Listed 100 (total found 108) sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "RHODES Island DODEKANISSOS" .
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
Charicleitus (Charikleitos), one of the commanders of the Rhodian fleet, which, in B. C. 190, defeated that of Antiochus the Great under Hannibal and Apollonius, off Side in Pamphylia. (Liv. xxxiv. 23, 24.)
KAMIROS (Ancient city) RHODES
A Rhodian Greek poet of the Middle Comedy, who flourished in
B.C. 376. He is said to have been the first to make love affairs the theme of
comedy. His plays are said to have been characterized by sprightliness and humour,
but only fragments of them are now in existence.
Anaxandrides, an Athenian comic poet of the middle comedy, was the son of Anaxander,
a native of Cameirus in Rhodes. He began to exhibit comedies in B. C. 376 (Marm.
Par. Ep. 34), and 29 years later he was present, and probably exhibited, at the
Olympic games celebrated by Philip at Dium. Aristotle held him in high esteem
(Rhet. iii. 10-12; Eth. Eud. vi. 10; Nicom. vii. 10). He is said to have been
the first poet who made love intrigues a prominent part of comedy. He gained ten
prizes, the whole number of his comedies being sixty-five. Though he is said to
have destroyed several of his plays in anger at their rejection, we still have
the titles of thirty-three.
Anaxandrides was also a dithyrambic poet, but we have no remains of
his dithyrambs (Suidas, s.v.; Athen. ix.)
LINDOS (Ancient city) LINDOS
The most distinguished comic poet of Greece, from Lindus, on the island of Rhodes, a contemporary of Socrates
The greatest writer of Greek comedy. He lived at Athens, B.C. 444-388. His father, Philippus, is said to have been not a native Athenian, but a settler from Rhodes or Egypt, who afterwards acquired citizenship. . .
Editor's Information
Biography, reports and essays on Aristophanes can be found at his birthplace ancient deme Kydathenaion of Attica .
Editor's Information
The e-texts of the works by Aristophanes are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
Architect, City Planner. He followed Alexander the Great to his campaign as a technical consultant.
Works:
- City plan of Alexandria - Egypt, 332-331 BCE. The year 332 BCE Alexander commissioned
Deinocrates to lead the topographic works and elaborate the city planning drawings
of Alexandria. This is reported by Vitruvius, Valerius Maximus, Ammianus Marcellinus
and Plinius. Iulius Valerius gave the details for the planning and the construction
of the city. The urbanistic system was based on streets perpendicular to each
other and was the model for the design of many cities in the Near East. Deinocrates
collaborated with Crates the Olynthian, considered to be the best hydraulic engineer
of his time. He designed and constructed a very effective system of channels,
pipes and installations in order to supply the city with water. Many Greek architects
and engineers, like Heron the Libyan and Parmenion, took part at the construction
of Alexandria.
- City plan for may cities
- Temples at Delphi, Delos and at her cities.
- Philipp΄s Monument. A grave monument in the form of a pyramid was not realised
because of the extremely high cost and Alexander' s death as Diodoros the Sicilan
mentions.
- Alteration of Mount Athos, to a statue of Alexander the Great. The plan was
rejected by Alexander as utopic. Vitruvius mentions it in the preface of Book
II of his writing "De Architectura". According to Deinocrates΄ design
Alexander could hold in one hand a whole city and in the other one a wine bowl
from which a river would flow to the sea.
- Second Artemis Temple - Ephesos, 334 BCE One of the Seven Wonders of the world.
He collaborated with Paeonios the Ephesian and Demetrios.
- Hephaistion΄s Fire. A big monument described by Diodoros the Sicilan, Strabon,
Arrianos, Plutarchos and others. It was erected in Babylon in honour of Hephaestion
a close friend, general and Vice King of Alexander, who died at Ecbatana 324 BCE.
It was a stone monument with 6 stores invested along the whole height with golden
plates, total surface 380 sqm. Deinocrates used the Babylonian temples as his
model.
The greatest astronomer of antiquity, he is called
"The father of Astronomy". Born in Nicaea - Bithynia, he lived in Rhodes
and Alexandria. Hipparchos considered as prerequisite for the existence of geography
the use of astronomic methods for the determination of the latitude ( gnomon,
culmination of the fixed stars, duration of the longest day on a certain place
). Thus he determined the position of different cities. For the determination
of the longitude, he used the differences of the local time, calculated during
a solar eclipse. His maps were based on geometrical calculations and showed a
big progress in the History of Cartography. A crater of the moon was named in
his honour "Hipparchos". He is mentioned by Stobaios.
Works
"Astrolabos" He is inventor of this device with which he calculated
exactly the coordinates of the stars. Two kinds of "Astrolabos" were
in use : The spherical and the level-spherical. Helped by the last one he applied
the "stereographic projection", discovered by himself, in order to determine
the exact time.
"Dioptra". He completed this instrument and used it for the estimation
of the apparent diameter of the sun and the moon as well as of the distance and
their real size.
"Cathetion", "Gnomon", "Polos", "Heliotropion
or Skiatherion", "Sundial", "Clepsydra", "Solid
sphere", "Hydrologion", "Rings".
- He was the first to divide the circle to 360.
- He discovered the spherical shape of earth.
- He constructed the first earth globe.
134 BCE he discovered a star that did not exist before, probably a comet, at the
constellation of Scorpion and formulated the principle of astronomy that "the
stars on the sky ar not eternal".
Hipparchos' Star Catalogue. Was written in the year 127 BCE and is still in existence
today. Contains data on 1039 of the brightest, at this time visible stars like
"the sky length and width of them" (corresponding to the geographic
longitude and latitude, i.e. the sky coordinates of the stars ).
- He determined the year's duration to 365,246667 days ( the real one is : 365, 242217 days ).
- He calculated the obliquity of the ecliptic (i.e. the angle between the earth΄s trajectory and the equator ) to 23 51' (the real one at Hipparchos΄time was 23 43΄)
- Based on eclipse observations he estimated the average distance Moon-Earth to 33,66 X Earth΄s diameter ( the real one is 30,20 X Earth΄s diameter ) and the Moon΄s diameter to 1/3 X Earth΄s diameter (instead of 0,27 ).
- He estimated the time of lunar eclipses.
- He calculated the length of the maximal circle of the earth to 39.960 kms ( 252.000 stadions ), the real one being 40.000 kms i.e. with an approxmation of 40 kms .
- Using astronomic methods he determined the coordinates of points at the earth surface, estimating their latitude. The longitude estimated through the observation of the eclipses.
- He observed the planets and their trajectories
- He is the founder of both, level and spherical trigonometry .
- He made a table giving the length of the circle΄s chords.
- He was the first to apply the "stereographic projection of the sphere"
i.e. the depiction of the spherical surface on the level. This method is still
used today by the preparation of geographic maps.
- He criticized the work of Eratosthenes.
Books
- On constellations ( Περί των αστερισμών )
- On fixed stars syntaxis ( Περί της των απλανών συντάξεως )
- On simultaneous reverse attraction ( Περί της των συναναστολών πραγματείας )
- On the twelve signs of the zodiac ( Περί των δώδεκα ζωδίων αναφοράς )
- On the changes of tropical and spring points ( Περί της μεταπτώσεως των τροπικών και εαρινών σημείων )
- Parallactica - 2 books ( Παραλλακτικών - Βιβλία δύο )
- On solar and lunar sizes and distances ( Περί μεγεθών και αποστημάτων ηλίου και σελήνης )
- On the montly side ways movement of the moon ( Περί της κατά πλάτος μηνιαίας της σελήνης κινήσεως )
- On sun eclipses during the seven climates (Περί εκλείψεων ηλίου κατά τα επτά κλίματα )
- On monthly time ( Περί μηνιαίου χρόνου )
- On leap months and days ( Περί εμβολίμων μηνών τε και ημερών )
- On the year΄s size ( Περί του ενιαυσίου μεγέθους )
- On circle straight lines - 12 books ( Περί της πραγματείας των εκ κύκλω ευθειών - Βιβλία δώδεκα )
- On objects falling because of their weight ( Περί των διά βάρους κάτω φερομένων)
- To Eratosthenes and his Geography ( Προς τον Ερατοσθένη και τα εν τη γεωγραφία αυτού λεχθέντα )
- To the bests ( Εις τους αρίστους )
- On Aratos' and Eudoxos΄ Phaenomena - 3 books ( Περί των Αράτου και Ευδόξου φαινομένων - Βιβλία τρία ).
The last book is still in existence today. The others were burned during the fire-raising of the Library of Alexandria. Fortunatelly some extensive excerpts of Hipparchos΄ books still exist today in the writings of other ancient writers, like Ptoloemaeos, Plinius, Strabon, Theon of Smyrna, Theon of Alexandria, and Plutarchos.
Geminos the Rhodian. Philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, geographer He was
a student of Poseidonios at his Rhodes΄School.
Works
He wrote Introduction Books to astronomy and mathematics.
"Introduction to Phaenomena" ( Εισαγωγή εις τα φαινόμενα ). It still
exists today Contains the most important theories of ancient astronomy. He analysed
them in a very detailed way according to Hipparchos΄ theory.
"Epitomizing the Poseidonian Meteorological Explanation" ( Επιτομή της
Ποσειδωνίου Μετεωρολογικών εξηγήσεως ). Excerpts are still in existence today
in greek and arabic.
"On mathematic order" ( Περί της των μαθηματικών τάξεως ). History of
mathematics. Some parts still exist today in Greek and Arabic. He distinguishes
pure mathematics to : Arithmetic, geometry/applied mathematics : Logistic, geodesy,
harmony, optic, mechanics, astronomy. In his work he followed the astronomic tradition
started by Eudoxos.
