Listed 52 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "CHIOS Ancient city GREECE".
377 - 323
Theopompus. A Greek historian, born at Chios about B.C. 378. He left home,
probably about 361, with his father, who was banished by the democratic party
on account of his predilection for the Spartans, and, having been trained in oratory
by Isocrates, spoke with great success in all the larger towns of Greece. He distinguished
himself so greatly in the rhetorical contest instituted (351) by Queen Artemisia,
wife of Mausolus, in honour of her deceased husband, that he obtained a brilliant
victory over all competitors. He afterwards travelled, with the object of acquiring
material for his historical works. The favour shown him by Alexander the Great
induced him to return to Chios at the age of forty-five; but on the death of his
patron he found himself again obliged to flee from his opponents, whose hatred
he had incurred by his vehement adoption of the sentiments of the aristocracy.
He took refuge with Ptolemy I., at Alexandria, about 305. Here he did not, however,
meet with a favourable reception, and was compelled to withdraw, as his life was
in danger. Of his subsequent career nothing is known.
Besides numerous orations (principally panegyrics) he composed
two large histories, founded on the most careful and minute research: (a) Hellenica
(Hellenikai Historiai), in twelve books, a continuation of Thucydides, covering
the period from 411- 394; and (b) Philippica (Philippika), in fifty-eight books,
treating of the life and times of Philip of Macedon. Of these works only fragments
remain. The charge of malignity, which was brought against him by the ancients,
seems to have originated in the reckless manner in which, on the testimony of
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ep. ad Cn. Pompeium), he exposed the pettiness and
baseness of the politics of those times, especially those of the Macedonian party.
There seems to be better foundation for the charge brought against him of being
too fond of digressions; for when, in later times, the digressions in the Philippica
were omitted, the work was thereby reduced to sixteen books. Theopompus was the
first Greek writer to make any definite mention of Rome, speaking of its capture
by the Gauls.
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
Among the writers of history Theopompus of Chios began his history
of Philip at this point (360/359 B.C) and composed fifty-eight books, of which
five are lost.(Diod. 16.3.8)
Commentary: Of this work, the longest history published till then, two
hundred seventeen fragments remain. Theopompus' admiration for Philip is reflected
by Diodorus, who must have relied heavily on his account.
Theopompus of Chios ended with this year (393 B.C.) and the battle
of Cnidus his Hellenic History, which he wrote in twelve books. This historian
began with the battle of Cynossema, with which Thucydides ended his work, and
covered in his account a period of seventeen years (410-394 B.C.). (Diod. 14.84.7)
Theopompus of Chios, the historian, in his History of Philip, included
three books dealing with affairs in Sicily. Beginning with the tyranny of Dionysius
the Elder he covered a period of fifty years, closing with the expulsion of the
younger Dionysius. These three books are 41-43.(Diod. 16.71.3)
Creophylus (Kreophulos), one of the earliest epic poets of Greece, whom tradition placed in direct connexion with Homer, as he is called his friend or even his son-in-law (Plat. de Rep; Callim. Epigram. 6; Strab. xiv.; Sext. Empir. adv. Math. i. 2; Eustath. ad Hom. Il. ii. 730; Suidas, s. v.). Creophylus is said to have received Homer into his house, and to have been a native of Chios, though other accounts describe him as a native of Samos or los. The epic poem Oichalia or Oichalias halosis, which is ascribed to him, he is said, in some traditions, to have received from Homer as a present or as a dowry with his wife (Proclus, ap. Hephaest.; Schol. ad Plat.; Suidas, s. v.). Tradition thus seems to point to Creophylus as one of the most ancient Homeridae, and as the first link connecting Homer himself with the subsequent history of the Homeric poems; for he preserved and taught the Homeric poems, and handed them down to his descendants, from whom Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, is said to have received them (Plut. Lyc. 4; Heracleid. Pont. Poet. Fragm. 2; Iamblich. Vit. Pythag. ii. 9; Strab. xiv.). His poem Oixalia contained the contest which Heracles, for the sake of Iole, undertook with Eurytus, and the final capture of Oechalia. This poem, from which Panyasis is said to have copied (Clem. Alex. Strom. iv.), is often referred to, both with and without its author's name, but we possess only a few statements derived from it (Phot. Lex.; Tzetz. Chil. xiii. 659 ; Cramer, Anecd. ii.; Schol. ad Soph. Trach. 266). Pausanias (iv. 2.3) mentions a poem Herakleia by Creophylus, but this seems to be only a different name for the Oichalia (Comp. Schol. ad Eurip. Med. 276). The Heracleia which the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (i. 1357) ascribes to Cinaethon, is likewise supposed by some to be a mistake, and to allude to the Oichalia of Creophylus.
