Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "MEGARA Ancient city GREECE".
430 - 360
Euclid, student of the eleatic school initially, and then of Socrates school, is considered the founder of the Megarian school. During the Peloponesian war, because the state of Megara belonged to the Spartan alliance, Euclid would sneak into Socrates's classes - in Athens - in a woman's disguise, putting his life in danger. After Socrates's execution Plato makes honorary reference to Euclid in his writings. Being a student both of the eleatic school and of Socrates, Euclid has been influenced by both schools thus giving him fatherhood of the Megarian school which supported a mixture of the two philosophies. He combined the Socratic philosophy that virtue is knowledge with the Eleatic concept of the universe as a changeless unity that can be understood only by philosophical reflection
None of the six Euclid's philosophical dialogues, reported by Laertius, has been retained. Reported as distinguished successors of Euclid are Euvoulides and Diodoros Cronus who developed this sophism excessively.
Euclides, (Eukleides). A native of Megara, founder of the Megaric,
or Eristic sect. Endowed by nature with a subtle and penetrating genius, he early
applied himself to the study of philosophy. The writings of Parmenides first taught
him the art of disputation. Hearing of the fame of Socrates, Euclid determined
to attend upon his instructions, and for this purpose removed from Megara to Athens.
Here he long remained a constant hearer and zealous disciple of the moral philosopher;
and when, in consequence of the enmity which subsisted between the Athenians and
Megareans, a decree was passed by the former that any inhabitant of Megara who
should be seen in Athens should forfeit his life, he frequently came to Athens
by night, from the distance of about twenty miles, concealed in a long female
cloak and veil, to visit his master. Not finding his propensity to disputation
sufficiently gratified in the tranquil method of philosophizing adopted by Socrates,
he frequently engaged in the business and the disputes of the civil courts. Socrates,
who despised forensic contests, expressed some dissatisfaction with his pupil
for indulging a fondness for controversy. This cir cumstance probably proved the
occasion of a separation between Euclid and his master; for we find him, after
this time, at the head of a school in Megara, in which his chief employment was
to teach the art of disputation. Debates were conducted with so much vehemence
among his pupils that Timon said of Euclid that he had carried the madness of
contention from Athens to Megara. That he was, however, capable of commanding
his temper appears from his reply to his brother, who, in a quarrel, had said,
"Let me perish if I be not revenged on you.""And let me perish,"
returned Euclid, "if I do not subdue your resentment by forbearance and make
you love me as much as ever."
In argument Euclid was averse to the analogical method of reasoning,
and judged that legitimate argument consists in deducing fair conclusions from
acknowledged premises. He held that there is one supreme good, which he called
by the different names of Intelligence, Providence, God; and that evil, considered
as an opposite principle to the sovereign good, has no existence. The supreme
good, according to Cicero, he defined to be that which is always the same. In
this doctrine, in which he followed the subtlety of Parmenides rather than the
simplicity of Socrates, he seems to have considered good abstractly as residing
in the Deity, and to have maintained that all things which exist are good by their
participation of the first good, and, consequently, that there is, in the nature
of things, no real evil. It is said that when Euclid was asked his opinion concerning
the gods, he replied, "I know nothing more of them than this: that they hate
inquisitive persons."
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
Eucleides (Eukleides), a native of Megara, or, according to some less probable accounts, of Gela. He was one of the chief of the disciples of Socrates, but before becoming such, he had studied the doctrines, and especially the dialectics, of the Eleatics. Socrates on one occasion reproved him for his fondness for subtle and captious disputes. (Diog. Laert. ii. 30.) On the death of Socrates (B. C. 399), Eucleides, with most of the other pupils of that philosopher, took refuge in Megara, and there established a school which distinguished itself chiefly by the cultivation of dialectics. The doctrines of the Eleatics formed the basis of his philosophical system. With these he blended the ethical and dialectical principles of Socrates. The Eleatic dogma, that there is one universal, unchangeable existence, he viewed in a moral aspect, calling this one existence the Good, but giving it also other names (as Reason, Intelligence, &c.), perhaps for the purpose of explaining how the real. though one, appeared to be many. He rejected demonstration, attacking not so much the premises assumed as the conclusions drawn, and also reasoning from analogy. He is said to have been a main of a somewhat indolent and procrastinating disposition. He was the author of six dialogues, none of which, however, have come down to us. He has frequently been erroneously confounded with the mathematician of the same name. The school which lie founded was called sometimes the Megaric, sometimes the Dialectic or Eristic. (Diog. Laert. ii. 106-108; Cic. Aead. ii. 42; Plut. de Fratr. Am. 18.)
