Εμφανίζονται 7 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Βιογραφίες στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙΑ Αρχαία πόλη ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ" .
ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
95 - 175
Flavius Arrianus. A Greek author, who wrote chiefly on philosophy and history. He was
born at Nicomedia in Bithynia, towards the end of the first century A.D., and
was a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. He lived under the emperors Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, enjoying a high reputation for culture and
ability, which procured him the citizenship of Rome and Athens, and high offices
of state, such as the governorship of Cappadocia under Hadrian, A.D. 136, and
the consulship under Antoninus. His last years were spent in his native town,
where he filled the office of priest to Demeter, and died at an advanced age.
From the likeness of his character to that of the famous Athenian, he was nicknamed
"Xenophon Junior." Of his philosophical works we have still the first
half (four books) of the Discourses of Epictetus, a leading authority for the
tenets of that philosopher and the Stoical ethics; and the handbook called the
Encheiridion of Epictetus, a short manual of morality, which on account of its
pithy and practical precepts became a great favourite with Pagans and Christians,
had a commentary written on it by Simplicius in the sixth century, and after the
revival of learning was long used as a school-book. Of his numerous historical
writings we possess the chief one, the Anabasis of Alexander, in seven books.
This is a complete history of that conqueror from his accession to his death,
drawn from the best sources, especially Ptolemy and Aristobulus, and modelled
on Xenophon, of whom we are reminded by the very title and the number of books,
though it has none of Xenophon's charm. It is the best work on Alexander that
has survived from antiquity. To this we should add the Indica, a short work on
India, written in the Ionic dialect, and especially valuable for its abstract
of Nearchus's report of his voyage from the mouth of the Indus to the Persian
Gulf; also the description of another coasting voyage, the Periplus Ponti Euxini,
and a trifling treatise on hunting, the Cynegeticus. A work on tactics wrongly
ascribed to him is probably from the hand of Aelian the Tactician. Of his other
histories--e. g. of the successors of Alexander, of Trajan's battles with the
Parthians, of his own native country till its absorption into the Empire, and
the campaign against the Alani during his command in Cappadocia--we have only
abstracts or fragments.
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
Lucius Flavius Arrianus, or Arrian, as he is usually called
in the English language- was born in Nicomedia, one of the Greek towns in the
Roman empire, in c.87 CE. He read philosophy in Nicopolis,
where the famous philosopher Epictetus had a small school, which counted the future
emperor Hadrian among its students. Arrian joined the army, was stationed in Bavaria,
must have visited Germany, and took part in the Parthian war of the emperor Trajan
(114-117).
When his friend Hadrian became emperor, Arrian was rewarded with a
seat in the Senate. In the following years, he served as governor of Andalusia,
became consul (129 or 130) and was governor of Cappadocia,
where he fought a brief war against the Alans, a nomad tribe from Kazakhstan.
Later, Arrian settled in Athens,
where he died after 145.
In spite of his dazzling career in the Roman government, Arrian found
time to write many books. A catalogue shows his philosophic, historical, topographic-ethnographic
and military interests, which culminate in his books on Alexander.
•eight books containing the teachings of Epictetus (four books survive);
•twelve books containing Epictetus' conversations (lost);
•a Meteorology - the study skies were considered part of the usual philosophical
curriculum (lost);
•a History of Bithynia
in eight books (lost);
•a work on the Alans (lost);
•a History of the Parthian wars in seventeen books, of which ten were devoted
to the war in which the author had taken part (lost);
•a book on military tactics (the part on cavalry survives);
•a military handbook on the best tactics in a war against the Alans - he
advises to fight as Alexander had done;
•biographies of Dion of Syracuse,
Timoleon of Corinth and a
bandit named Tilliboros (all lost);
•a book on hunting;
•a description of the Black
Sea in twenty-five books;
•the seven books of the Anabasis: the history of Alexander's march into Asia;
•the Indike (one book), telling about the marvels of India
and the voyage home of Alexander's admiral Nearchus;
•the ten books Events after Alexander, known from a Byzantine summary.