A moon crater was named in his honour "Geminos". A group
of shooting stars was called "the Gemenides".
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
385 - 340
Greek mercenary leader in Persian service, served under king Artaxerxes III.
Mentor's career as mercenary leader started when he was twenty-seven
years old. In 358, he served under an important Persian nobleman, Artabazus, the
satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia,
a province of the Achaemenid empire in the northwest of modern Turkey.
For reasons that are not completely clear to us, Artabazus stood up against the
new Persian king Artaxerxes III Ochus. Mentor and his brother Memnon were to lead
his army. To conclude the alliance, the rebel satrap married their sister and
Mentor married his daughter Barsine. Their marriage was not consumed yet, because
Barsine was too young. The two brothers also received land near ancient Troy.
Although Mentor and Memnon were capable commanders and received help
from a Greek contingent from Thebes, they were unable to repel the Persian army
that Artaxerxes sent in the first months of 354. Artabazus, Barsine and Memnon
fled to Pella, the capital
of Macedonia, where king
Philip (356-336) welcomed them and invited them to stay as long as they liked.
Mentor fled to Egypt, which was at that time independent. Pharaoh
Nakhthorhebe or Nectanebo II (360-343), who expected a Persian invasion, was glad
to receive an experienced mercenary commander who knew the Persian way of war.
Mentor was immediately sent to the Phoenician town Sidon
(c.350). He commanded 4,000 Greek mercenaries and was to support king Tennes (Phoenician
Tabnit), who had revolted from his Persian overlord. Tennes and Mentor defeated
the satraps Mazaeus and Belysis of Cilicia
and Syria, but knew that
they did not stand a chance against the army of Artaxerxes himself. When it appeared
in 346 -earlier dates are less likely- Tennes and Mentor betrayed the city. Nonetheless,
Tennes was killed by the Persians and the desperate Sidonians set fire to their
own city.
The great king pardoned Mentor, who was to serve in the royal army.
In November 343, Artaxerxes attacked and reoccupied Egypt and Mentor offered invaluable
services. By now, he knew how to get things done at the Persian court. He aligned
himself with the influential eunuch Bagoas, who had also played an important role
in the reconquest of Egypt.
Together, they managed to convince the king that they were of invaluable service
to the Achaemenid empire, and they were rewarded with important new commands:
Bagoas in the eastern satrapies, Mentor in the west, where he arrived in 342.
Artaxerxes also allowed his new supreme commander in the west to pardon
his father-in-law Artabazus, who had been living in Macedonia for twelve years.
The former exile offered the king invaluable information about the plan of king
Philip to attack Persia, which was to be executed as soon as he had subdued the
Greek cities. (It was in fact executed by Philip's son Alexander the Great.)
Mentor did not long enjoy his new position. His only known action
was directed against Hermias, the tyrant of the Greek cities Atarneus and Assus.
(He was the host of the famous Macedonian philosopher Aristotle, whom he married
to his cousin Pythias.) Hermias had made no secret of his sympathy for the Macedonian
cause, and Mentor had him arrested. This is his last known action. The Persian
supreme commander in the west died in 340.
Mentor and Barsine had a daughter, who married Nearchus, the fleet
commander of Alexander the Great (324). Barsine remarried to Memnon; after his
death, she became the mistress of Alexander.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Mentor. A Rhodian Greek who with his brother Memnon served the Persian Artabazus
and later King Nectanabis of Egypt. He aided Tennes, king of Sidon, against Darius
Ochus, and, when Tennes went over to the Persians, entered the service of Darius,
who made him satrap of the western part of Asia Minor.
380 - 333
Greek mercenary leader in Persian service, adversary of Alexander
the Great. Memnon's career in Persian service had a strange start. In fact, the
Persians needed his brother Mentor to defend the Troad
(the northwest of modern Turkey),
and gave him land in that region. Not much later, Mentor was made Persian supreme
commander in the West and married Barsine, the daughter of the satrap of Hellespontine
Phrygia, Artabazus, who married a sister of the Rhodians.
Memnon joined his brother and shared in his adventures. For example,
when Artabazus rebelled against king Artaxerxes III Ochus in 353 or 352, they
assisted him. The revolt was not successful, and Artabazus and Memnon were forced
to flee to Pella, the capital
of Macedonia. Here, they
met king Philip, the young crown prince and the philosopher Aristotle.
Mentor managed to receive a pardon. In 343, he played an important
role in the Persian reconquest of Egypt, which had been independent for some sixty
years. When Artaxerxes asked him how he could express his gratitude, Mentor asked
for the recall of Memnon, Artabazus and his wife Barsine. The king pardoned the
former rebels and received invaluable information about the plans of Philip to
attack Persia as soon as
he had subdued the Greek cities.
Mentor died in 340 and Memnon inherited his land in the Troad.
He married Barsine -it was his second marriage- and expected to be appointed supreme
commander in the West, but neither Artaxerxes III, nor Artaxerxes IV (338-336)
nor Darius III (336-330) dared to give the former rebel this prestigious job.
Perhaps this was a decisive mistake: Memnon could have stopped the expedition
of Alexander.
In 336, the Macedonians attacked. Their vanguard was commanded by
Parmenion, the only general trusted by king Philip. He proved to be no match for
Memnon, who managed to isolate him in the northwest of modern Turkey. In the words
of Diodorus of Sicily:
Darius [III] took warning and began to pay serious attention to his
forces. He fitted out a large number of ships of war and assembled numerous strong
armies, choosing at the same time his best commanders, among whom was Memnon of
Rhodes, outstanding in courage and strategic grasp. The king gave him 5,000 mercenaries
and ordered him to march to Cyzicus
and to try to get possession of it. With this force, accordingly, Memnon marched
on across the range of Mount Ida.
[....]
Memnon, suddenly falling upon the city of Cyzicus, came within an
ace of taking it. Failing in this, he wasted its territory and collected much
booty. While he was thus occupied, Parmenion took by storm the city of Grynium
and sold its inhabitants as slaves, but when he besieged Pitane,
Memnon appeared and frightened the Macedonians into breaking off the siege. Later
Calas with a mixed force of Macedonians and mercenaries joined battle in the Troad
against a much larger force of Persians and, finding himself inferior, fell back
on the promontory of Rhoeteium.
[Diodorus, World history 17.7.1-3, 8-10; tr. C. Bradford Welles]
In other words, Memnon pushed back the invaders to the northwest of
Asia Minor. His success may
be partially explained from the fact that Philip had been succeeded by Alexander,
who needed the year 335 to restore order in his territories and was unable to
send reinforcements to Parmenion.
In 334, Alexander joined his general. From now on, the Macedonians
were in numbers superior to the Persians. The Persian leaders discussed their
strategy: Memnon proposed to use the Persian navy to attack the Macedonians at
home, and to avoid battle in Asia, where they ought to destroy all crops, horse
feed and towns. This would force Alexander, who was short of supplies, to return.
Memnon's proposal was probably the best idea, but the other commanders agreed
that it was better to fight.
The Persians dug themselves in on the banks of the river Granicus,
the modern Biga Cay. If Alexander moved to the south, where he wanted to liberate
Greek towns like Ephesus and Miletus, they could attack his rear; if he moved
to the east to drive them out, their position was strong enough to withstand the
attack of a larger army. However, the Persians were defeated (June 334). Caria
Darius, however, understood that Memnon had been right about his strategy.
He ordered the Persian navy to move to the Aegean sea; it had to come from Egypt,
Phoenicia and Cyprus,
and it arrived three days too late to prevent the capture of Miletus.
However, Memnon, now appointed supreme commander, managed to keep the Persian
naval base Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) for a long time and was able to evacuate
the town without unacceptable losses. In fact, Halicarnassus
was the last Persian victory: after the siege, Alexander needed reinforcements,
and it gave the Persians the opportunity to regroup.
Now, Memnon planned to reconquer the Aegean islands with his Phoenician,
Cypriot and Egyptian warships; moreover, he contacted the Spartan king Agis, who
was willing to organize an expedition to liberate Greece from the Macedonian hegemony.
Their ultimate aim was to cut off Alexander's line of supply at the Hellespont.
Alexander's expedition was now in great danger, and he was unable to march eastward,
because he could not run the risk of loosing Greece. Unfortunately (for the Persians)
or fortunately (for Alexander), Memnon died during the siege of Mytilene in the
spring of 333.
Darius appointed Memnon's brother-in-law Pharnabazus (the son of Artabazus
and brother of Barsine) as Memnon's successor. He was to be very successful, but
Alexander was able to move to the east, where he defeated Darius near Issus and
captured the Phoenician towns. This meant the end of the Persian naval offensive,
and, in fact, the end of the Achaemenid empire.
Memnon's wife Barsine became the mistress of Alexander; in 327, they
had a child named Heracles.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
A native of Rhodes, who had the command of the western coast of Asia Minor when Alexander invaded Asia. He was an able officer, and his death, in B.C. 333, was an irreparable loss to the Persian cause.
Memnon of Rhodes (brother of Mentor), who was at that time serving the Persians as general, made a pretence of friendship for Hermeias, and then invited him to come for a visit, both in the name of hospitality and at the same time for pretended business reasons; but he arrested him and sent him up to the king, where he was put to death by hanging.
Memnon: Outstanding in courage and in strategic grasp, making himself master of Lampsacus, was serving the Persians as general, made a pretence of friendship for Hermeias, and then invited him to come for a visit, both in the name of hospitality and at the same time for pretended business reasons; but he arrested him and sent him up to the king, where he was put to death by hanging.