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
Creophylus, also, was a Samian, who, it is said, once entertained Homer and received
as a gift from him the inscription of the poem called The Capture of Oechalia.
But Callimachus clearly indicates.the contrary in an epigram of his, meaning that
Creophylus composed the poem, but that it was ascribed to Homer because of the
story of the hospitality shown him: "I am the toil of the Samian, who once
entertained in his house the divine Homer. I bemoan Eurytus, for all that he suffered,
and golden-haired Ioleia. I am called Homer's writing. For Creophylus, dear Zeus,
this is a great achievement". Some call Creophylus Homer's teacher, while
others say that it was not Creophylus, but Aristeas the Proconnesian, who was
his teacher.
Of Chios. A Greek author of rare versatility for his time. He composed historical writings, among them a kind of memoirs of men of mark he had met, such as Sophocles; also lyric poems of the most varied types, and thirty or forty tragedies which were more remarkable for elegance and erudition than for elevation of style. When in B.C. 452 he won a dramatic victory at Athens, he is said to have presented every Athenian with a flask of Chian wine. He died at Athens in B.C. 422. There remain only scanty fragments of his works.
This extract is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A clever and versatile writer was Ion of Chios, dramatist, lyric poet and philosopher. Of his forty or fifty plays only a few titles and fragments have come down to us, while of his elegies and dithyrambs nothing has been preserved. He was a friend of Socrates and contemporary with all the three great dramatists, winning the third prize in the contest where Euripides was first with his Hyppolytus. In commemoration of this not very glorious victory he presented each Athenian citizen with a flask of Chian wine.
Alfred Bates, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the TheatreHistory URL below.
Bibliography: Ion of Chios
Editor?s Information:
Biography, reports and essays on Homer can be found at his birthplace the island
of Ios, one of the places that claim the honour of his origin and where his
tomb is. There are also other places among the claimants, which are mentioned
in an epigram (Gell. III, 11), including the island of Ios: the island of Chios,
Smyrna, Rhodes,
Colophon, Salamis
in Cyprus, Argos, Athens,
Cyme in Aeolis, Pylos
and Ithaca.
And now may Apollo be favorable and Artemis; and farewell all you maidens. Remember
me in after time whenever any one of men on earth, a stranger who has seen and
suffered much, comes here and asks of you: "Whom think ye, girls, is the
sweetest singer that comes here, and in whom do you most delight?" Then answer,
each and all, with one voice: "He is a blind man, and dwells in rocky Chios:
his lays are evermore supreme". As for me, I will carry your renown as far
as I roam over the earth to the well-placed cities of man, and they will believe
also; for indeed this thing is true.
Commentary: Paipaloessie: epithet of Chios, Od. 3.170. This line was, at least
partly, the origin of the tradition that Homer was blind, and lived in Chios;
Simonides of Ceos (or Simonides of Amorgos) fr. 85 hen de to kalliston Chios eeipen
aner. See Jebb Homer p. 87 f. The legendary Thamyris and the Phaeacian Demodocus
were also blind; indeed it was natural that the blind should have recourse to
the profession of the aoidos, just as the lame found employment as blacksmiths
(cf. the lame smith-god Hephaestus). This explanation (suggested by Bergk) is
opposed by Fries Rhein. Mus. 57. 2 (1902), p. 265 f., who curiously thinks that
the idea of blind poets is a folk-tale of Egyptian origin, and even throws doubt
on the genuineness of this passage as a personal narrative. Cf. also Brugmann
I. F. iii. 257 n., who compares Servian epos.
But it is said that the king replied, that Homer, though dead a thousand years ago, had all that time been the means of livelihood for many thousands of men; similarly, a person who laid claim to higher genius ought to be able to support not one man only, but many others. And in short, various stories are told about his death, which was like that of one found guilty of parricide. Some writers have said that he was crucified by Philadelphus; others that he was stoned at Chios; others again that he was thrown alive upon a funeral pyre at Smyrna. Whichever of these forms of death befell him, it was a fitting punishment and his just due; for one who accuses men that cannot answer and show, face to face, what was the meaning of their writings, obviously deserves no other treatment.