The Anabasis (Journey Up-Country) is the most important source on
the reign of Alexander. The reason is that Arrian ignored Cleitarchus' immensely
popular History of Alexander and used other sources. In the prologue, Arrian explains
why:
"It seems to me that Ptolemy and Aristobulus are the most trustworthy
writers on Alexander's conquests, because the latter shared Alexander's campaigns,
and the former -Ptolemy- in addition to this advantage, was himself a king, and
it is more disgraceful for a king to tell lies than for anybody else."
Few modern scholars will be impressed by the last remark, but all
of them agree that Arrian chose the right sources for the right reason: Ptolemy
and Aristobulus had been eyewitnesses. However, Alexander had read more than these
two authorities and offers sometimes stories that he had not found in these authors.
Another quality is that he knows what he is writing about. He knew
what it meant to fight a war, he had been a provincial governor and had lived
at the imperial court. Moreover, the war against the Parthians had offered him
an opportunity to visit Iraq, and he probably visited places like Gaugamela and
Babylon. To Arrian, it seemed
that all his life had been a prelude to the writing of this work: in the prologue,
he says that to him, the literary activity was his country and his family and
his countless public offices, and had been right from his youth. (He modestly
added 'I therefore think that I am not unworthy of the first rank in Greek letters,
just as Alexander was of the first rank in military matters.') Like
Cleitarchus, Arrian tried to give some sort of assessment of Alexander, but his
opinion is the opposite of Cleitarchus', who had presented the Macedonian king
as a young prince who had been corrupted by his constant success. Arrian, on the
other hand, admires Alexander, although he is too much a philosopher to be completely
uncritical. Sometimes, he condemns aspects of the conqueror's behavior, but as
a whole, he is positive about Alexander's achievements. A typical part of the
Anabasis is book 4, where Arrian places three painful incidents together and condemns
Alexander's behavior: chronologically, two of them do not belong at this place,
and by treating them together, he has prevented that the reader came up against
the hard facts too often.
As we noticed in the catalogue above, Arrian also published an Indike,
which is essentially an appendix to the Anabasis. This remarkable text probably
tells less about India than about the literary tastes of Arrian's age. To start
with, it is entirely based on the Indike by Alexander's fleet-commander Nearchus.
More recent descriptions are quoted by several Christian authors and Arrian's
younger contemporary Philostratus, but Arrian chose to ignore these recent sources
because they were written in so-called Koine-Greek, which was considered ugly
in the second century CE. Nearchus, on the other hand, had written decent 'classical'
Greek and even though the contents of his Indike were outdated, Nearchus was to
be preferred. A second point is that Arrian choose to write his own Indike in
the Ionian dialect. This was done because the classical text on geography, the
Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, were written in that dialect and contained
no reliable information on India.
As we already saw, Arrian also wrote a book on the Events after Alexander.
It is known from a summary by the Byzantine patriarch Photius (820-897), and breaks
off rather abruptly. Maybe this work remained unfinished.
It is a tribute to the quality of these works and their aauthor, that
modern scholarship usually follows Arrian, who personifies the 'good' tradition,
and adds details from the authors of the 'vulgate' tradition. It is only since
the publication of the Astronomical diary (1988) that oriental texts are receiving
attention.
And it was easy for the first Christians to make the bird the symbol of the resurrection.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Arrianus, of Nicomedeia in Bithynia, was born towards the end of the first century
after Christ. He was a pupil and friend of Epictetus, through whose influence
he became a zealous and active admirer of the Stoic philosophy, and more especially
of the practical part of the system. He first attracted attention as a philosopher
by publishing the lectures (diatribai) of his master. This he seems to have done
at Athens; and the Athenians were so much delighted with them, that they honoured
him with their franchise. Arrian, as we shall see hereafter, had chosen Xenophon
as his model in writing, and the Athenians called him the young Xenophon, either
from the resemblance of his style to that of Xenophon, or more probably from the
similarity of his connexion with Epictetus, to that which existed between Xenophon
and Socrates (Photius; Suidas, s. v. Arrianos). In A. D. 124, he gained the friendship
of the emperor Hadrian during his stay in Greece, and he received from the emperor's
own hands the broad purple, a distinction which conferred upon him not only the
Roman citizenship, but the right to hold any of the great offices of state in
the Roman empire. From this time Arrian assumed the praenomen Flavius. In A. D.