Damagoras, a Rhodian admiral in the war against Mithridates. After an engagement with the king's fleet, the Rhodians missed one trireme, and not knowing whether it had been taken by the enemy, they sent out Damagoras with six quick-sailing vessels to search for it. Mithridates attacked him with twenty-five ships, and Damagoras retreated, till about sunset the king's fleet withdrew. Damagoras then sailed forth again, sunk two of the king's ships, and drove two others upon the coast of Lycia, and in the night returned to Rhodes. (Appian, Mithrid. 25.)
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
Agesimbrotus commander of the Rhodian fleet in the war between the Romans and Philip, king of Macedonia, B. C. 200--197. (Liv. xxxi. 46, xxxii. 16, 32.)
Aristocrates, general of the Rhodians, about B. C. 154, apparently in the war against the Cretans. (Polyb. xxxiii. 9)
Lycus. A commander of the Rhodians, who, when the Caunians had revolted from Rhodes, in B. C. 167, reduced them again to submission. (Polyb. xxx. 5; Liv. xlv. 25.)
Geographer. Priest in the Helios' Temple in Rhodes.
Work:
"Voyage around the world" ( Οικουμένης Περιήγησις )
Writings on agriculture, Excerpts are in existence today
Geographer, Historian
Works: "Earth Period" ( Περίοδος γης ), "Historiae" ( Ιστορίαι ), "Periploi" ( Περίπλοι ).
Some excerpts still exist today.
Geographer, Chartographer, Explorer.
As an admiral of the King of Egypt Ptolemaeos the 2nd, (Philadelphos), took the
order to travel and explore. He studied the big philosophers and geographers of
the ancient world : Aristoteles, Dicaearchos, Eudoxos, Ephoros, Cleon. His work
was commented on by : Eratoshthenes, Strabon, Hipparchos and Marcianos. Strabon
notes : "Timosthenes circumnavigated the Tyrrhenian Sea". He is also
mentioned by Agathemeros.
Works
"On Ports" ( Περί λιμένων ) 10 Books. Not in existence today. The writing
was criticized by Eratosthenes, Hipparchos, and Strabon.
"On Islands" ( Περί νήσων ) He describes the islands : Cyprus, Thera,
Sicily, Cephallenia, Hecatonnes ( a group of hundred islands between Lesbos and
the Ionian coast ).
"Stadiasmoi - Explanatory" ( Σταδιασμοί - Εξηγητικού ) He made many
maps and wind diagrams based on "Meteorologica" of Aristoteles. He was
considered to be an expert on wind matters. He took Rhodes as centre of his maps
and this was continued by his successors.
Excerpts of his books still exist today in the writings of other scientists
Antisthenes, of Rhodes, a Greek historian who lived about the year B. C. 200.
He took an active part in the political affairs of his country, and wrote a history
of his own time, which, notwithstanding its partiality towards his native island,
is spoken of in terms of high praise by Polybius (xvi. 14; comp. Diog. Laert.
vi. 19). Plutarch (de Fluv. 22) mentions an Antisthenes who wrote a work called
Meleagris, of which the third book is quoted; and Pliny (H. N. xxxvi. 12) speaks
of a person of the same name, who wrote on the pyramids; but whether they are
the same person as the Rhodian, or two distinct writers, or the Ephesian Antisthenes
mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (vi. 19), cannot be decided.
Epimenides. The author of a History of Rhodes, which was written in the Doric dialect. (Diog. Laert. i. 115; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. vii. 24, ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 1125, iii. 241, iv. 57; Eudoc.; Heinrich, Epimenid.)
Eudoxus. Of Rhodes, an historical writer, whose time is not known. (Diog. Laert. l. c.; Apollon. Hist. Com. 24 Elym Mag. s. v. Adrias: Vossius, de Hist. Graec., ed. Westermann.)
Docimus or Docimius. To a supposed Graeco-Roman jurist of this name has been sometimes attributed the authorship of a legal work in alphabetical order, called by Harmenopulus (§ 49) To mikron kata stoicheion, and usually known by the name of Synopsis Minor. It is principally borrowed from a work of Michael Attaliata. A fragment of the work relating to the authority of the Leges Rhodiae, was published by S. Schardius (Basel 1561), at the end of the Naval Laws, and the same fragment appears in the collection of Leunclavius (J. G. R. ii.). Pardessus has published some further fragments of the Synopsis Minor (Collection de Lois Maritimes), and Zachariae has given some extracts from it (Hist. Jur. G. R.); but the greater part of the work is still in manuscript. Bach conjectures that the compilation of the Rhodian laws themselves was made by Docimus (Hist. Jur. Rom. lib. iv. c. I, sect. 3.26); but Zachariae is of opinion, that the only reason for attributing to him the authorship of the Synopsis Minor was, that the manuscript of Vienna, from which the fragment in Schardius and Leunclavius was published, once belonged to a person named Docimus.
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
Engineer, Technical Adviser of the Rhodians.
Work: Derrick Crane ( Περιστρεφόμενος γερανός )
Callias presented to the people of Rhodes in public, a model of a
part of the city wall, on which he had placed a derrick crane. This crane could
lift the siege machines of the enemies and transport them from the outer part
of the wall to the internal one. The Rhodians admired this invention so much that
they dismissed Diognetos, the chief engineer and employed Callias in his place.
As Demetrios the Besieger sieged Rhodes in 305 BCE, he brought with him his chief
engineer Epimachos the Athenian, who constructed a huge siege machine of 180 ton
weight, before, the wall of Rhodes. Callias was not able to stand in the way of
it with his derrick crane. Therefore Vitruvius was correct in saying : "What
is valid for a model is not necessarily valid in the real situation". The
Rhodians were desperate and begged Diognetos to help them. He instructed them
to perforate the city walls, insert drains and pour through the drains, mud, water
and sewage thus causing marshy ground a short distance away from the walls. This
prevented the siege machine from approaching the wall. The siegers abandoned the
siege machine and went away.
RHODES (Town) DODEKANISSOS
I was born in Rhodes
(1920). I studied Chemistry at the University of Athens, and, Superior Theory
of Music at the National Conservatory under Manoli Kalomiri. I have got two degrees
(grade excellent). Also degrees in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fuga.
I went for postgraduate studies to Germany, as I had been given a
scholarship from the German Government. Then later I went to Italy with another
scholarship from the Italian Government.
At Munich University I studied Musicology and history of Art. At the
State Superior School of Music I studied orchestra conducting, composition, musical
education and reviewing, also, History of Music.
Originally I taught the young children' s chair of the Municipality
of Athens, at the Dragatsio Educational Institution. Later, at the Superior School
of Economics and Commerce (ASO and EE) and since I962 I have been a professor
at the Superior School of Nurses -Evangelismos hospital for the “Acquaintance
with Music”, for sixteen years.
My basic presence in Music and Science starts with my election as
the Director of the Musical Department at the University of Athens, a position
which I held for thirty-three years.
I have represented our country at the Balkan Festival at Ankara, also
at Istanbul and in Wales.
I have worked with about ninety institutions, organisations and societies
on various matters.
For thirty-five years I have written reviews on various musical events.
The reviews and studies which have been edited in magazines and newspapers exceed
1500.
I have repeatedly been a member in committees concerning legislation
for the operation of state artistic events, musical education etc.
President of the Union of Drama and Greek Music Critics.
Regular member of the Greek Composers’ Unions.
Regular member of the Greek Centre of the International Institute
of the Theatre.
Regular member of the International Union of Drama and Music Critics
in Paris.
Regular member of the "Filecpedeftiki" Company.
Regular member of the National Greek Council of the European Movement
for the Unity of Europe.
Regular member of the "Friends of the People" company.
Honorary Director of the Music Department of the University of Athens.
Worked for 12 years for the newspaper "Ethnos", six years
for "Niki", two years for "Anagnosti" and since 1995 for the
newspaper "Adesmeftos Typos".
Honoured with many awards for his whole musical and scientifical work
as a critic, composer, professor and orchestra conductor.
WORKS:
Cantata No 1 (Seeking for Light)
Cantata No 2 (Night entreaty at the shadow of Van Gogh)
Six Songs for Voice and Piano
Adaptations of folk songs for choir, orchestra etc.
BOOKS:
Music and Theatre at the University of Athens.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Friends of Music Society "Lilian Voudouri" URL below.
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
1st cent. BC. An orator, wrote a book of Caesar's death, and entitled it Brutus.
Empylus, a rhetorician; the companion, as we are told by Plutarch, of Brutus, to whom he dedicated a short essay, not destitute of merit, on the death of Caesar. It is not stated to what country he belonged. " Empylus the Rhodian" [p. 15] is mentioned in passage of Quintilian, where the text is very doubtful, as an orator referred to by Cicero, but no such name occurs in any extant work of the latter.--(Plut Brut. 2; Quintil. x. 6. 4, and Spalding's note).
Hermagoras. Surnamed Carion, likewise a Greek rhetorician, who lived in the time
of Augustus, and taught rhetoric at Rome, together with Caecilius, and is called
Hermagoras the younger. He was a disciple of Theodorus of Gadara. (Quintil. iii.
1.18; Suid. s. v. Ermagoras, who confounds the Temnian with Hermagoras Carion.)
Whether the Hermagoras with whom Pompey, on his return from Asia, disputed at
Rhodes Peri tes kath holon zeteseos (Plat. Pomp. 42), is the younger or elder
one, is uncertain.