Homerids, a family or guild of poets in Chios, who claimed descent from Homer, Str. 14.1.35
Just as the Homeridae, the singers of woven verses, most often begin with Zeus as their prelude, so this man has received a first down-payment of victory in the sacred games by winning in the grove of Nemean Zeus, which is celebrated in many hymns.
One of the Homeric hymns, that to Apollo, is explicitly attributed to a rhapsode, Cynaethus of Chios; and there is no more reason to doubt this ascription than that of the various Cyclic poems to Arctinus, Stasinus, Eugammon etc.
Cinaiehus or Cynaethus (Kinaithos or Kynaithos), of Chios, a rhapsodist, who was
generally supposed by the ancients to have been the author of the Homeric hymn
to Apollo. He is said to have lived about the 69th Olympiad (B. C. 504), and to
have been the first rhapsodist of the Homeric poems at Syracuse (Schol. ad Pind.
Nem. ii. 1). This date, however, is much too low, as the Sicilians were acquainted
with the Homeric poems long before. Welcker therefore proposes to read kata ten
hekten e ten ennaten Ol. instead of kata ten hexekosten ennaten Ol., and places
him about B. C. 750. Cinaethus is charged by Eustathius (ad Il. i.) with having
interpolated the Homeric poems.
Licymnius (Likumnios). Of Chios, a distinguished dithyrambic poet, of uncertain date. Some writers, on the authority of a passage of Sextus Empiricus (Adv. Math. 49, xi.; Fabric.; Pacard.), place him before Simonides; but this is not clearly made out, and it is perhaps more likely, from all we know of his poetry, that he belonged to the later Athenian dithyrambic school about the end of the fourth century B. C.; indeed Spengel and Schneidewin identify him with the rhetorician. He is mentioned by Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 12), in conjunction with Chaeremon, as among the poets whose works were rather fit for reading than for exhibition (analnodtikoi). Among the poems ascribed to him was one in praise of health; a pretty sure indication of a late date, if we could be certain that the poem was his. A fragment of this poem is preserved by Sextus Empiricus, in which three lines out of six are identical with lines in the paean of Ariphron to health; and it seems likely that it was a mere mistake in Sextus to quote the poem as by Licymnius. A poem of his on the legend of Endymion is mentioned by Athenaeus (xiii.), who also refers to one of his dithyrambs on the love of Argynnus for Hymenaeus (xiii.). Parthenius (c. 22) quotes from him an account of the taking of Sardis, which has every mark of a late and fictitious embellishment of the event. Eustathius (ad Hom. Od. iii. 267) mentions Likumnion Boupradiea aoidon. (Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. pp. 839, 840; Schmidt, Diatrib. in Dithyramb. pp. 84-86; Ulrici, Gesch. d. Hellen. Dichtk. vol. ii. p. 497; Bode, Gesch. d. Lyr. Dichtk. vol. ii. pp. 303, 304.)
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
Ariston, a (Stoic) philosopher of Chios, a pupil of Zeno, founder of the sceptic philosophy, and contemporary of Ceasar.
Ariston. Of Chios, a Stoic philosopher, and a disciple of Zeno, who flourished about B.C. 260.
Ariston, son of Miltiades, born in the island of Chios, a Stoic and disciple of
Zeno, flourished about B. C. 260, and was therefore contemporary with Epicurus,
Aratus, Antigonus Gonatas, and with the first Punic war. Though he professed himself
a Stoic, yet he differed from Zeno in several points; and indeed Diogenes Laertius
(vii. 160, &c.) tells us, that he quitted the school of Zeno for that of Polemo
the Platonist. He is said to have displeased the former by his loquacity, -a quality
which others prized so highly, that he acquired the surname of Siren, as a master
of persuasive eloquence. He was also called Phalancus, from his baldness. He rejected
all branches of philosophy but ethics, considering physiology as beyond man's
powers, and logic as unsuited to them. Even with regard to ethics, Seneca (Ep.