A noble aristocrat who lived an unsettled life as in his time a number of political changes occured in Megara and throughout Greece. Because he was a member of the defeated aristocratic party ge was exiled and moved to Sicilly, Euboea, Viotia and Sparta. Even though he was welcome in all these states he always longed to return home. Indeed he returned home, sided with the new order of things but deeply inside him he remained an aristocrat and never changed his political beliefs. In his elegies, of which only 1389 verses have survived, the reader can see the poet's prejudice for the aristocrats against the democrats.
Theognis. Of Megara, an ancient elegiac and gnomic poet, said to have flourished B.C. 548 or 544. He may have been born about 570, and would therefore have been eighty at the commencement of the Persian Wars, 490, at which time we know from his own writings that he was alive. Theognis belonged to the oligarchical party in his native city, and in its fates he shared. He was a noble by birth, and all his sympathies were with the nobles. They are, in his poems, the agathoi and esthloi, and the commons the kakoi and deiloi, terms which, in fact, at that period, were regularly used in this political signification, and not in their later ethical meaning. He was banished with the leaders of the oligarchical party, having previously been deprived of all his property; and most of his poems were composed while he was an exile. Most of his political verses are addressed to a certain Cyrnus, the son of Polypas. The other fragments of his poetry are of a social, most of them of a festive, character. They place us in the midst of a circle of friends who formed a kind of convivial society; all the members of this society belonged to the class whom the poet calls "the good." The collection of gnomic poetry which has come down to us under the name of Theognis contains, however, many additions from later poets. The genuine fragments of Theognis, with some passages which are poetical in thought, have much that helps us to understand his times.
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
Theognis. Of Megara, an ancient elegiac and gnomic poet, whose reputed works form
the most extensive collection of gnomic poetry, that has come down to us under
any one name; but, unfortunately, the form in which these remains exist is altogether
unsatisfactory. Most of our information respecting the poet's life is derived
from his writings.
He was a native of Megara, the capital of Megaris, not of Megara Hyblaea,
in Sicily; as Harpocration justly argues from a line of his poetry (v. 783), in
which he speaks of his going to Sicily, evidently as to a country which was not
his native land, and as appears also from other passages of his writings. Harpocration
is, however, in error, when he charges Plato with having fallen into a mistake,
in making Theognis a citizen of Megara in Sicily (Leg. i.); for we can have no
hesitation in accepting the explanation of the Scholiast on Plato, that Theognis
was a native of Megara in Greece, but received also the citizenship as an honour
from the people of Megara Hyblaea, whom he is known to have visited, and for whom
one of his elegies was composed, as is proved by internal evidence. From his own
poems also we learn that, besides Sicily, he visited Euboea and Lacedaemon, and
that in all these places he was hospitably received. The circumstances which led
him to wander from his native city will presently appear.
The time at which Theognis flourished is expressly stated by several
writers as the 58th or 59th Olympiad, B. C. 548 or 544. It is evident, from passages
in his poems, that he lived till after the commencement of the Persian wars, B.
C. 490. These statements may be reconciled, by supposing that he was about eighty
at the latter date, and that he was born about B. C. 570. Cyril and Suidas make
him contemporary with Phocylides of Miletus.
Both the life and writings of Theognis, like those of Alcaeus, are
inseparably connected with the political events of his time and city. The little
state of Megara had been for some time before the poet's birth the scene of great
political convulsions. After shaking off the yoke of Corinth, it had remained
for a time under the nobles, until about the year B. C. 630, when Theagenes, placing
himself at the head of the popular party, acquired the tyranny of the state, from
which he was again driven by a counter revolution, about B. C. 600. The popular
party, into whose hands the power soon fell again, governed temperately for a
time, but afterwards they oppressed the noble and rich, entering their houses,
and demanding to eat and drink luxuriously, and enforcing their demand when it
was refused; and at last passing a decree that the interest paid on money lent
should be refunded (palintokia, Plut. Quaest. Graec. 18). They alto banished many
of the chief men of the city; but the exiles returned, and restored the oligarchy
(Arist. Polit. v. 4.3). Several such revolutions and counter-revolutions appear
to have followed one another; but we are not informed of their dates.
Theognis was born and spent his life in the midst of these convulsions,
to which a large portion of his poetry relates, most of that portion having evidently
been composed at a time when the oligarchical party was oppressed and in exile.