Rhetoricians of Rhodes
185 - 109
Perseus Project
Panaetius, (Panaitios). A Greek philosopher of Rhodes, born about B.C. 180; the most important representative of Stoicism in his time. From Athens, where he had received his education, he went to Rome, about B.C. 156. Being there received into the circle of the younger Scipio and of Laelius, he was able to gain numerous adherents among the Roman nobles by his skill in softening the harshness and subtlety of the Stoic teaching, and in representing it in a refined and polished form. After Scipio's death (129) he returned to Athens, where he died, as the head of the Stoic school, about 111. Only unimportant fragments of his writings remain. The most important of them, the Treatise on Duty (Peri tou Kathekontos), in three books, supplied the groundwork of the De Officiis of Cicero.
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
Many men worthy of mention were native Rhodians, both commanders and athletes, among whom were the ancestors of Panaetius the philosopher; and, among statesmen and rhetoricians and philosophers, Panaetius himself and Stratocles and Andronicus, one of the Peripatetics, and Leonides the Stoic; and also, before their time, Praxiphanes and Hieronymus and Eudemus.
This extract is from: The Geography of Strabo (ed. H. L. Jones, 1924), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
A philosopher of Rhodes, pupil of Panoetius
Cleobulina was the daughter of Cleobulus, one of the seven wise men. Much of what we know of Cleobulina comes from Aristotle's Poetics and he quoted her in Rhetorics. Fame came to her from her riddles, which she wrote in hexameter verse. From Plutach we know that Thales praised her as being a woman with "a statesman's mind", thus he nicknamed her Eumetis meaning Wise Counsel. Her fathered was believed to have ruled Rhodes more fairly due to her influence
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
Andronicus (Andronikos). A peripatetic philosopher, a native of Rhodes,
who flourished about B.C. 80. He arranged and published the writings of Aristotle,
which had been brought to Rome with the library of Apellicon. He commented on
many parts of these writings; but no portion of his works has reached us, for
the treatise Peri Pathon, and the Paraphrase of the Nicomachean ethics, which
have been published under his name, are the productions of another. The treatise
Peri Pathon was published by Hosschel in 1593, and was afterwards printed conjointly
with the Paraphrase in 1617, 1679, and 1809. The Paraphrasewas published by Heinsius
in 1607, at Leyden, as an anonymous work (Incerti Auctoris Paraphrasis, etc.),
and afterwards under the name of Andronicus of Rhodes, by the same scholar, in
1617, with the treatise Peri Pathon added to it.
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
Andronicus (Andronikos), of Rhodes, a Peripatetic philosopher, who is reckoned
as the tenth of Aristotle's successors, was at the head of the Peripatetic school
at Rome, about B. C. 58, and was the teacher of Boethus of Sidon, with whom Strabo
studied (Strab. xiv.; Ammon. in Aristot. Categ.). We know little more of the life
of Andronicus, but he is of special interest in the history of philosophy, from
the statement of Plutarch (Sull. c. 26), that he published a new edition of the
works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, which formerly belonged to the library of
Apellicon, and were brought to Rome by Sulla with the rest of Apellicon's library
in B. C. 84. Tyrannio commenced this task, but apparently did not do much towards
it (Comp. Porphyr. vit. Plotin. c. 24; Boethius, ad Aristot. de Interpret.). The
arrangement which Andronicus made of Aristotle's writings seems to be the one
which forms the basis of our present editions ; and we are probably indebted to
him for the preservation of a large number of Aristotle's works.
Andronicus wrote a work upon Aristotle, the fifth book of which contained
a complete list of the philosopher's writings, and he also wrote commentaries
upon the Physics, Ethics, and Categories. None of these works is extant, for the
paraphrase of the Nicomachean Ethics, which is ascribed to Andronicus of Rhodes,
was written by some one else, and may have been the work of Andronicus Callistus
of Thessalonica, who was professor at Rome, Bologna, Florence, and Paris, in the
latter half of the fifteenth century. Andronicus Callistus was the author of the
work Peri Pathon, which is also ascribed to Andronicus of Rhodes.
The Peri Pathon was first published by Hoschel, Aug. Vindel. 1594,
and the Paraphrase by Heinsius, as an anonymous work, Lugd. Bat. 1607, and afterwards
by Heinsius as the work of Andronicus of Rhodes, Lugd. Bat. 1617, with the Peri
Pathon attached to it. The two works were printed at Cantab. 1679, and Oxon. 1809.
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
Famous men born at Nysa are .. Aristodemus, whose entire course, in his extreme old age, I in my youth took at Nysa; my teacher also taught rhetoric and had two schools, both in Rhodes and in his native land, teaching rhetoric in the morning and grammar in the evening;
This extract is from: The Geography of Strabo (ed. H. L. Jones, 1924), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Hieronymus of Rhodes, commonly called a peripatetic, though Cicero questions his right to the title, was a disciple of Aristotle, and contemporary with Arcesilaus, about B. C. 300. He appears to have lived down to the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero, who tells us that he held the highest good to consist in freedom from pain and trouble, and denied that pleasure was to be sought for its own sake. There are quotations from his writings Peri methes, histopika hupomnemata or ta sporaden hupomnemata, and from his letters. It would seem from Cicero (Or. 56), compared with Rufinus (de Comp. et Metr. p. 318,), that lie was the same as the Hieronymus who wrote on numbers and feet. (Athen. ii., x., xi., xiii.; Strab. viii., ix., x., xiv.; Diog. Laert. iv. 41, 45; Plut. Ags. 13, Arist. 27 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graec., ed. Westermann ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii., vol. iii., vol. vi.)
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
Hieronymus. Very probably the same as the preceding, the author of a work on poets, from the fifth book of which (Peri kitharoidon), and from another book of it (Peri ton tragoidopoion), there are quotations. (Athen. xiv.; Apost. Prov. xi. 41; Suidas, s. v. Anagurasios) Perhaps he is the same person as the author of a commentary on the Aspis of Hesiod.
A peripatetic philosopher from Rhodes
350 - 290
Eudemus, (Eudemos). A native of Rhodes and noted as a peripatetic philosopher and disciple of Aristotle, many of whose works he edited. One of these bears the name of Eudemus (Ethika Eudemeia), in seven books, probably a recension of all Aristotle's ethical lectures arranged by Eudemus.
Eudemus, of Rhodes, a contemporary and disciple of Aristotle. We have no particulars
of his life; but that he was one of the most important of Aristotle's numerous
disciples may be inferred from the anecdote of Gellius (xiii. 5, where Eudemo
must be read instead of Menedemo), according to which Eudemus and Theophrastus
were the only disciples whom the Peripatetic school esteemed worthy to till the
place of Aristotle after his death. Simplicius makes mention of a biography of
Eudemus, supposed to be the work of one Damas or Damascius. (Simplic. ad Aristot.
Phys. vi. 216.) Eudemus was one of those immediate discipes of Aristotle who closely
followed their master, and the principal object of whose works was to correct,
amplify, and complete his writings and philosophy. It was owing to this circumstance.
as we learn from the ancient critics, that Aristotle's writings wereer so often
confounded with those of other other authors. Thus, for instance, Eudemus and
his contemporaries and fellow-disciples, Theophrastus and Phanias, wrote works
with the same titles and on the same subjects as those of Aristotle. The works
of Eudemus of this kind were--1. On the Categories. 2. Peri Hermeneias. 3. Analutika.
4. Phusika, a work of which Simplicius in his commentary has preserved some fragments,
in which Eudemus often contradicts his master. In this treatise, or in some other,
he seems to have also treated on the nature of the human body. (Appul. Apolog.)
But all these works are lost, and likewise another of still more importance, in
which lie treated of the history of geometry and astronomy (he peri ton Astrologoumenon
Historia, Diog. Laert. i. 23; or Astrologike Historia, Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol.
iii.)
Eudemus, however, is of most importance to us as an editor of and
commentator upon the Aristotelian writings. How closely he followed Aristotle
in his work on Physics, is shewn by the circumstance of later commentators referring
to Eudemus in matters of verbal criticism. (Stahr, Aristotelia, ii.) Indeed Eudemus
followed the Aristotelian system so closely, that modern scholars, as Brandis
for instance, do not hesitate to ascribe to Eudemus some writings which are generally
attributed to Aristotle. (13randis, in Rhein. Museum, i. 4.) Aristotle died in
his 63rd year, without having published even half of his writings; and the business
of arranging and publishing his literary relics devolved upon his nearest friends
and disciples. Simplicius has preserved a passage of the work of Andronicus of
Rhodes on Aristotle and his writings, which contains a fragment of a letter of
Eudemus, which he wrote to Theophrastus, asking for an accurate copy of a manuscript
of the fifth book of the Aristotelian Physics. (Simplic. ad Arist. Phys. fol.
216, a., lin. 7.) In the same manner the Aristotelian Metaphysics in their present
form seem to have been composed by Eudemus or his successors; for we learn from
Asclepius of Tralles, who has preserved many valuable notices from the works of
the more ancient commentators, that Aristotle committed his manuscript of the
Metaphysics to Eudemus, by which the publication of the work was delayed; that
on the death of Aristotle some parts of the manuscript were missing, and that
these had to be completed froio the other writings of Aristotle by the survivors
of Aristotle (hou metagenesteroi). (Asclepius, Prooem. in Aristol. Metaph. libr.
A., in Brandis, Schol.) That we are indebted to Eudemus and his followers for
the preservation of this inestimable work may also be inferred from the fact,
that Joannes Philoponus states that Pasicrates (or Pasicles) of Rhodus, brother
of Eudemus and likewise a disciple of Aristotle, was, according to the opinion
of some ancient critics, the author of the second book of the Metaphysics (the
book a). (Fabric. Bibl,. Graec. vol. iii. ; Syrian. ad Aristol. Metaph. B. ; Alexand.
Aphrodis., ad Sophist. Elench. ii., ed. Venet. 1529.)