89) complains, that he deprived them of all their practical side, a subject which
he said belonged to the schoolmaster rather than to the philosopher. The sole
object, therefore, of ethics was to shew wherein the supreme good consists, and
this he made to be adiaphoria, i. e. entire indifference to everything except
virtue and vice (Cic. Acad. ii. 42). All external things therefore were in his
view perfectly indifferent; so that he entirely rejected Zeno's distinction between
the good and the preferable (ta proegmena), i. e. whatever excites desire in the
individual mind of any rational being, without being in itself desirable or good,
and of which the pure Stoical doctrine permitted an account to be taken in the
conduct of human life (Cic. Fin. iv. 25). But this notion of proegmena was so
utterly rejected by Ariston, that he held it to be quite indifferent whether we
are in perfect health, or afflicted by the severest sickness (Cic. Fin. ii. 13);
whereas of virtue he declared his wish that even beasts could understand words
which would excite them to it. It is, however, obvious that those who adopt this
theory of the absolute indifference of everything but virtue and vice, in fact
take away all materials for virtue to act upon, and confine it in a state of mere
abstraction. This part of Ariston's system is purely cynical, and perhaps he wished
to shew his admiration for that philosophy, by opening his school at Athens in
the Cynosarges, where Antisthenes had taught. He also differed with Zeno as to
the plurality of virtues, allowing of one only, which he called the health of
the soul (hugeian onomaze, Plut. Virt. Mor. 2). This appears to follow from the
cynical parts of his system, for by taking away all the objects of virtue, he
of course deprives it of variety; and so he based all morality on a well-ordered
mind. Connected with this is his paradox, Sapiens non opinatur--the philosopher
is free from all opinions (since they would be liable to disturb his unruffled
equanimity); and this doctrine seems to disclose a latent tendency to scepticism,
which Cicero appears to have suspected, by often coupling him. with Pyrrho. In
conformity with this view, he despised Zeno's physical speculations, and doubted
whether God is or is not a living Being (Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 14). But this apparently
atheistic dogma perhaps only referred to the Stoical conception of God, as of
a subtle fire dwelling in the sky and ditlusing itself through the universe. He
may have meant merely to demonstrate his position, that physiology is above the
human intellect, by shewing the impossibility of certainly attributing to this
pantheistic essence, form, senses, or life.
Ariston is the founder of a small school, opposed to that of Herillus,
and of which Diogenes Laertius mentions Diphilus and Miltiades as members. We
learn from Athenaeus (vii.), on the authority of Eratosthenes and Apollophanes,
two of his pupils, that in his old age he abandoned himself to pleasure. He is
said to have died of a coup de soleil. Diogenes gives a list of his works, but
says, that all of them, except the Letters to Cleanthes, were attributed by Panaetius
(B. C. 143) and Sosicrates (B. C. 200-128) to another Ariston, a Peripatetic of
Ceos, with whom he is often confounded. Nevertheless, we find in Stobaeus (Serm.
iv. 110, &c.) fragments of a work of his called homoiomata.
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
Metrodorus Chius, a pupil of Democritus and teacher of Anaxarchus and of the fourth Hippocrates (about B. C. 330).
Multiverse: The theories of multiple universes
Democritus and Leucippus believed that since there are innumerable atoms and an infinite void, there is no reason why only one such world should be formed. Therefore they postulated innumerable worlds, coming-to-be and passing away throughout the void.
They are the first to whom we can with absolute certainty attribute the odd concept of innumerable worlds (as opposed to successive states of a continuing organism). The picturesque reference was made by their pupil Metrodorus of Chios, who said that it is strange for (just) one ear of corn to be produced in a great plain, and for (just) one world in the boundless.
Euthydemus, (Euthudemos). A sophist of Chios, who, with his brother Dionysodorus, migrated to Thurii in Italy. He gives its name to one of the dialogues of Plato, in which the philosophical pretensions of Euthydemus and his brother are ridiculed.