136, he was appointed praefect of Cappadocia, which was invaded, the year after,
by the Alani or Massagetae. He defeated them in a decisive battle, and added to
his reputation of a philosopher that of a brave and skilful general (Dion Cass.
lxix. 15). Under Antoninus Pius, the successor of Hadrian, Arrian was promoted
to the consulship, A. D. 146. In his later years he appears to have withdrawn
from public life, and from about A. D. 150, he lived in his native town of Nicomedeia,
as priest of Demeter and Persephone (Phot.), devoting himself entirely to study
and the composition of historical works. He died at an advanced age in the reign
of M. Aurelius. Dion Cassius is said to have written a life of Arrian shortly
after his death, but no part of it has come down to us (Suid. s. v. Dion).
Arrian was one of the most active and best writers of his time. He
seems to have perceived from the commencement of his literary career a resemblance
between his own relation to Epicatetus and that of Xenophon to Socrates; it was
his endeavour for a long time to carry out that resemblance, and to be to Epictetus
what Xenophon had been to Socrates. With this view he published:
I. the philosophical lectures of his master (Diatribai Epikteton) in eight books,
the first half of which is still extant. They were first printed by Trincavelli,
1535, and afterwards together with the Encheiridion of Epictetus and Simplicius's
commentary, with a Latin translation, by H. Wolf, Basel, 1560. The best editions
are in Schweighauser's Epicteteae Philosophiae Monumenta, and in Coraes' Parerga
Ellen. Biblioth.
II. His familiar conversations with Epictetus (Homiliai Epiktetou), in twelve
books. This work is lost with the exception of a few fragments preserved in Stobaeus.
III. An abstract of the practical philosophy of Epictetus (Encheiribion Epiktetou),
which is still extant. This celebrated work, which seems to have been regarded
even in antiquity as a suitable manual of practical philosophy, maintained its
authority for many centuries, both with Christians and Pagans. About A. D. 550,
Simplicius wrote a commentary upon it, and two Christian writers, Nilus and an
anonymous author wrote paraphrases of it, adapted for Christians, in the first
half of the fifth century of our era. The Encheiridion was first published in
a Latin translation by Politianus, Rome, 1493, and in 1496, by Beroaldus, at Bologna.
The Greek original, with the commentary of Simplicius, appeared first at Venice,
1528. This edition was soon followed by numerous others, as the work was gradually
regarded and used as a school book. The best along the subsequent editions are
those of Haloander (Nurenberg, 1529), Trincavelli (Venice, 1535), Naogeorgius
(Strassburg, 1554), Berkel (Leyden, 1670), Schroeder (Frankfurt, 1723), and Heyne
(Dresden and Leipzig, 1756 and 1776). The best among the recent editions are those
of Schweighauser and Coraes, in the collections above referred to. In connexion
with Epictetus, we may also mention,
IV. A life of this philosopher by Arrian, which is now lost. Although the greater
part of these philosophical works of Arrian has perished, yet the portion still
extant, especially the diatoibai, is the best and most perfect system of the ethical
views of the Stoics, that has come down to us. In the case of the diatribai, Arrian
is only the editor, and his conscientiousness in preserving his master's statements
and expressions is so great, that he even retains historical inaccuracies which
Epictetus had fallen into, and which Arrian himself was well aware of.
Another work in which Arrian likewise followed Xenophon as his guide is,
V. A treatise on the chase (Kunegetikos). It is so closely connected with the
treatise of Xenophon on the same subject, that not only is its style an imitation
of the latter's, but it forms a kind of supplement to Xenophon's work, in as much
as he treats only of such points as he found omitted in Xenophon. It was first
published with a Latin translation by L. Holstenius (Paris, 1644); it is also
contained in Zeune's Opuscula minora of Xenophon, and in Schneider's edition of
Xenophon. The most important among the works in which he took Xenophon as his
model, is
VI. His account of the Asiatic expedition of Alexander the Great (Historiai anabaseos
Alexandrou, or simply Anabasis Alexandrou), in seven books, which we possess complete,
with the exception of a gap in the 12th chapter of the seventh book, which unfortunately
exists in all the MSS. This great work reminds the reader of Xenophon's Anabasis,
not only by its title, but also by the ease and clearness of its style. The work
is not, indeed, equal to the Anabasis in point of composition: it does not possess
either the thorough equality and noble simplicity, or the vividness of Xenophon;
but Arrian is, nevertheless, in this work one of the most excellent writers of
his time, above which he is raised by his simplicity and his unbiassed judgment.