For the Ethics of Aristotle we are also probably indebted more or
less to Eudemus. We have, nuder tihe name of Ethics, three works ascribed to Aristotle
of very unequal value and quality. One of these bears even the name of Eudemus
(Ethika Eidemeia), and was in all probability a recension of Aristotle's lectures
edited by Eudemus. What share, however, Eudemus had in the composition of the
chief work (the Ethika Nikomacheia) remains uncertain after the latest investigation
of the subject. (Pansch, de Moralibus magnis subditicio Arislotelis libro, 1841.)
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
Eudemos the Rhodian. Philosopher, mathematician, astronomer
He studied in Athens and taught at Aristoteles΄ School, collaborating
with him. After Aristoteles΄ death he went to Rhodes and founded the "Aristotelian
School". After Xenocrates and Theophrastos he is the third person who concerned
himself with the history of Mathematics. He was a contemporary of Theophrastos.
Works
He wrote many books on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and other sciences.
"On Angle" ( Περί γωνίας ), "Physics" ( Φυσικά ), "Analytics
and on word" ( Αναλυτικά και περί λέξεως ), "Arithmetic History"
( Αριθμητική Ιστορία ), "Geometric History" ( Γεωμετρική Ιστορία ).
Some excerpts still exist today in the writings of Alexander Aphrodisieus and
Simpicius. Geminos ( 1st Cen. BCE ) wrote a "History of Mathematics"
based on Eudemos΄ books on the same subject. Does not exist today.
(Poseidonios). A Stoic philosopher, a native of Apamea in Syria, and the last of the Stoics who belongs to the history of the Greek philosophy. He taught at Rhodes with such great success that Pompey came there, on his return from Syria, after the close of the Mithridatic War, for the purpose of attending his lectures. When the Roman commander arrived at his house, he forbade his lictor to knock, as was usual, at the door; the hero, who had subdued the Eastern and Western world, paid homage to philosophy by lowering the fasces at the gate of Posidonius. Posidonius studied natural as well as moral science; and, in order to represent the celestial phenomena, he constructed a kind of planetarium, by means of which he exhibited the apparent motions of the sun, moon, and planets round the earth. Cicero says that he himself attended upon this philosopher. Posidonius was also known as an historical writer, having composed a supplement to the history of Polybius (Historia ton meta Polubion). It appears to have extended to B.C. 63, or the close of the Mithridatic War. This work is lost, but was one of Plutarch's sources.
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
Posidonius of Rhodes : Perseus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
Hecaton, (Hekaton), a Stoic philosopher, a native of Rhodes. All that we know of his personal history is contained in a passage of Cicero (de Off. iii. 15); but besides the name of his birth-place we learn nothing more from it than that he studied under Panaetius. He seems also to have been closely connected with the principal Stoic philosophers of his age. Of his somewhat voluminous writings nothing now remains. He was the author of the following treatises :--De Officiis (Cic. de Off. iii. 15, 23); Peri agathon, in at least nineteen books; Peri areton; Peri pathon; Peri telon; Peri paradoxon, in at least thirteen books ; Chpeiai (Diog. Laert. vii. 103, 101, 127, 125, 90, 110, 87, 102, 124, 26, 172, vi. 4, 32, 95.) Hecaton is also frequently mentioned by Seneca in his treatise De Beneficiis. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. 563.)
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
A Stoic philosopher of Rhodes who studied under Panaetius and wrote numerous works now lost.
Hecaton of Rhodes: Perseus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
A Peripatetic philosopher, born either at Mitylene or Rhodes. He flourished about B.C. 322, and is said to have taught Epicurus. He paid much attention to grammatical study, and is hence classed with Aristotle as one of the founders of scientific grammar (Clem. Alex. i. p. 365). He wrote treatises on the poets, on history, and on poetry, and was the teacher of Aratus and Callimachus.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Leonidas, a Stoic philosopher of Rhodes (Strab. xiv.), and perhaps the same as the author of a work on Italy, which is quoted by Tzetzes (Schol. ad Lycophr. 756).
KAMIROS (Ancient city) RHODES
(Peisandros). An early Greek poet, born at Camirus, in the island
of Rhodes, and supposed to have flourished about B.C. 650, although some made
him earlier than Hesiod, and contemporary with Eumolpus. He wrote a poem, entitled
Heraclea (Herakleia), on the exploits of Heracles, of which frequent mention is
made by the grammarians. The Alexandrian critics assigned him a rank among epic
poets after Homer, Hesiod, Panyasis, and Antimachus.
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
And Peisander the poet, who wrote the Heracleia, was also a Rhodian; and so was Simmias the grammarian, as also Aristocles of my own time (Strab.+14.2.13)
LINDOS (Ancient city) LINDOS
Antheas Lindius, a Greek poet, of Lindus in Rhodes, flourished about B. C. 596. He was one of the earliest eminent composers of phallic songs, which he himself sung at the head of his phallophori (Athen. x.). Hence he is ranked by Athenaeus as a comic poet, but this is not precisely correct, since he lived before the period when comedy assumed its proper form. It is well observed by Bode, that Antheas, with his comus of phallophori, stands in the same relation to comedy as Arion, with his dithyrambic chorus, to tragedy.
Cleobuline, (Kleobouline), called also Cleobuline and Cleobyle (Kleoboulene, Kleoboule), was daughter to Cleobulus of Lindus, and is said by Plutarch to have been a Corinthian by birth. From the same author we learn that her father called her Eumetis, while others gave her the name which marks her relation to Cleobulus. She is spoken of as highly distinguished for her moral as well as her intellectual qualities. Her skill in riddles, of which she composed a number in hexameter verse, is particularly recorded, and we find ascribed to her a well-known one on the subject of the year, as well as that on the cupping-glass, which is quoted with praise by Aristotle. A play of Cratinus, called Kleoboulinai, and apparently having reference to her, is mentioned by Athenaeus (Plut. de Pyth. Orac. 14, Conv. vii. Sap. 3; Diog. Laert. i. 89; Menag. ad loc.; Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. 19; Suid. s. v. Kleobouline; Arist. Rhet. iii. 2.12; Athen. iv., x.). Cleobuline was also the name of the mother of Thales. (Diog. Laert. i. 22)
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
RHODES (Island) DODEKANISSOS
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 is his tomb. 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.
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
Apollonius Rhodius, was, according to Suidas and his Greek anonymous biographers,
the son of Silleus or Illeus and Rhode, and born at Alexandria (comp. Strab. xiv.
p. 655) in the phyle Ptolemais, whereas Athenaeus (vii. p. 283) and Aelian (Hist.
An. xv. 23) describe him as a native or, at least, as a citizen of Naucratis.
He appears to have been born in the first half of the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes,
that is, about B. C. 235, and his most active period falls in the reign of Ptolemy
Philopator (B. C. 221--204) and of Ptolemy Epiphanes (B. C. 204--181).
In his youth he was instructed by Callimachus, but afterwards we find
a bitter enmity existing between them. The cause of this hatred has been explained
by various suppositions; the most probable of which seems to be, that Apollonius,
in his love of the simplicity of the ancient poets of Greece and in his endeavour
to imitate them, offended Callimachus, or perhaps even expressed contempt for
his poetry. The love of Apollonius for the ancient epic poetry was indeed so great,
and had such fascinations for him, that even when a youth (ephebos) he began himself
an epic poem on the expedition of the Argonauts. When at last the work was completed,
he read it in public at Alexandria, but it did not meet with the approbation of
the audience. The cause of this may in part have been the imperfect character
of the poem itself, which was only a youthful attempt; but it was more especially
owing to the intrigues of the other Alexandrine poets, and above all of Callimachus,
for Apollonius was in some degree opposed to the taste which then prevailed at
Alexandria in regard to poetry. Apollonius was deeply hurt at this failure, and
it is not improbable that the bitter epigram on Callimachus which is still extant
(Anthol. Graec. xi. 275) was written at that time. Callimachus in return wrote
an invective-poem called " Ibis," against Apollonius, of the nature of which we
may form some idea from Ovid's imitation of it in a poem of the same name. Callimachus,
moreover, expressed his enmity in other poems also, and in his hymn to Apollo
there occur several hostile allusions to Apollonius, especially in v. 105.
Disheartened by these circumstances Apollonius left Alexandria and
went to Rhodes, which was then one of the great seats of Greek literature and
learning. Here he revised his poem, and read it to the Rhodians, who received
it with great approbation. At the same time he delivered lectures on rhetoric,
and his reputation soon rose to such a height, that the Rhodians honoured him
with their franchise and other distinctions. Apollomius now regarded himself as
a Rhodian, and the surname Rhodius has at all times been the mine by which he
has been distinguished from other persons of the same name. Notwithstanding these
distinctions, however, he afterwards returned to Alexandria, but it is unknown
whether lie did so of his own accord, or in consequence of an invitation. He is
said to have now read his revised poem to the Alexandrines, who were so delighted
with it, that he at once rose to the highest degree of fame and popularity. According
to Suidas, Apollonius succeeded Eratosthenes as chief librarian of the museum
at Alexandria, in the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes, about B. C. 194. Further particulars
about his life are not mentioned, but it is probable that he herd his office in
the museum until his death, and one of his biographers states, that he was buried
in the same tomb with Callimachus.
As regards the poem on the expedition of the Argonauts (Argonautica),
which consists of four books and is still extant, Apollonius collected his materials
from the rich libraries of Alexandria, and his scholiasts are always anxious to
point out the sources from which he derived this or that account. The poem gives
a straightforward and simple deleription of the adventure, and in a tone which
is equal throughout. The episodes, which are not numerous and contain particular
mythuses or descriptions of countries, are sometimes very beautiful, and give
life and colour to the whole poem. The character of Jason, although he is the
hero of the poem, is not sufficiently developed to win the interest of the reader.