Euthydemus, (Euthudemos). A sophist, was born at Chios, and migrated with his brother Dionysodorus to Thurii in Italy. Being exiled thence, they came to Athens, where they resided many years. The pretensions of Euthydemus and his brother are exposed by Plato in the dialogue which bears the name of the former. A sophism of Euthydemus, as illustrating the " fallacy of composition," is mentioned by Aristotle. (Plat. Euthydemus, Cratyl.; Arist. Rhet. ii. 24.3, Soph. El. 20; Ath. xi.; Sext. Emp. adv. Math. vii. 13.)
Famous natives of Chios are: Ion the tragic poet, and Theopompus the historian, and Theocritus the sophist.
Hippocrates, (Hippokrates), literary. Of Chios, a Pythagorean philosopher, who
lived about B. C. 460. He is mentioned chiefly as a mathematician, and is said
to have been the first who reduced geometry to a regular system. He seems to have
been also engaged in researches respecting the square of a circle; but we have
no means of judging of his merits as a mathematician, and Aristotle (Ethic. ad
Eudem. viii. 14) states that in every other respect he was a man not above mediocrity.
(Comp. Aristot. Sophist. Elench. i. 10; Plut. Solon, 2; Proclus in Euclid. ii.;
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i.)
Caucalus (Kaukalos), of Chios, a rhetorician, of whom an culogium on Heracles is mentioned by Athenaeus (x.), who also states that he was a brother of the historian Theopompus. It is very probable, that Suidas and Photius (s. v. Lemnion kakon) refer to our rhetorician, itn which case the name Kaukasos must be changed into Kaukalos.
Oenopides (Oinopides). An astronomer and mathematician of Chios, who obtained from the Egyptian priests a knowledge of the obliquity of the ecliptic, of which he subsequently claimed to be the discoverer. He fixed the length of the solar year at 365 days, less nine hours. To him are ascribed the demonstrations of the twelfth and twenty-third propositions in Euclid, and the quadrature of the meniscus. He flourished in the fifth century B.C.
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
Oenopides of Chios, Mathematician, Astronomer
Life Cited by Diodorus Siculus and by Proclus in his "Commentary on Euclid",
Oenopides travelled widely through Egypt and acquired considerable skill in astronomy.
His work focused on studies of the lunar and solar years. The discoveries he made
were engraved on a bronze tablet which he offered to Olympia.
Work His work also included: The first geometric constructions with ruler
and compasses (e.g. "Perpendicular to a line from a point that is not on that
line", "Construction on a given straight line of an angle equal to a given angle).
The discovery of the inclination of the ecliptic. The introduction into Greece
the "Great Year" of 59 years. Oenopides accepted a year of 365 days and a month
of 291/2 days. 59 is the largest whole number of years that contains an exact
number of lunar months (730). Since 730 lunar months correspond to 21,557 days,
each year in the Great Year would have 365.373 days, or a little less than 365
days and 9 hours.
This text is based on the Greek book "Ancient Greek Scientists", Athens, 1995 and is cited August 2004 from The Technology Museum of Thessaloniki URL below.
490 - 420
Hippocrates, born in the island of Chios, in Ionia, started, according to a tradition recorded in Philoponus' Commentary on Aristotle's Physics, as a merchant and came to Athens to prosecute pirates who had robbed him of all his goods. Required to stay there for a while to settle his case, he consorted with philosophers and became interested in mathematics, so that in the end, he stayed in Athens from about 450 to 430 B. C. He was, according to Proclus (Commentary on Euclid, I), the first to write Elements (possibly around 430 B. C.), more than one century before those of Euclid (usually dated from around 300 B. C.), but his works are no longer extant and are known only from references by later commentators. In trying to square the circle, Hippocrates adressed the problem of the surface of lunes, figures included between two intersecting arcs of circles.
This text is cited Dec 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Hippocrates of Chios (fl. in second half of 5th c.) is the first; then Leon,
who also discovered diorismi, put together a more careful collection, the propositions
proved in it being more numerous as well as more serviceable
Commentary: This passage has frequently been taken as crediting Hippocrates
with the discovery of the method of geometrical reduction. As Tannery remarks,
if the particular reduction of the duplication problem to that of the two means
is the first noted in history, it is difficult to suppose that it was really
the first; for Hippocrates must have found instances of it in the Pythagorean
geometry. Bretschneider, I think, comes nearer the truth when he boldly translates:
"This reduction of the aforesaid construction is said to have been first
given by Hippocrates". The words are proton de phasi ton aporoumenon diagrammaton
ten apagogen poiesasthai, which must, literally, be translated as in the text
above; but, when Proclus speaks vaguely of "difficult constructions",
he probably means to say simply that "this first recorded instance of a
reduction of a difficult construction is attributed to Hippocrates".