Great as his merits thus are as an historian, they are yet surpassed by his excellences
as an historical critic. His Anabasis is based upon the most trustworthy historians
among the contemporaries of Alexander, whose works are lost, such as Ptolemy,
the son of Lagus, Aristobulus, the son of Aristobulus, which two he chiefly followed,
Diodotus of Erythrae, Eumenes of Cardia, Nearchus of Crete, and Megasthenes; and
his sound judgment as to who deserved credit, justly led him to reject the accounts
of such authors as Onesicritus, Callisthenes, and others. No one at all acquainted
with this work of Arrian can refuse his assent to the opinion of Photius, that
Arrian was the best among the numerous historians of Alexander. The work begins
with the death of Philip, and after giving a brief account of the occurrences
which followed that event, he proceeds in the eleventh chapter to relate the history
of that gigantic expedition, which he continues down to the death of Alexander.
One of the great merits of the work, independent of those already mentioned, is
the clearness and distinctness with which he describes all military movements
and operations, the drawing up of the armies for battle and the conduct of battles
and sieges. In all these respects the Anabasis is a masterly production, and Arrian
shows that he himself possessed a thorough practical knowledge of military affairs.
He seldom introduces speeches, but wherever he does, he shows a profound knowledge
of man ; and the speech of Alexander to his rebellious soldiers and the reply
of Coenus (v. 25, &c.), as well as some other speeches, are masterly specimens
of oratory. Everything, moreover, which is not necessary to make his narrative
clear, is carefully avoided, and it is probably owing to this desire to omit everything
superfluous in the course of his narrative, that we are indebted for his separate
work,
VII. On India (Indike or ta Indika), which may be regarded as a continuation of
the Anabasis, and has sometimes been considered as the eighth book of it, although
Arrian himself speaks of it as a distinct work. It is usually printed at the end
of the Anabasis, and was undoubtedly written immediately after it. It is a curious
fact, that the Indica is written in the Ionic dialect, a circumstance which has
been accounted for by various suppositions, the most probable among which is,
that Arrian in this point imitated Ctesias of Cnidus, whose work on the same subject
he wished to supplant by a more trustworthy and correct account. The first part
of Arrian's Indica contains a very excellent description of the interior of India,
in which he took Megasthenes and Eratosthenes as his guides. Then follows a most
accurate description of the whole coast from the mouth of the Indus to the Persian
gulf, which is based entirely upon the Paraplous of Nearchus the Cretan, and the
book concludes with proofs, that further south the earth is uninhabitable, on
account of the great heat.
Of Arrian's Anabasis and Indica two Latin translations, the one by
C. Valgulius (without date or place), and the other by B. Facius (Pisaur. 1508)
appeared before the Greek text was printed; and the editio princeps of the original
is that by Trincavelli, Venice, 1535. Among the subsequent editions we mention
only those of Gerbel (Strassb. 1539), H. Stephens (Paris, 1575), Blancard (Amsterd.
1688), J. Gronovius, who availed himself of several Augsburg and Italian MSS.
(Leyden, 1704.), K. A. Schmidt, with the notes of G. Raphelius (Amsterd, 1757)
and Schneider, who published the Anabasis and Indica separately, the former at
Leipzig, 1798, and the latter at Halle, 1798. The best modern editions of the
Anabasis are those of J. E. Ellendt (Regimontii, 1832) and of C. W. Kruger (Berlin,
1835, which contains the text and various readings).