To this party Theognis himself belonged, and in its fates he shared. He was a
noble by birth; and all his sympathies were with the nobles. They are, in his
poems, the agathoi and esthloi, and the commons the kakoi and deiloi, terms which,
in fact, at that period, were regularly used in this political signification,
and not in their later ethical meaning.(1)
It would seem that, in that particular revolution, from which Theognis
suffered, there had been a division of the property of the nobles, in which he
lost his all, and was cast out as an exile, barely escaping with his life, " like
a dog who throws every thing away in order to cross a torrent"; and that
he had also to complain of treachery on the part of certain friends in whom he
had trusted. In his verses he pours out his indignation upon his enemies, " whose
black blood he would even drink". He laments the folly of the bad pilots by whom
the vessel of the state had been often wrecked, and speaks of the common people
with unmeasured contumely. Amidst all these outbursts of passion, we find some
very interesting descriptions of the social change which the revolution had effected.
It had rescued the country population from a condition of abject poverty and serfdom,
and given them a share in the government. "Cyrnus" he exclaims, " this
city is still a city, but the people are others, who formerly knew nothing of
courts of justice or of laws, but wore goat-skins about their ribs, and dwelt
without this city, like timid deer. And now they are the good (agathoi); and those
who were formerly noble (esthloi) are now the mean (deiloi): who can endure to
see these things? " The intercourse of common life, and the new distribution of
property, were rapidly breaking down the old aristocracy of birth, and raising
up in its place an aristocracy of wealth. "They honour riches. and the good marries
the daughter of the bad, and the bad the daughter of the good, wealth confounds
the race (emixe genos). Thus, wonder not that the race of citizens loses its brightness,
for good things are confounded with bad". These complaints of the debasement of
the nobles by their intermixture with the commons are embittered by a personal
feeling; for he had been rejected by the parents of the girl he loved, and she
had been given in marriage to a person of far inferior rank (pollon emou kakion);
but Theognis believes that her affections are still fixed on him. He distrusts
the stability of the new order of things, and points to a new despotism as either
established or just at hand.
Most of these political verses are addressed to a certain Cyrnus,
the son of Polypas; for it is now generally admitted that the same Polupaides,
which has been sometimes supposed to refer to a different person, is to be understood
as a patronymic, and as applying to Cyrnus. From the verses themselves, as well
as from the statements of the ancient writers, it appears that Cyrnus was a young
man towards whom Theognis cherished a firm friendship, and even that tender regard,
that pure and honourable paidepastia, which often bound together men of different
ages in the Dorian states. From one passage it appears that Cyrnus was old enough,
and of sufficient standing in the city, to be sent to Delphi as a sacred envoy
(theoros) to bring back an oracle, which the poet exhorts him to preserve faithfully.
There is another fragment, also of a political character, but in a different tone,
addressed to a certain Simonides; in which the revolution itself is described
in guarded language, which indicates the sense of present danger; while in the
verses addressed to Cyrnus the change is presupposed, and the poet speaks out
his feelings, as one who has nothing more to fear or hope for.
The other fragments of the poetry of Theognis are of a social, most
of them of a festive character. They "place us in the midst of a circle of friends.
who formed a kind of eating society, like the philislia of Sparta, and like the
ancient public tables of Megara itself". All the members of this society belong
to the class whom the poet calls "the good". He addresses them, like Cyrnus and
Simonides, by their names, Onomacritus, Clearistus, Democles. Demonax, and Timagoras,
in passages which are probably fragments of distinct elegies, and in which allusion
is made to their various characters and adventures; and he refers, as also in
his verses addressed to Cyrnus, to the fame conferred upon them by the introduction
of their names in his poems, both at other places, where already in his own time
his elegies were sung at banquets, and in future ages. A good account of these
festive elegies is given in the following passage from Muller: "The poetry of
Theognis is full of allusions to symposia: so that from it a clear conception
of the outward accompaniments of the elegy may be formed. When the guests were
satisfied with eating, the cups were filled for the solemn libation; and at this
ceremony a prayer was offered to the gods, especially to Apollo, which in many
districts of Greece was expanded into a paean. Here began the more joyous and
noisy part of the banquet, which Theognis (as well as Pindar) calls in general
komos, although this word in a narrower sense also signified the tumultuous throng
of the guests departing from the feast. Now the Comos was usually accompanied
with the flute : hence Theognis speaks in so many places of the accompaniment
of the flute-player to the poems sung in the intervals of drinking; while the
lyre and cithara (or phorminx) are rarely mentioned, and then chiefly in reference
to the song at the libation. And this was the appropriate occasion for the elegy,
which was sung by one of the guests to the sound of a flute, being either addressed
to the company at large, or (as is always the case in Theognis) to a single guest".
Schneidewin traces a marked distinction in the style and spirit of those portions
of the poems of Theognis, which he composed in his youth and prosperity, and those
which he wrote in his mature age, and when misfortunes had come upon him.