470 - 410
Mathematician
WORK
"Greek Anthology" ( Ελληνική Ανθολογία )
Contains 46 arithmetic "inscriptions". Some of them are mentioned by Diophantos and Platon. These "inscriptions" help to solve simple equation systems and are very interesting for the history of arithmetic.
Pharmacist. Mentioned by Theophrastos as "undefeated by poisons as he took 22 doses of hellebore and antidote to them ; nothing happened to him". He also writes "Eudemos is a root breaker and asks his profession with experience and conscientious".
Theophrastos : Histories on plants, IX - 17,3.
Archermos, son of Mikkiades and his family (Melas, Micciades, Archermos, Bupalus and Athenis)
Archermos is among only three archaic sculptors known from both
literary and epigraphical sources, plus (probably) a preserved statue: Stewart
1990, fig. 92. He was apparently active ca. 550-500, and like Dipoinos and Skyllis
appears to have attracted enough attention from some later connoisseur to arouse
Pliny's curiosity:
Pliny, N.H. 36.11-14 Before the time of Dipoenus and Scyllis the sculptor Melas
already lived on the island of Chios, followed by his son Micciades and grandson
Archermus. His sons Bupalus and Athenis were quite the most eminent in this
craft at the time of the poet Hipponax, who was certainly alive in the 60th
Olympiad [540-537]. Now if we trace their lineage back to their great-grandfather,
we find that the beginnings of this art coincided with the beginning of the
Olympiads [776]. Hipponax had a notoriously ugly face, and because of this they
exhibited his portrait and made dirty jokes about it to their circles of fun-loving
companions. Whereupon the indignant Hipponax rebuked them so bitterly in his
poems that some believe he drove them to hang themselves. This is false, for
they later made many statues in the neighbouring islands, for example on Delos,
to which they attached verses saying that Chios is esteemed not merely for its
vines, but also for the works of the sons of Archermus. Furthermore, the Iasians
exhibit a Diana made by their hands. In Chios itself there is said to be a face
of Diana which is also their work; it is set on high, and appears sad to those
entering, cheerful to those departing. At Rome there are statues of theirs on
the gable of the temple of Apollo on the Palatine and on almost all the buildings
erected by the deified Augustus. There were works by their father too at Delos
and on the island of Lesbos.
Pliny's source evidently knew the verses on the base of Archermos'
Delian statue, still preserved today, but erroneously included Melas, the mythical
founder of Chios mentioned in line 3, in the genealogy. The reading of the inscription
is uncertain: the latest study, Scherrer 1983, even denies that Mikkiades and
Archermos sign as sculptors at all, making them the dedicators of the statue.
Since the lower part of the Nike found nearby (Stewart 1990, fig. 92) is lost,
its attribution to this base will never be completely certain: supporting the
connection, however, are its scale and a scholiast's note:
Scholium to Aristophanes, Birds 573 Only more recently have Nike and Eros acquired
wings. For some say that it was Archennos [sic] the father of Boupalos and Athenis,
others that it was Aglaophon the Thasian painter who made Nike winged, as Karystios
of Pergamon relates.
Munzer 1895, 522-25 proposed that the otherwise obscure "Karystios of Pergamon"
could be the Hellenistic connoisseur Antigonos of Karystos, who made Pergamon
his base, and further suggested him as Pliny. Yet though the range of interests
there displayed coincides exactly with his, Pliny only includes him in his source
list for books 34-35, and not in that for book 36. Since certifies him as a
competent epigrapher and no "armchair archaeologist", Pliny may be relying upon
a Latin intermediary here, like Varro or the (none too careful) Mucianus, both
cited by him as prime sources for book 36. Sheedy 1985, 625 dismisses Pliny's
account as largely fiction based on the Romans' desire for tidy genealogies
and famous names, but overlooks the inscribed base found in Rome.