The character of Medeia, on the other hand, is beautifully drawn, and the gradual
growth of her love is described with a truly artistic moderation. The language
is an imitation of that of Homer, but it is more brief and concise, and has all
the symptoms of something which is studied and not natural to the poet. The Argonautica,
in short, is a work of art and labour, and thus forms, notwithstanding its many
resemblances, a contrast with the natural and easy flow of the Homeric poems.
On its appearance the work seems to have made a great sensation, for even contemporaries,
such as Charon, wrote commentaries upon it.
Our present Scholia are abridgements of the commentaries of Lucillus
of Tarrha, Sophocles, and Theon, all of whom seem to have lived before the Christian
era. One Eirenaeus is also mentioned as having written a critical and exegetical
commentary on the Argonautica. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 1299, ii. 127, 1015.)
The common Scholia on Apollonius are called the Florentine Scholia, because they
were first published at Florence, and to distinguish them from the Paris Scholia,
which were first published in Schaefer's edition of the Argonautica, and consist
chiefly of verbal explanations and criticisms.
Among the Romans the Argonautica was much read, and P. Terentius Varro
Atacinus acquired great reputation by his translation of it (Quintil x. 1.87).
The Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus is a free imitation of tlhe poem of Apollonius.
In the reign of Anastasius 1, one Marianus made a Greek paraphrase of Apollonius'
poem in 5608 iambics. The first edition of the Argonautica is that of Florence,
1496, by J. Lasearis, which contains the Scholia. The next is the Aldine (Venice,
1581), which is little more than a reprint of the Florentine edition. The first
really eritical edimon is that of Brunck (Argentorat. 1780). The edition of Beck
(Leipzig, 1797) is incomplete, and the only volume which appeared of it contains
the text, with a Latin translation and a few critical notes. G. Schaefer published
an edition (Leipz. 1810-13), which is an improvement upon that of Brunck, and
is the first in which the Paris Scholia are printed. The best edition is that
of Wellauer, Leipzig, 1828, which contains the various readings of 13 MSS., the
Scholia, and short notes.
Besides the Argonautica and epigrams (Antonin. Lib. 23), of which
we possess only the one on Callimachus, Apollonius wrote several other works which
are now lost. Two of them, Peri Archilochou (Athen. x. p. 451) and pros Zenodoton
(Schol. Venet. ad Hom. Il. xiii. 657), were probably grammatical works, and the
latter may have had reference to the recension of the Homeric poems by Zenodotus,
for the Scholia on Homer occasionally refer to Apollonius. A third class of Apollonius'
writings were his ktiseis, that is, poems on the origin or foundation of several
towns. These poems were of an historico-epical character, and most of them seem
to have been written in hexameter verse. The following are known:
1. Hpodou ktisis, of which one line and a half are preserved in Stephanus of Byzantium
(s. v. Dotion), and to which we have perhaps to refer the statements contained
in the Scholiast on Pindar (Ol. vii. 86; Pyth. iv. 57).
2. Naukpateos ktisis, of which six lines are preserved in Athenaeus (vii. p. 283,
&c.; comp. Aelian, Hist. An. xv. 23).
3. Alexandreias ktisis (Schol. ad Nicand. Ther. 11).
4. Kaunou ktisis (Parthen. Erot. I and 11).
5. Knides ktisis (Steph. Byz. s. v. Psukterios). Whether the last three were like
the first two in verse or prose is uncertain, as no fragments are extant.
6. Kanopos, which may likewise have been an account of the foundation of Canopus.
It was written in verse, and consisted of at least two books. Two choliambic lines
of it are extant (Steph. Byz. s. vv. Chora, Korinthos.) (Compare E. Gerhard, Lectiones
Apollonianae, Leipzig, 1816; Weichert, Ueber das Leben und Gedicht des Apollonius
von Rhodus, Meissen, 1821)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited May 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Life of Apollonius
The date of the birth of Apollonius is quite uncertain. Dates ranging
from 296 to 235 b.c. have been assigned by different critics. On the whole it
is most satisfactory to assume that he was born about 265. We thus allow a sufficient
time for the development of the deadly feud which raged between him and Callimachus
who died about 240-235. Those who would fix his birth thirty years earlier are
prepared to throw over altogether the tradition that he succeeded Eratosthenes
as Librarian at Alexandria about 196 b.c. The birthplace of Apollonius is also
uncertain. Suidas and Strabo describe him as an Alexandrian, whereas Athenaeus
and Aelian mention also the other tradition that he was a native of Naucratis,
a town situated a little to the east of Alexandria. The simplest solution of the
difficulty is to assume that he was born at Naucratis, but brought up at Alexandria
from his early years. His connexion with Naucratis lends special point to the
attack made by Callimachus upon him in the Ibis, as we shall see later.
Apollonius attached himself as a pupil to Callimachus, who was the
leading literary figure of the day, and Librarian of the great Alexandrian Library.
Couat, in his admirable work La poesie Alexandrine, has shown how the Alexandrian
savants were divided into the same two classes as the Roman writers in the Augustan
epoch, and the French writers in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. These
were the conservatives and the innovators, those who adhered to the ancient poets,
and those who sought to introduce newer styles more in accordance with the spirit
of the age. Homer was reverenced by all as the greatest of poets, but Homer was
imitable by none; and so the Alexandrian school chose generally as models Hesiod,
with his didactic style and love of mythological speculation, Antimachus of Colophon,
the author of the Lyde, with his long-drawn elegies teeming with legends little
known, and Mimnermus, who had given to elegy its passionate erotic tone. Some
preferred the poems of Erinna, which combined brevity with perfection of artistic
form, to the longer and heavier work of Antimachus. Callimachus, in spite of his
erudition, was of the latter class. He censures the Lyde as of coarse texture
and wanting in subtle delicacy. He exhorts poets who would win success to avoid
the beaten track, to pursue originality of style and form, to cultivate the poetry
which consists in short and flawless pieces--odes, idylls, epigrams, and to shun
a big book as a big evil. To presume to rival the great epics of the past, to
challenge comparison with Homer, was an unpardonable sin in the eyes of Callimachus.
So too Theocritus says, "I hate all birds of the Muses that vainly toil with their
cackling note against the Minstrel of Chios."]
Yet there were not wanting stubborn spirits who would not yield to
the sway of Callimachus, authors who essayed mythological and historical epics.
Antagoras of Rhodes produced a Thebais, Rhianus of Crete an epic on the second
Messenian war, with Aristomenes as its hero. The youthful Apollonius feared not
to break away from his master's doctrines and to take as his theme for a heroic
epic the quest of the golden fleece. He was still an ephebos, i.e. between the
ages of eighteen and twenty, when he gave the first epideixis, or formal recitation,
probably not of the whole work, which could hardly have been completed, but of
parts thereof. Callimachus and his followers, however, were far too strong for
him, and his efforts were greeted with ridicule. Callimachus, we may be sure,
treated the youthful epic with the merciless sarcasm which he meted out to 'cyclic
poems.'
How long the mortified poet remained to face the mockery of his triumphant
critics we know not. His wounded pride must soon have led him to snake off the
dust of Alexandria. It was at Rhodes, that great centre of literary Hellendom,
that the Alexandrian exile resolved to settle. With dogged determination and unshaken
confidence in his powers he set himself, in the intervals of his duties as a teacher
of rhetoric, to revise and perfect his poem, and soon his labour met with a rich
reward. The second epideixis, when he recited his completed work at Rhodes, was
as striking a triumph as the first at Alexandria had been a failure. The Rhodians
exalted him to offices of honour, enrolling him amongst the citizens, whence he
is known as Apollonius 'the Rhodian.'
The fame which he had won nerved him with fresh confidence in flinging
back with added sting the contemptuous taunts of the Alexandrian dictator.
Rage burned unceasingly in his heart against Callimachus, to whose
influence he rightly attributed his first disgrace, and the feud between them
stands out as the most bitter in the ancient world of letters. Couat has attempted
to trace the progress of the quarrel, though the data we have to work on are very
slender. But, slender as they are, they suffice to give us glimpses of the venom
and rancour which prevailed. One biting epigram by Apollonius on his master has
been preserved:
In these lines Apollonius expresses his utter contempt for the affectation and
sterility of the author of the Aitia, a poem in four books treating of the causes
of various myths and ceremonies. In one of the books the legend of the Argonauts
had been introduced, and Callimachus may have charged his pupil with plagiarism
from his work. Apollonius, and probably others to whom the literary autocracy
of Callimachus was irksome, imputed Callimachus' dislike of a 'big book' to his
inability to produce such. To these insinuations Callimachus triumphantly replies
in the famous passage at the close of the hymn to Apollo. We may have a parody
of the opening of this passage in the third book of the Argonautica. But Callimachus
gave also a practical refutation of the accusation by writing a long epic which
gained immediate favour. This was the Hecale, so called from the aged crone who
hospitably entertained the hero Theseus when he was going forth to contend against
the Marathonian bull. The choice of such a humble theme was another reproof of
the presumption of Apollonius. The fresh laurels which Callimachus thus gained
in the field of epic poetry must have rendered his supremacy at Alexandria more
indisputable than ever, yet the feud with his unrepentant pupil still went on
with unabated fury.
The most curious product of the quarrel was the Ibis of Callimachus.