As to the form in which the poems of Theognis were originally composed,
and that in which the fragments of them have come down to us, there is a wide
field for speculation. The ancients had a collection of elegiac poetry, under
his name, which they sometimes mention as elegeia, and sometimes as epe, and which
they regarded as chiefly, if not entirely, of a gnomic character (Plat. Menon.).
Xenophon says that "this poet discourses of nothing else but respecting the virtue
and vice of men, and his poetry is a treatise (sungramma) concerning men, just
as if any one skilled in horsemanship were to write a treatise about horsemanship"
(Xenoph. ap. Slob. Florileg. lxxxviii). To the same effect Isocrates mentions
Hesiod, Theognis, and Phocylides, as confessedly those who have given the best
advice respecting human life (kai gar toutous phasi men aristous gegenesthai sumboulous
toi bioi toi ton anthropon); and, from the context, it may it inferred that the
works of these poets were used in Greek education (Isocrat. ad Nicoel. 42). Suidas
enumerates, as his works, an Elegy eis tous sothentas ton Supakousion en tei poliorkiai;
Gnomic Elegies, to the amount of 2800 verses (Gnomai di elegeias eis epe bo);
a Gnomology in elegiac verse, and other hortatory counsels, addressed to Cyrnus
(kai pros Kurnon, ton autou epomenon, Gnomologian di edegeion kai heteras hupothekas
parainetikas). Suidas adds, that these poems were all of the epic form (ta panta
epikos), a phrase which can only be explained by taking the word epic in that
wide sense, of which we have several other instances, one of which (Plat. Men.)
has been noticed above, as including poems in the elegiac verse; for all the remains
of Theognis which we possess are elegiac, and there is no sufficient reason to
suppose that he wrote any epic poems, properly so called, or even any gnomic poems
in hexameter verse. Had he done so, the fact would surely have been indicated
by the occasional appearance of consecutive hexameters in the gnomic extracts
from his poems. The passage of Plato, sometimes quoted to show that he wrote epic
poetry, seems to us to prove, if anything, the very opposite.
The poems, which have come down to us, consist of 1389 elegiac verses,
consisting of gnomic sentences and paragraphs, of one or more couplets; which
vary greatly in their style and subjects, and which are evidently extracted from
a number of separate poems. Even in the confused account of Suidas we trace indications
of the fact, that the poetry of Theognis consisted of several distinct elegies.
In what state the collection was in the time of Suidas, we have not sufficient
evidence to determine; but, comparing his article with his well-known method of
putting together the information which he gathered from various sources, we suspect
that the work which he calls Gnomai di elegeias eis epe bo, was a collection similar
to that which has come down to us, though more extensive, and with which Suidas
himself was probably acquainted, and that he copied the other titles from various
writers, without caring to inquire whether the poems to which they referred were
included in the great collection. Xenophon, in the passage above cited, refers
to a collection of the poetry of Theognis; though not, as some have supposed,
to a continuous gnomic poem; and it is evident that the collection referred to
by Xenophon was different from that which has come down to us, as the lines quoted
by him as its commencement are now found in the MSS. as vv. 183--190.
The manner in which the original collection was formed, and the changes
by which it has come into its present state, can be explained by a very simple
theory, perfectly consistent with all the facts of the case, in the following
manner.
Theognis wrote numerous elegies, political, convivial, affectionate,
and occasional, addressed to Cyrnus, and to his other friends. In a very short
time these poems would naturally be collected, and arranged according to their
subjects, and according to the persons to whom they were addressed; but at what
precise period this was done we are unable to determine: the collection may have
been partly made during the poet's life, and even by himself; but we may be sure
that it would not be left undone long after his death.
In this collection, the distinction of the separate poems in each
great division would naturally be less and less regarded, on account of the uniformity
of tile metre, the similarity of the subjects, and -in the case especially of
those addressed to Cyrnus- the perpetual recurrence of the same name in the different
poems. Thus the collection would gradually be fused into one body, and, first
each division of it, and then perhaps the whole, would assume a form but little
different from that of a continuous poem. Even before this had happened, however,
the decidedly gnomic spirit of the poems, and their popularity on that account,
would give rise to the practice of extracting from them couplets and paragraphs,
containing gnomic sentiments; and these, being chosen simply for the sake of the
sentiment contained in each individual passage, would be arranged in any order
that accident might determine, without reference to the original place and connection
of each extract, and without any pains being taken to keep the passages distinct.
Thus was formed a single and quasi-continuous body of gnomic poetry, which of
course has been subjected to the common fates of such collections; interpolations
from the works of other gnomic poets, and omissions of passages which really belonged
to Theognis; besides the ordinary corruptions of critics and transcribers. Whatever
questions may be raised as to matters of detail, there can be very little doubt
that the socalled poems of Theognis have been brought into their present state
by some such process as that which has been now described.