Aside from the Delian statue and Pliny's vague mention of Lesbos,
the only hard evidence as to Archermos' career is a signed column from the Akropolis
(Raubitschek 1949 no. 3; Marcade 1957, 21(v)-22: later sixth century); for another
(?), see also Raubitschek 1949 no. 9. His sons, active from ca. 540 are hardly
less shadowy, though their oeuvre is far more extensive. In addition to the
five works listed in liny, N.H. 36.11-14, Boupalos alone is given the following:
Tyche, at Smyrna
Three Graces, under the image of Nemesis, at Smyrna; gold
Three Graces, later in the palace of the Attalids at Pergamon; cf:
Part of a base from Pergamon bearing a Chiot sculptor's signature
Base from Rome with his signature (a renewal)
Animals in clay
Paintings at Klazomenai
The Samian Hera, later in the Lauseion at Constantinople; supposedly in collaboration
with Lysippos. (Misattribution)
Once again, the Pergamene connection is clear, and could have been
what sparked the interest of "Karystios"/Antigonos. Concerning the other images,
Pausanias (Paus. 4.30.6) credits him with the invention of the Tyche type with
polos and cornucopia, and remarks that his Graces were decorously draped (in
contrast to later practice: cf. Stewart 1990, fig. 809). It has also been suggested
that the Jekyll-and-Hyde expression of the Artemis on Chios describes "the effect
of an archaic smile viewed close from below and head-on at a distance, respectively"
(Boardman 1978a, 88). Pausanias (Paus. 4.30.6) also calls Boupalos a "builder
of temples."
Modern scholarship often associates the kore from the Acropolis
(Athens, Acropolis 675, Stewart 1990, fig. 148) and the "ex-Knidian" caryatid
from Delphi (Delphi, Anonymous Caryatid) with the Nike, but agrees on little
else. Croissant 1983, 73-83 sees strong influence from this tradition upon the
Peplos kore (Athens, Acropolis 679, Stewart 1990, fig. 147), and associates
the East frieze of the Siphnian treasury (Delphi, Siphnian Treasury Frieze--East,
Stewart 1990, figs. 192-93; but not the North, in defiance of the signature
on the latter, which declares that the two were made by the same sculptor) with
the "Chiot school." Others even attribute a fragment of a Palladion, found on
the Palatine, to Boupalos and Athenis; Zanker 1988, 242, fig. 188 (cf. 9). Sheedy
1985, on the other hand, dissects the evidence critically and thoroughly, and
comes to the conclusion that although korai found on Chios do share some interesting
characteristics, they have very little in common with the Nike. The Chiot school
as currently conceived, he concludes, is a "mirage" (1985, 625).
This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Dec 2003 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Bupalus (Boupalos). A sculptor and architect born in the island of Chios, and
son of Anthermus, or rather Archennus. He encountered the animosity of the poet
Hipponax, the cause of which is said to have been the refusal of Bupalus to give
his daughter in marriage to Hipponax, while others inform us that it was owing
to a statue made in derision of the poet by Bupalus. The satire and invective
of the bard were so severe that, according to one account, Bupalus hanged himself
in despair (Horace, Epod.vi. 14). His brother's name was Athenis. In addition
to the statue which Bupalus made in derision of Hipponax, other works are mentioned
by Pliny as the joint productions of the two brothers.
Bupalus, an architect and sculptor of the island of Chios, where his family is said to have exercised the art of statuary from the beginning of the Olympiads. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5; comp. Thiersch, Epoch. Anm.) Bupalus and his brother Athenis are said by Pliny (l. c.) and Suidas (s. v. Hipponax) to have made caricatures of the famous iambographical poet Hipponax, which the poet requited by the bitterest satires. (Welcker, Hipp. fragm.) This story, which we have no grounds for doubting, gives at once a pretty certain date for the age of the two artists, for Hipponax was a contemporary of Dareius (B. C. 524 - 485); and it also accounts for their abilities, which for their time must have been uncommon. This is proved moreover by the fact, that Augustus adorned most of his temples at Rome with their works. It is to be noticed that marble was their material. In the earlier period of Greek art wood and bronze was the common material, until by the exertions of Dipoenus and Scyllis, and the two Chian brothers, Bupalus and Athenis, marble became more general. Welcker (Rhein. Museum, iv.) has pointed out the great importance which Bupalus and his brother acquired by forming entire groups of statues, which before that time had been wrought as isolated figures. The father of Bupalus and Athenis, likewise a celebrated artist, is generally called Anthermus, which being very differently spelt in the different MSS. has been rejected by Sillig (Cat. Art. s. v.), who proposes to read Archeneus. The reading Anthermus for the son's name instead of Athenis has long been generally given up.
