Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "CYPRUS Country EUROPE".
Andromachus. The commander of the Cyprian fleet at the siege of Tyre by Alexander, B. C. 332. (Arrian, Anab. ii. 20.) He may have been the same Andromachus who was shortly afterwards appointed governor of Coele-Syria, and was burnt to death by the Samaritans. (Curt. iv. 5, 8.)
Aristeas, or Aristaeus, a Cyprian by nation, was a high officer at the court of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, and was distinguished for his military talents. Ptolemy
being anxious to add to his newly founded library at Alexandria (B. C. 273) a
copy of the Jewish law, sent Aristeas and Andreas, the commander of his body-guard,
to Jerusalem. They carried presents to the temple, and obtained from the high-priest,
Eleazar, a genuine copy of the Pentateuch, and a body of seventy elders, six from
each tribe, who could translate it into Greek. On their arrival in Egypt, the
elders were received with great distinction by Ptolemy, and were lodged in a house
in the island of Pharos, where, in the space of seventy-two days, they completed
a Greek version of the Pentateuch, which was called, from the number of the translators,
kata tous hebdomekonta (the Septuagint), and the same name was extended to the
Greek version of the whole of the Old Testament, when it had been completed under
the auspices of the Ptolemies. The above account is given in a Greek work which
professes to be a letter from Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, but which is
generally admitted by the best critics to be spurious. It is probably the fabrication
of an Alexandrian Jew shortly before the Christian aera. The fact seems to be,
that the version of the Pentateuch was made in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, between
the years 298 and 285 B. C. for the Jews who had been brought into Egypt by that
king in 320 B. C. It may have obtained its name from its being adopted by the
Sanhedrim (or council of seventy) of the Alexandrian Jews. The other books of
the Septuagint version were translated by different persons and at various times.
The letter ascribed to Aristeas was first printed in Greek and Latin,
by Simon Schard, Basil. 1561, and reprinted at Oxford, 1692; the best edition
is in Gallandi Biblioth. Patr. ii. (Fabric. Bib. Graec. iii. 660).
The story about Aristeas and the seventy interpreters is told, chiefly on the
authority of the letter but differing from it in some points, by Aristobulus,
a Jewish philosopher (ap. Euseb. Praep. Evan. xiii. 12), Philo Judaeus (Vit. Mos.
2), Josephus (Ant. Jud. xii. 2), Justin Martyr (Cohort. ad Graec., Apol., Dial.
cum Tryph.), Irenaeuss (Adv. Haer. iii. 25), Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom. i.),
Tertullian (Apolog. 18), Eusebius (Praep. Eran. viii. 1), Athanasius (Synop. S.
Scrip. ii.), Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech.), Epiphanius (De Mens. et Pond. 3), Jerome
(Praef: in Pentateuch; Quaest. in Genes. Prooem.), Augustine (De Civ. Dei, xviii.
42, 43), Chrysostom (Adv. Jud. i.), Hilary of Poitiers (In Psalm. 2), and Theodoret
(Praef in Psalm).
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
Of Cyprus; an epic poet, to whom some of the ancient writers attributed the poem of the Epic Cycle, entitled Cypria, and embracing the period antecedent to the Iliad.
Demonax, the most distinguished of those who attempted to revive the cynical doctrines in the second century of the Christian era. He probably lived in the time of Hadrian, though the exact date of his birth and death is unknown. We owe our knowledge of his character to Lucian, who has painted it in the most glowing colours, representing him as almost perfectly wise and good. He adds that he has written an account of Demonax, "in order that the young who wish to apply to the study of philosophy may not be obliged to confine themselves to examples from antiquity, but may derive from his life also a model for their imitation". Of his friends the best known to us was Epictetus, who appears to have exercised considerable influence in the direction of his mind. By birth a Cyprian, he removed to Athens, and there joined the Cynical school, chiefly from respect to the memory of Diogenes, whom he considered the most faithful representative of the life and virtues of Socrates. He appears, however, to have been free from the austerity and moroseness of the sect, though he valued their indifference to external things; but we do not find that he contributed anything more to the cause of science than the original Cynics. His popularity at Athens was so great, that people vied with each other for the honour of offering him bread, and even boys shewed their respect by large donations of apples. He contracted some odium by the freedom with which he rebuked vice, and he was accused of neglecting sacrifice and the Eleusinian mysteries. To these charges he returned for answer, that "he did not sacrifice to Athena, because she could not want his offerings", and that "if the mysteries were bad, no one ought to be initiated; if good, they should be divulged to everybody" -the first of which replies is symptomatic of that vague kind of Deism which used so generally to conceal itself under an affectation of reverence for the popular gods. He never married, though Epictetus begged him to do so, but was met by the request that his wife might be one of Epictetus's daughters, whose own bachelor life was not very consistent with his urging the duty of giving birth to and educating children. This and other anecdotes of Demonax recorded by Lucian, shew him to have been an amiable, good-humoured man, leading probably a happy life, beloved and respected by those about him, and no doubt contrasting favourably with others who in those times called themselves votaries of those ancient systems which, as practical guides of life, were no longer necessary in a world to which a perfect revelation had now been given. Demonax died when nearly a hundred years old, and was buried with great magnificence, though he had declared it a matter of perfect indifference to him if his body were thrown to the dogs.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Dioscorides, of Cyprus, a sceptic philosopher, and a pupil of Timon of Phlius. (Diog. Laert. ix. 114, 115.)
Euclus, (Eiklous), an ancient Cyprian soothsayer, who, according to Pausanias (x. 12.6, 14.3, 24.3), lived before tlhe time of Homer, who, as he predicted, was to spring from Cyprus. Pausanias quotes some lines professing to be the bard's prophecy of this event. The poem called the Cyprian Poem has been erroneously supposed to have been of his composition. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i.)
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