In applying this theory to the restoration of the extant fragments
of Theognis to something like their ancient arrangement, Welcker, to whom we are
indebted for the whole discovery, proceeds in the following manner. First, he
rejects all those verses which we have the positive authority of ancient writers
for assigning to other poets, such as Tyrtaeus, Mimniermus, Solon, and others;
provided, of course, that the evidence in favour of those poets preponderates
over that on the ground of which the verses have been assigned to Theognis. Secondly,
he rejects all passages which can be proved to be merely parodies of the genuine
gnomes of Theognis, a species of corruption which he discusses with great skill.
Thirdly, he collects those passages which refer to certain definite persons, places,
seasons, and events, like the epigrams of later times; of these he considers some
to be the productions of Theognis, but others manifest additions. His next class
is formed of the convivial portions of the poetry; in which the discrimination
of what is genuine from what is spurious is a matter of extreme difficulty. Fifthly,
he separates all those paragraphs which are addressed to Polypaides; and here
there can be no doubt that he has fallen into an error, through not perceiving
the fact above referred to, as clearly established by other writers, that that
word is a patronymic, and only another name for Cyrnus. Lastly, he removes from
the collection the verses which fall under the denomination of paidika, for which
Suidas censures the poet; but, if we understand these passages as referring to
the sort of intercourse which prevailed among the Dorians, many of them admit
of the best interpretation and may safely be assigned to Theognis, though there
are others, of a less innocent character, which we must regard as the productions
of later and more corrupt ages. The couplets which remain are fragments from the
elegies of Theognis, mostly addressed to Cyrnus, and referring to the events of
the poet's life and times, and the genuineness of which may, for the most part,
be assumed; though, even among these, interpolations may very probably have taken
place, and passages actually occur of a meaning so nearly identical, that they
can hardly be supposed to have been different passages in the works of the same
poet, but they seem rather to have been derived from different authors by some
compiler who was struck by their resemblance.
The poetical character of Theognis may be judged of to a great extent,
from what has already been said, and it is only necessary to add that his genuine
fragments contain much that is highly poetical in thought, and elegant as well
as forcible in expression.
Commentary:
(1) For a full illustration of the meanings of these words, see
Welcker's Prolegomena ad Theogn., and an excellent note in Grote's History of
Greece: "The ethical meaning of these words is not absolutely unknown, yet
rare, in Theognis: it gradually grew up at Athens, and became popularized by the
Socratic school of philosophers as well as by the orators. But the early or political
meaning always remained, and the fluctuation between the two has been productive
of frequent misunderstanding. Constant attention is necessary, when we read the
expressions hoi agathoi, esthloi, beltistoi, kalokagathoi, chpestoi, &c.,
or on the other hand, hoi kakoi, deiloi, &c., to examine whether the context
is such as to give to them the ethical or the political meaning".
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
560 - 500
Architect, son of Nafstrofos, known for his famous aqueduct "Efpalinos tunnel" at Samos (530 b.C.) The tunnel, as it was admired and described by Herodotus, was constructed to supply water from a spring to the capital city of Samos. For this purpose, Efpalinos, had to "pierce" the mountain Kastro. The tunnel is 1000m. long (7 stadia) and its walls have been lined with small-size polygonal stones in order to prevent earth from falling. Now architects admire Efpalinos for his advanced knowledge in hydraulics.
Founder of Byzantium, named after him, which was ihabited by the citizens of Megara in 658 b.C. Coins of the ancient city-state bear his head. He was a daring navigator, son of Poseidon (Neptune) the mythical god of the seas. His mother was Kreoussa and he was born circa 687 b.C. When the citizens sent for instructions to the oracle of Delfi as to where they should establish a new settlement they were given the obscure reply: "across the blind people". However none knew a city with this name.
During that summer, quite a few citizens of Megara led by Byzas boarded their vessels setting for a journey to the unknown. They had faith in their leader though. Thus, after much wandering the Megarian fleet reaches the port of Chalcedon in safety. Chalkedon was a settlement of Megarians which had been inhabited 17 years before, in 674 b.C. Soon Byzas realised that the "land of the blind" was Chalcedon as they had failed to understand that the shore across their city was of much greater strategic importance. Moreover, according to Stravon, fishing was an easy matter across the sea. (see Geographika). Having this vision, Byzas led the Megarians to the coast across Chalcedon where they founded the new city and named it BYZANTIUM in 657 b.C.. This city was destined to play a historically significant role in the following years.
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