the dark as to the exact part played by the water,
which, besides, must have rendered the instrument much less portable. As invented
by Ctesibius, the organ was doubtless hydraulic: but the epigram of Julian omits
all mention of the water, and probably, in later times, the mechanism was simplified
and the bellows blown directly by the pedal, as in the modern harmonium.
The organ was well adapted to gratify the Roman people in the splendid
entertainments provided for them by the emperors and other opulent persons. Nero
was very curious about organs, both in regard to their musical effect and their
mechanism ( Suet. Ner.41Suet. Ner., 54). A contorniate coin of this emperor in
the British Museum (see illustration in the URL below) shows a small organ with
a sprig of laurel on one side and a man standing on the other. The general form
of the organ is also clearly exhibited in a poem by Publilius Porphyrius Optatianus,
describing the instrument, and composed of verses so constructed as to show both
the lower part which contained the bellows, the wind-chest which lay upon it,
and over this the row of twenty-six pipes. These are represented by twenty-six
lines, which increase in length each by one letter, until the last line is twice
as long as the first (Wernsdorf, Poetae Lat. Min. vol. ii. pp. 394-413). There
can be little doubt that hudraules, hydraula or hydraules, denotes the organist
( Suet. Ner.54; Sat.36). See Musica.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
240 - 180
CHALKIS (Ancient city) EVIA
. . Cephissus, which fills lake Copais; for when the lake had increased so much that Copae was in danger of being swallowed up . ., a rent in the earth, which was formed by the lake near Copae, opened up a subterranean channel about thirty stadia in length and admitted the river; and then the river burst forth to the surface near Larymna in Locris; I mean the Upper Larymna . . The place is called Anchoe; and there is also a lake of the same name. And when it leaves this lake the Cephissus at last flows out to the sea. Now at that time, when the flooding of the lake ceased, there was also a cessation of danger to those who lived near it, except in the case of the cities which had already been swallowed up. And though the subterranean channels filled up again, Crates the mining engineer of Chalcis ceased clearing away the obstructions because of party strife among the Boeotians, although, as he himself says in the letter to Alexander, many places had already been drained.
(Strabo 9,2,18)
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eupompidas, son of Daimachus, one of the commanders in Plataea during its siege by the Lacedaemonians, B. C. 429-8. He with Theaenetus, a prophet, in the winter following this second year, devised the celebrated plan for passing the lines of circumvallation, which, originally intended for the whole number of the besieged, was in the end successfully executed by 212 of them, under the guidance of the same two leaders. (Thuc. iii. 20-23.)
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Flute-player, his melodies, his processional hymn for Delos, his statue at Thebes. 4th century BC.
A celebrated Theban flute-player : Pereus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
ANTIKYRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A Malian, who in B.C. 480, when Leonidas was defending the pass of Thermopylae, guided a body of Persians over the mountain path, and thus enabled them to fall on the rear of the Greeks.
Isaeus (Isaios). One of the ten Attic orators. He was born at Chalcis, and came to Athens at an early age. He wrote judicial orations for others and established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which Demosthenes is said to have been his pupil. He lived between B.C. 420 and 348. Eleven of his orations are extant, all relating to questions of inheritance. They afford considerable information respecting this branch of the Attic law, of which he was a master, and are marked by intellectual acumen, clearness of statement, and vigour of style.
Editor's Information
The e-texts of the works by Isaeus are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The most important figure is now Aristeides, Thebanus. The facts which Pliny gives point to two masters of this name, of whom the one is the father (formerly read as Aristiaeus), the other the son, of Nicomachus. The statements in Pliny concerning these two Aristeidae are so hopelessly confused that it is impossible to distinguish between them with any certainty. If the grandfather can be identified with the pupil of Polycleitus, we may take about B.C. 330 as a convenient date for him, and about B.C. 280 for that of his grandson. It is possible that the epithet Thebanus is intended to distinguish the older Aristeides; but, even here Pliny is confused, for he sometimes calls one and the same person Thebanus and contemporary with Apelles. The same confusion is probably traceable in his estimate of style: is omnium primus animum pinxit et sensus hominis expressit, quae vocant Graeci ethe, item perturbationis (pathe). Perhaps we should assign to the elder the quality of ethos, to the younger that of pathos and of being durior paulo in coloribus; and according to these qualities we may assign some of the pictures. The Dionysus was probably painted by the older and more famous of the two; its great estimation is shown by the fact that Attalus is said to have paid 100 talents for it, and Mummius afterwards sent it to Rome: also the picture of a sacked town, which Alexander acquired at the looting of Thebes, and of which one episode represented a dying mother, with her infant still suckling her breast. To the younger may be assigned the Battle with Persians, the Leontion Epicuri and the anapauomene (see Arch. Zeit. 1883, p. 41).