All the works we have hitherto mentioned seem to have been written
by Arrian previous to his government of Cappadocia. During this whole period,
he appears to have been unable to get rid of the idea that he must imitate some
one or another of the more ancient writers of Greece. But from this time forward,
he shews a more independent spirit, and throws off the shackles under which he
had laboured hitherto. During his government of Cappadocia, and before the outbreak
of the war against the Alani, about A. D. 137, he dedicated to the emperor Hadrian:
VIII. his description of a voyage round the coasts of the Euxine (periplous pontou
Euxeinou), which had undoubtedly been made by Arrian himself. The starting-point
is Trapezus, whence he proceeds to Dioscurias, the Cimmerian and Thracian Bosporus,
and Byzantium. This Periplus has come down to us together with two other works
of a similar kind, the one a Periplus of the Erythraean, and the other a Periplus
of the Euxine and the Palus Maeotis. Both these works also bear the name of Arrian,
but they belong undoubtedly to a later period. These Peripluses were first printed,
with other geographical works of a similar kind, by S. Gelenius, Basel, 1533,
and somewhat better by Stuck, Geneva, 1577. They are also contained in the collection
of the minor works of Arrian by Blancard (Amsterd. 1683 and 1750). The best editions
are in Hudson's Geographi Minores, and in Gail's and Hoffmann's collections of
the minor Geographers.
It seems to have been about the same time that Arrian wrote,
IX. a work on Tactics (logostaktikos or techne taktike). What we now possess under
this name can have been only a section of the whole work, as it treats of scarcely
anything else than the preparatory exercises of the cavalry; but this subject
is discussed with great judgment, and fully shews the practical knowledge of the
author. The fragment is printed in Scheffer's collection of ancient works on tactics
(Upsula, 1664), and better in Blancard's collection of the minor works of Arrian.
The greatest literary activity of Arrian occurs in the latter period of his life,
which he devoted wholly to the composition of historical works. Their number was
not smaller than their importance; but all of these later productions are now
lost, and some of them seem to have fallen into oblivion at an early time; for
Photius states, that there were several works of Arrian of which he was unable
to discover the titles. Besides some smaller works, such as:
X. a Life of Dion (Phot.),
XI. a Life of Timoleon (Phot.), and
XII. a Life of Tilliborus, a notorious Asiatic robber of the time (Lucian, Alex.
2), we have mention of the following great works:
XIII. A History of the successors of Alexander the Great (ta meta Alexandron),
in ten books, of which an abstract, or rather an enumeration of contents, is preserved
in Photius (Cod. 92).
XIV. A History of the Parthians (Parthika), in 17 books (Phot., the main subject
of which was their wars with the Romans, especially under Trajan.
XV. A History of Bithynia (Bithunika), in eight books (Phot. Cod. 93). This work
began with the mythical age, and carried the history down to the time when Bithynia
became united with the Roman empire, and in it the author mentioned several events
connected with his own life. From a quotation in Eustathius (ad Hom. Il. viii.),
who seems to have had the work before him, it is highly probable that it was written
in the Ionic dialect (Comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Il. iv., v., xv.).
XVI. A History of the Alani (Alanike or ta kat' Alanous, Phot.). A fragment entitled
ektaxis kat' Alanon, describing the plan of the battle against the Alani. was
discovered in the seventeenth century at Milan: it seems to have belonged to the
History of the Alani. It is printed in the collections of Scheffer and Blancard
above referred to.
A collection of all the works of Arrian was edited by Borhek, Lemgo,
1792-1811, which however has no merits at all.
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
The Anabasis of Alexander, by Arrianus, contains an account of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, written in the second century A.D. Like the Anabasis of Xenophon, it is in seven books.
Basilicus (Basilikos), a rhetorician and sophist of Nicomedeia. As we know that he was one
of the teachers of Apsines of Gadara, he must have lived about A. D. 200. He was
the author of several rhetorical works, among which are specified one peri ton
dia ton lexeon schematon, a second peri rhetorikes paraskenes, a third peri askeseos
and a fourth pepi metapoieseos. (Suidas, s. vv. Basilikos and Apsines; Eudoc.
p. 93.)
Λάβετε το καθημερινό newsletter με τα πιο σημαντικά νέα της τουριστικής βιομηχανίας.
Εγγραφείτε τώρα!