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 art of working in metals must have been known early in Greece, as appears from the Homeric poems (e. g. Il.xviii. 468-608). An important step in this direction was due to Glaucus of Chios, who, in the seventh century B.C., invented the soldering of iron (siderou kollesis, Herod.i. 25; Pausan. x. 16, 1) and the softening and hardening of metal by fire and water ( De Def. Or. 47).
Glaucus, (Glaukos), artists. 1. Of Chios, a statuary in metal, distinguished as
the inventor of the art of soldering metals (kollesis). His most noted work was
an iron base (hupokreteridion, Herod.; hupothema, Paus.), which, with tile silver
bowl it supported, was presented to the temple at Delphi by Alyattes, king of
Lydia. (Herod. i. 25.) This base was seen by Pausanias, who describes its construction
(x. 16.1), and by Athenaeus (v.), who says that it was chased with small figures
of animals, insects, and plants. Perhaps it is this passage that has led Meyer
(Kunstgeschichte, vol. ii.) and others into the mistake of explaining kollesis
as that kind of engraving on steel which we call damascene work. There is no doubt
that it means a mode of uniting metals by a solder or cement, without tile help
of the nails, hooks, or doyetails (desmoi), which were used before the invention
of Glaucus. (Pausan. l. c.; Muiller, in Bottiger's Amalthea, vol. iii.) Plutarch
also speaks of this base as very celebrated. (De Defect. Orac. 47) The skill of
Glaucus passed into a proverb, Glaukou techne. (Schol. ad Plat. Phaed., Ruhnken,
Bekker.)
Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Aithale) calls Glaucus a Samian. The fact
is, that Glaucus belonged to the Samian school of art.
Glaucus is placed by Eusebius (Chron. Arm.) at Ol. 22, 2 (B. C. 69
1/0). Alyattes reigned B. C. 617 -560. But the dates are not inconsistent, for
there is nothing in Herodotus to exclude the supposition that the iron base had
been made some time before Alyattes sent it to Delphi.
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
The local historian, Hippias, who probably lived in the Hellenistic period, reported that Knopos of Erytrae was dethroned by the tyrants Ortyges, Iros, and Echaros, friends of the tyrants Amphiklos and Polyteknos of Chios;
Thales, so the story goes, because of his poverty was taunted with the uselessness of philosophy; but from his knowledge of astronomy he had observed while it was still winter that there was going to be a large crop of olives, so he raised a small sum of money and paid round deposits for the whole of the olive presses in Miletus and Chios, which he hired at a low rent as nobody was running him up; and when the season arrived, there was a sudden demand for a number of presses at the same time, and by letting them out on what terms he liked he realized a large sum of money, so proving that it is easy for philosophers to be rich if they choose, but this is not what they care about.
(Aristotle, Politics, 1259a)
Antiphanes. A comic poet of Rhodes, Smyrna, or Carystus, born B.C. 408, of parents in the low condition of slaves. This most prolific writer (he is said to have composed upwards of three hundred dramas), notwithstanding the meanness of his origin, was so popular in Athens that on his decease a decree was passed to remove his remains from Chios to that city, where they were interred with public honours (Suidas, s. v.).
Plutarch asserts that Isocrates at one time opened a school of rhetoric, with
nine pupils, in Chios; and that while there he interfered in politics and helped
to institute a democracy. The story may be accepted with reservations. Isocrates
himself never refers to it, and in Ep. vi. § 2 (to the children of Jason) excuses
himself from visiting Thessaly on the ground that people would comment unfavourably
on a man who had 'kept quiet' all his life if he began travelling in his old age.
Jebb assumes a short stay in Chios in 404-403 B.C.
Dion. Of Chios, a flute player, who is said to have been the first who played the Bacchic spondee on the flute. (Athen. xiv. p. 638.) It may be that he is the same as Dion, the aulopoios, who is mentioned by Varro. (Fragm., ed. Bipont.)
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