The immediate provocation which led to it we know not, but the epigram of Apollonius
must still have been rankling in his soul. The work itself has perished, but the
poem of Ovid which bears the same name, and which was avowedly an imitation thereof,
enables us to judge of the style and contents. Callimachus must have devoted his
enemy to destruction in the same way as Ovid does, and we may presume that the
whole poem also was obscured with the same mass of caecae historiae drawn from
the darkest recesses of the storehouse of legend. Critics have been sorely vexed
in trying to determine why Callimachus should have chosen the bird ibis to represent
Apollonius. Couat, and Ellis in his Prolegomena to the Ibis of Ovid, have collected
the various theories which have been put forward. The ibis, as Plato tells us,
was sacred to the god Theuth, or Hermes, worshipped originally at Naucratis, which
was probably the birthplace of Apollonius. The connexion between the ibis and
the god Theuth was very close. The god was depicted with the head of the bird,
and the bird was regarded as the familiar minister of the god. The filthy peculiarities
of the ibis are often mentioned by the ancients, and we may be sure that these
habits of the bird, a native of Naucratis like Apollonius, were employed by Callimachus
as a retort to the scurrilous way in which he had been stigmatized as katharma.
Hermes, amongst his other functions, was the god of thieves, and so Apollonius
was probably assailed as a familiar of the god of thieves by reason of his plagiarisms
from Homer and Callimachus. Conjectures like these are but a groping in the dark,
and the key to the riddle has been lost for ever.
There can be little doubt that the honours in this literary warfare
were regarded as resting with Callimachus. The struggle was brought to a close
by his death, 240-235 b.c. In his epitaph written by himself he claims to have
triumphed over spite.
Apollonius did not return to Alexandria immediately on the death of
his great antagonist. He remained for many years at Rhodes, ever bringing the
fruits of his ripe experience and grammatical studies to bear upon his well-beloved
poem. A dense mist envelops the closing period of his life. Did he pass the rest
of his days at Rhodes, as Susemihl maintains, or did he return to Alexandria and
become Librarian as successor to Eratosthenes? The first of the two lives is silent
on this question; the other, in a sentence introduced by tines de phasin, mentions
his return and the fact that he became Librarian after a third epideixis of his
poem at Alexandria. We have furthermore the definite statement in the notice in
Suidas that he succeeded Eratosthenes as head of the Library. Though this assertion
has been disputed by many critics in modern times, I see no valid reason for rejecting
it. There is nothing improbable in thinking that there may have been a reaction
against the theories of Callimachus after his death, and that the favour accorded
to the third recitation of the Argonautica and the appointment of its author as
Librarian may have been the outcome of this reaction. The whole chronology of
the Alexandrian school is in the most hopeless confusion, and no two critics seem
able to agree even approximately about the number, order, and dates of the early
Librarians. We have seen that the dates assigned for the birth of Apollonius vary
over a period of more than half a century, so that the arguments, based on so-called
chronology, against Suidas and one of the lives deserve but little attention.
Assuming, as we have done, that Apollonius was born about 265, he would have been
between the ages of sixty-five and seventy when he succeeded Eratosthenes, who
was born about 278 and lived to the age of eighty or eighty-two. Apollonius was
succeeded by Aristophanes of Byzantium, about whom we are definitely told that
he became Librarian at the age of sixty-two. He was born about 255, so we may
assume that Apollonius' tenure of the office terminated about 193, which we may
regard as approximately the year of the poet's death.
One last tradition concerning Apollonius, recorded at the end of the
second life, is that he was buried with Callimachus. Susemihl unnecessarily impugns
this statement as involving a desecration of the tomb of Callimachus. There may
well have been, as Weichert suggests, a place set apart at Alexandria by the Ptolemies
for the burial of those who had filled the honoured post of Librarian. And so,
after life's fitful fever, master and pupil would rest side by side in the silent
fellowship of the grave.
Sources of the Argonautica
To enumerate the probable and possible sources of the poem would be
to enumerate the greater part of Greek literature. Nurtured in a literary atmosphere,
Apollonius had devoted himself, heart and soul, to the study of all previous writings
which could aid him in his work. The rhetor Aelius Theon attributes to him the
saying Anagnosis trophe lexeos, and assuredly he must have dipped deeply into
the treasures of the great Alexandrian libraries. In trying to sketch briefly
the materials at his disposal when he began to write, we must rely, to a very
large extent, on the information which has come down to us through the scholia.
From them we learn much; but we must remember that they are merely excerpts from
the larger works of the grammarians, and, therefore, necessarily imperfect. The
sources from which our poet derived materials for his work and the authors whom
he imitated may be classified as follows:
(1) The Homeric poems;
(2) other ancient epic poems;
(3) early logographers and geographers;
(4) previous writers of Argonautica;
(5) writers who had introduced the story of the Argonauts incidentally;
(6) narrators of the deeds of Heracles;
(7) authors, most of them little known, to whom Apollonius was indebted on special
points;
(8) Alexandrian poets.
I. The Homeric poems constitute in the truest sense the pege
kai arche of the Argonautica. Though the matter of the work is not derived from
them, yet the diction and the form in which the particular incidents are set forth
continually recall to our minds the words of 'the poet,' as the ancients reverently
described Homer. Apollonius knew Homer by heart, and one of the chief charms of
his work is to come across the familiar phrases reset, some, it may be, dimmed
in the process, others shining with added lustre. Our poet was no servile imitator.
Nothing could be more erroneous than to regard his work as a mere cento of Homeric
phrases. Professor R. Ellis admirably states his position: "For Apollonius the
problem was how to write an epic which should be modelled on the Homeric epics,
yet be so completely different as to suggest, not resemblance, but contrast. We
think no one who has read even a hundred lines of the poem can fail to be struck
by this. It is in fact the reason why it is a success. The Argonautica could not
have been written without the Iliad and Odyssey, but it is in no sense an echo
of either. Nay, we believe that a minute examination of Apollonius' language and
rhythm would show that he placed himself under the most rigid laws of intentional
dissimilarity." In the period between the recensions of Zenodotus and Aristarchus
Apollonius had made a critical study of the Homeric poems, as we shall see when
we come to consider his other works.
The Argonautica often enables us to infer the meaning which he assigned
to doubtful words in Homer and the views which he must have held on disputed passages.
This has been worked out with the most painstaking fullness by Merkel in his Prolegomena.
Merkel illustrates at length, what F. A. Wolf had already noticed, that many words
which occur only once or twice in Homer are only found once or twice in Apollonius,
e.g. aages, ables, agerastos, hapsea, gaulos, truphos, glenos, kankanos, rhaphai,
mespha, amphidumos. He also shows that in the case of words like adinos, telugetos,
adeukes, autagretos, etc., the different views of the ancient grammarians about
their meanings are reproduced in different passages of the Argonautica.
II. We may be sure that Apollonius, in cultivating the epic style,
had studied the other old epic poems, not merely those belonging to the so-called
Epic Cycle, such as the Nostoi, Thebaiis, Alkmaionis, but also works like the
Aigimios (ascribed by some to Hesiod), and the Phoronis (a genealogical poem by
an unknown poet of Argos), both of which are cited in the scholia for purposes
of illustration. We have no evidence that Apollonius derived any of his matter
from them. His familiarity with the Homeric hymns is often shown, e.g. in the
opening line of the first book.
III. Large use must have been made of the early historians and
geographers, especially Herodotus, Hellanicus, Hecataeus, and Acusilaus, whose
writings are frequently mentioned in the scholia. Weichert shows that Apollonius
in all probability studied the logographoi more than the poets, and, in consequence,
passed over in silence some things very closely connected with his theme, e.g.
a description of the Argo, which must have been given by the earlier poets, while
he is very full in dealing with places, peoples, etc. Amongst the old prose writers
Simonides of Ceos is often referred to by the scholiasts as agreeing with our
poet, e.g. on ii 866, kai Simonides ho genealogos homoios toi Apollonioi genealogei.
Suidas tells us that he was reputed to be a grandson of the famous lyric poet,
that he lived before the Peloponnesian War, and that he wrote a Genealogia in
three books, and Heuremata, also in three books. He may have introduced the myth
of the Argo into the Genealogia. In the schol. on i 763 we find a reference to
a work of his, Summikta, which is not mentioned by Suidas.
IV. Most interest naturally attaches to the writers who had dealt
with the voyage of the Argo in special works. Of these the three principal were
Cleon, Herodorus, and Dionysius.
(a). Cleon was a native of Curium in Cyprus. We have no means of determining his
date. That Apollonius was indebted to his Argonautika is apparent from the schol.
on i 625, hoti de enthade Thoas esothe, kai Kleon ho Kourieus historei, kai Asklepiades4
ho Murleanos, deiknus hoti para Kleonos5 ta panta metenenken Apollonios.
(b). Herodorus was born at Heraclea in Pontus. He seems to have lived in the latter
part of the sixth century, and so would be a contemporary of Hecataeus. The erroneous
theory that his Argonautika was a poem arose from the schol. on ii 1211 ascribing
to him two lines from h. Hom. 34.6 The quotations from the work show that it was
written in prose. To judge from our scholia, Apollonius agreed with him on many
points, though Herodorus made the Argonauts return by the same route as on the
outward voyage. Another important work of his dealt with Heracles, ta kath' Heraklea,
and it is referred to both in our scholia and in those on Pindar. We have a quotation
from it in Athenaeus.
(c). The notices in Suidas of the various writers who bore the name of Dionysius
are hopelessly confused, and it is impossible to determine accurately whether
both Dionysius of Miletus and Dionysius of Mitylene wrote Argonautika. Dionysius
Mitulenaios is twice mentioned in our scholia and Dionysius Milesios five or six
times, and furthermore we have frequently the vague reference Dionusios en tois
Argonautais. Suidas enumerates amongst the works of Dionysius of Mitylene Argonautas
en bibliois hex, written in prose, and also attributes to Dionysius of Miletus,
a contemporary of Hecataeus, a Kuklos historikos, and a Kuklos muthikos. The contents
of the latter are probably given by Diod. Sic. (iii 66): Houtos (sc. Dionusios)
ta peri ton Dionuson, kai tas Amazonas, eti de tous Argonautas, kai ta kata ton
Iliakon polemon prachthenta, kai poll' hetera sunetaxe.