This extract is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Aristeides of Thebes, was one of the most celebrated Greek painters. His father
was Aristodemus, his teachers were Euxenidas and his brother Nicomachus (Plin.
xxxv. 36.7, 22.) He was a somewhat older contemporary of Apelles (Plin. xxxv.
36.19), and flourished about 360-330 B. C. The point in which he most excelled
is thus described by Pliny: "Is omnium primus animum pinxit et sensus hominum
expressit, quae vocant Graeci hi/qh, item perturbationes", that is, he depicted
the feelings, expressions, and passions which may be observed in common life.
One of his finest pictures was that of a babe approaching the breast of its mother,
who was mortally wounded, and whose fear could be plainly seen lest the child
should suck blood instead of milk. Fuseli has shewn how admirably in this picture
the artist drew the line between pity and disgust. Alexander admired the picture
so much, that he removed it to Pella. Another of his pictures was a suppliant,
whose voice you seemed almost to hear. Several other pictures of his are mentioned
by Pliny, and among them an Iris (ib. 40.41), which, though unfinished, excited
the greatest admiration. As examples of the high price set upon his works, Pliny
(ib. 36.19) tells us, that he painted a picture for Mnason, tyrant of Elatea,
representing a battle with the Persians, and containing a hundred figures, for
each of which Aristeides received ten minae; and that long after his death, Attalus,
king of Pergamns, gave a hundred talents for one of his pictures (Ib. and vii.
39). In another passage (xxxv. 8) Pliny tells us, that when Mummius was selling
the spoils of Greece, Attalus bought a picture of Bacchus by Aristeides for 600,000
sesterces, but that Mummius, having thus discovered the value of the picture,
refused to sell it to Attalus, and took it to Rome, where it was placed in the
temple of Ceres, and was the first foreign painting which was exposed to public
view at Rome. The commentators are in doubt whether these two passages refer to
the same picture (See also Strab. viii.). Aristeides was celebrated for his pictures
of courtezans, and hence he was called pornographos (Athen. xiii.). He was somewhat
harsh in his colouring (Plin. xxxv. 36.19). According to some authorities, the
invention of encaustic painting in wax was ascribed to Aristeides, and its perfection
to Praxiteles; but Pliny observes, that there were extant encaustic pictures of
Polygnotus, Nicanor, and Arcesilaus (xxxv. 39).
Aristeides left two sons, Nicerus and Ariston, to whom he taught his
art.
Another Aristeides is mentioned as his disciple (Plin. xxxv. 36.23).
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
Euxenidas, a painter, who instructed the celebrated Aristeides, of Thebes. He flourished about the 95th or 100th Olympiad, B. C. 400 or 380. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 36.7)
A Greek painter, probably of Thebes, about B.C. 360. He was celebrated as an artist
who could paint with equal rapidity and excellence, and was regarded as rivalling
the best painters of his day. A famous painting of his was "The Rape of Persephone"
An artist from Thebes, one of the foremost of the school called Attic-Theban. He was the son and pupil of the painter Aristides, and teacher of Aristides the Younger, his son. It is said that he also taught his brother Ariston, as well as Philoxenos of Eretria and a certain Koroibos.
Mention is made that he used the four basic colours (black, white, red and yellow), as did his contemporary, Apelles. Pliny the Elder praises the artist for the rapidity and facility with which he worked, while Plutarch mentions him, together with Apelles and Zeuxis, with regard to their treatment of the female form.
His following works are mentioned (among others): "The Abduction of Persephone by Pluto", "Apollo and Artemis", "Bacchae Approached by Sileni", "Scylla", "The Mother of the Gods Seated on a Lion", "Odysseus Wearing a Hat", and "Nike Flying up in a Quadriga".
Aristodemus (Aristodemos), a painter, the father and instructor of Nicomachus,
flourished probably in the early part of the fourth century B. C. (Plin. xxxv.
10. s. 36)
Leontion, a Greek painter, contemporary with Aristides of Thebes (about B. C. 340), who painted his portrait. Nothing further is known of him (Plin. xxxv. 10. s. 36.19).
ERETRIA (Ancient city) EVIA
340 - 265
Menedemus, (Menedemos). A Greek philosopher, a native of Eretria.
Though of noble birth, he was poor, and worked for a livelihood either as a builder
or as a tent-maker. According to one story, he seized the opportunity afforded
by his being sent on some military service to Megara to hear Plato, and abandoned
the army to addict himself to philosophy; but it may be questioned whether he
was old enough to have heard Plato before the death of the latter. According to
another story, he and his friend Asclepiades got their livelihood as millers,
working during the night that they might have leisure for philosophy in the day.
The two friends afterwards became disciples of Stilpo at Megara. From Megara they
went to Elis, and placed themselves under the instruction of some disciples of
Phaedo. On his return to Eretria Menedemus established a school of philosophy,
which was called the Eretrian. He did not, however, confine himself to philosophical
pursuits, but took an active part in the political affairs of his native city,
and came to be the leading man in the State. He went on various embassies to Lysimachus,
Demetrius, and others; but being suspected of the treacherous intention of betraying
Eretria into the power of Antigonus, he quitted his native city secretly, and
took refuge with Antigonus in Asia. Here he starved himself to death in the seventy-fourth
year of his age, probably about B.C. 277. Of the philosophy of Menedemus little
is known, except that it closely resembled that of the Megarian School.
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FOKIS (Ancient area) GREECE
Evander, (Euandros), a Phocian, was the pupil and successor of Lacydes as the
head of the Academic School at Athens, about B. C. 215. Evander himself was succeeded
by his pupil Hegesinus. Concerning the opinions and writings of this philosopher
nothing is known. (Diog. Laert. iv. 60; Cic. Acad. ii. 6.)
LOKRIS (Ancient country) FTHIOTIDA
Acrion a Locrian, was a Pythagorean philosopher. (Cic. de Fin. v. 29.) He is mentioned by Valerius Maximus (viii. 7, ext. 3, from this passage of Cicero) under the name of Arion, which is a false reading, instead of Acrion.
Cebes (Kebes), of Thebes, was a disciple of Philolaus, the Pythagorean, and of
Socrates, with whom he was connected by intimate friendship (Xen. Mem. i. 2.28,
iii. 11.17; Plat. Crit.). He is introduced by Plato as one of the interlocutors
in the Phaedo, and as having been present at the death of Socrates (Phaed.). He
is said on the advice of Socrates to have purchased Phaedo, who had been a slave,
and to have instructed him in philosophy (Gell. ii. 18; Macrob. Sat. i. 11; Lactant.
iii. 24). Diogenes Laertius (ii. 125) and Suidas ascribe to him three works, viz.
Pinax, Hebdome, and Phrunichos, all of which Eudocia erroneously attributes to
Callippus of Athens. The last two of these works are lost, and we do not know
what they treated of, but the Pinax is still extant, and is referred to by several
ancient writers (Lucian, Apolog. 42, Rhet. Praecept. 6; Pollux, iii. 95 ; Tertullian,
De Praescript. 39; Aristaenet. i. 2). This Pinax is a philosophical explanation
of a table on which the whole of human life with its dangers and temptations was
symbolically represented, and which is said to have been dedicated by some one
in the temple of Cronos at Athens or Thebes. The author introduces some youths
contemplating the table, and an old man who steps among them undertakes to explain
its meaning. The whole drift of the little book is to shew, that only the proper
development of our mind and the possession of real virtues can make us truly happy.
Suidas calls this pinax a diegesis ton en Haidou, an explanation which is not
applicable to the work now extant, and some have therefore thought, that the pinax
to which Suidas refers was a different work from the one we possess. This and
other circumstances have led some critics to doubt whether our pinax is the work
of the Theban Cebes, and to ascribe it to a later Cebes of Cyzicus, a Stoic philosopher
of the time of Marcus Aurelius (Athen. iv.). But the pinax which is now extant
is manifestly written in a Socratic spirit and on Socratic principles, so that
at any rate its author is much more likely to have been a Socratic than a Stoic
philosopher. There are, it is true, some few passages (e. g. c. 13) where persons
are mentioned belonging to a later age than that of the Theban Cebes, but there
is little doubt that this and a few similar passages are interpolations by a later
hand, which cannot surprise us in the case of a work of such popularity as the
pinax of Cebes.
For, owing to its ethical character, it was formerly extremely
popular, and the editions and translations of it are very numerous. It has been
translated into all the languages of Europe, and even into Russian, modern
Greek, and Arabic. The first edition of it was in a Latin translation by L. Odaxius,
Bologna, 1497. In this edition, as in nearly all the subsequent ones, it is printed
together with the Enchiridion of Epictetus. The first edition of the Greek text
with a Latin translation is that of Aldus (Venice, without date), who printed
it together with the "Institutiones et alia Opuscula" of C. Lascaris. This was
followed by a great number of other editions, among which we need notice only
those of H. Wolf (Basel, 1560), the Leiden edition (1640, with an Arabic translation
by Elichmann) of Jac. Gronovius (Amsterdam, 1689), J. Schulze (Hamburg, 1694),
T. Hemsterhuis (Amsterdam, 1708, together with some dialogues of Lucian), M. Meibom,
and Adr. Reland (Utrecht, 1711), and Th. Johnson. (London, 1720) The best editions
are those of Schweighauser in his edition of Epictetus, and also separately printed
(Strassburg, 1806), and of A. Coraes in his edition of Epictetus (Paris, 1826).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
365 - 285
Crates the Theban, the "thyrepaniktis", 365-285 BC, cynic philosopher.
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