We may presume that Apollonius was familiar also with the poem in
6500 verses describing Argous naupegia kai Iasonos eis Kolchous apoplous, which
was ascribed to Epimenides of Crete, a contemporary of Solon, though the references
to it in our scholia are very slight.
The so-called Orpheos Argonautika cannot be included amongst the sources,
as it is in all probability an imitation of the work of Apollonius by some versifier
of the early Christian era. It consists of one book containing 1376 lines. Orpheus,
one of the Argonauts himself, tells, in the first person, of the main incident,
of the adventure, dwelling at length on the scenes in which he had played the
leading part, and more briefly describing the rest. The lateness of the work seems
clearly indicated by internal evidence, though some would assign it and more of
the 'Orphic' poetry to an early date.
V. Besides those authors who had written special Argonautica
there were several others who had introduced the story incidentally, from whom,
as far as we can estimate from our scholia, Apollonius drew more, and more directly,
than from the former group.
(a). Eumelus of Corinth was reckoned by some as belonging to the Epic Cycle. Eusebius
makes him contemporary with Arctinus about the fifth olympiad. The cyclic poem
on the return of the Greeks from Troy (Nostoi) is attributed to him by Pausanias.
In this poem apparently the story of Jason and Medea was introduced, and from
it, according to our scholia, Apollonius took iii 1372 sqq. He also wrote a hymn
in honour of the Delian Apollo, Bougonia (a poem on bees, containing the fable
of Aristaeus), Europia, Titanomachia, and Corinthiaca. Both the Titanomachia and
Corinthiaca are referred to in the scholia on the Argonautica.
(b). To Hesiod Apollonius seems to have been greatly indebted, though we could
better estimate his obligation if the Eoiai megalai (or Katalogos gunaikon) had
come down to us, for the legend of the Argonauts must have entered largely into
it. In several passages our Schol. say that Apollonius directly followed Hesiod
(Hesiodoi epekolouthesen), e.g. i 859, iii 311, iv 892. At other times the divergence
of Hesiod's views is mentioned, especially about the return voyage of the Argo.
In the Theogonia Hesiod outlines the whole theme of the Argonautica in a few verses,
from the orders of Pelias to the return of Jason to his native land.
(c). There is no writer more frequently cited by the Scholiasts, and none with
whom our poet more often agrees, than Pherecydes of Leros, one of the most celebrated
of the early logographers. His chief work was a mythological history in ten books
entitled Archaiologiai, Historiai, or Autochthones. The opening book was a Theogonia,
and then followed a description of the heroic age. The legend of the Argonauts
and the history of Jason came probably in the sixth and seventh books. Apollonius
acquired from Pherecydes not merely details connected with the Argonauts, but
also historical and geographical notices which he worked into his poem.
(d). Another author often mentioned in the scholia is ho ta Naupaktia pepoiekos,
once (ii 299) expressly called Neoptolemos ho ta Naupaktia pepoiekos. It has been
generally assumed that Neoptolemus of Paros (or Parium in Mysia) either wrote
it or commented on it. Pausanias (x 38, 6) agrees with Charon of Lampsacus in
attributing it to the cyclic poet Carcinus of Naupactus, the work deriving its
name from the birth-place of its author, like the Kupria of Stasinus of Cyprus.
The subject of the Naupaktia, according to Pausanias, was epe pepoiemena eis gunaikas.
Amongst the famous heroines we may infer that Medea was introduced, and consequently
the story of the golden fleece. Only once is the author mentioned as agreeing
with Apollonius, in all other cases as differing, the difference being strongly
marked with regard to the flight of Medea.
(e). Pindar in his masterpiece the fourth Pythian ode sings of the voyage of the
Argo, telling of the foundation of Cyrene by Battus from Thera, and the fate-fraught
clod of earth given by the god Triton to Euphemus in Libya. The story of Aristaeus
and the Etesian winds is derived from Pind. Pyth. ix. According to the Schol.
Pindar agreed with Hesiod and differed from our poet about the return of the Argonauts.
(f). Antimachus of Colophon is another poet whose influence on Apollonius must
have been very great. Weichert well describes him as "gleich beruhmt als Epiker
durch seine Thebais, wie als Elegiker durch seine Lyde, und in beiden Gattungen
der Poesie das Vorbild der Alexandriner." The love tragedy of Jason and Medea
must surely have formed part of his Lyde. On ii 296 we are told that Apollonius
took from him the version that the harpies were not slain by the sons of Boreas,
and again on iv 156 we find that Apollonius described the drugging of the dragon
and the winning of the fleece sumphonos Antimachoi.
(g). The three great Tragedians must have frequently woven the quest of the Argonauts
into their lost plays. Aeschylus' drama Hupsipule is cited by the Schol. on i
773 as describing the meeting of the heroes with the women of Lemnos, and on i
105 there is a reference to a work of his entitled Argo. On iv 284 we are told
that our poet followed the Prometheus luomenos in making the Ister flow from the
land of the Hyperboreans and the Rhipaean Mountains. In another play, the Kabeiroi,
we know that Aeschylus brought the Argonauts into contact with those strange divinities.
The plays of Sophocles embracing the legend which are quoted in the scholia are
those entitled Kolchides, Skuthai, Lemniai, Talos, Rhizotomoi, and Phineus. In
portraying the character of Medea Apollonius must have had ever present to his
mind the great tragedy of Euripides, and also the tragedies of lesser writers
such as Neophron on the same theme. Another play of Euripides, the Phrixos, is
referred to on ii 382 as describing the birds which discharged their plumes as
shafts on the island of Ares.
VI. Our poet, to judge from the scholia, made abundant use of
the many authors of Herakleia, whose writings recounted the deeds of Heracles.
Of these we may mention Cinaethon the cyclic poet of Lacedaemon, Pisander of Camirus
in Rhodes, and Panyasis of Halicarnassus the kinsman of Herodotus. Writers on
the same theme who were contemporary with, or subsequent to, Apollonius were Demaratus,
Rhianus, and Conon. There are three other authors of treatises, partly historical,
partly geographical, on the town of Heraclea and the legends associated therewith,
Promathidas, Nymphis, and Callistratus. They are not merely mentioned as agreeing
with Apollonius, but we are also directly told that Apollonius took certain statements
from the first two, who were both natives of Heraclea. From Promathidas20 he took
the story of Sthenelus (ii 911), also the legend of the foundation of the town
of Heraclea (ii 845), while the description of the akre Acherousis (ii 728) is
from Nymphis.
VII. Some of the philosophic doctrines of Empedocles find expression
in i 496 sqq., iv 676 sqq. In the account of the Idaean Dactyli (i 1129 sqq.)
Apollonius was indebted to Menander as well as to Stesimbrotus. In the fine passage,
iii 158 sqq., we are told dia touton ton stichon paragraphei ta eiremena hupo
Ibukou, and Ibycus is also imitated in iv 814.
Other authorities cited at times by the Scholiasts, though to us in
many cases they are mere names, are Nymphodorus of Amphipolis, author of Nomima
Asias, from whom Apollonius drew his account of the customs of the Colchi (iii
203), the Tibareni (ii 1012), and the Mossynoeci (ii 1020); Deilochus, or Deiochus,
of Proconnesus, who wrote a work peri Kuzikou, from which our poet got much of
his information about that town, agreeing with him also in his account of the
death of Amycus; Evanthes, probably of Samos, author of Muthika, who had told
of the death of Clite, wife of king Cyzicus (i 1063); Theolytus, an epic poet
of Methymna, author of Bakchika epe, already mentioned in connexion with Cleon;
Androetas of Tenedos, who wrote a periplous tes Propontidos (cited on ii 159);
and, lastly, Timagetus from whom Apollonius derived his version of the return
voyage of the Argonauts through the Ister. His work peri limenon is often referred
to by the Scholiasts in connexion with the flight of the Argonauts from Colchis,
though otherwise there is nothing known of him.
VIII. Apollonius had studied closely the didactic poem of Aratus,
as we see by comparing
Arg. i 30 hexeies stichoosin, Phaen. 372 hexeies stichoonta
Arg. i 555 bareiei cheiri keleuon, Phaen. 631 megalei ana cheiri keleuei
Arg. i 1141 eoikota semat' egento, Phaen. 820 eoikota semata keitai
Arg. i 1201, ii 1253, Phaen. 423 sqq. (quoted in the note on i 1201)
Arg. iv 984 hilate Mousai, ouk ethelon enepo proteron epos, Phaen. 637 Artemis hilekoi: proteron logos, hoi min ephanto k.t.l.
Arg. iv 997 phaies ken heois epi paisi ganusthai, Phaen. 196 phaies ken aniazein epi paidi.
The simile in ii 933 is derived from Phaen. 278 autar hog' eudioonti
poten ornithi eoikos. Leutsch shows that it was from Phanocles, author of elegies
under the title Erotes e kaloi, that Apollonius, in all probability, imitated
the lengthening of the second syllable in Threikios. The address to the Libyan
goddesses (iv 1309, 1322) is modelled on the epigram of Nicaenetus beginning Heroissai
Libuon oros akriton haite nemesthe. In iv 447, algea t' all' epi toisin apeirona
tetrechasin, we have a clear reminiscence of Philetas (xvi 3, Jacobs), Oud' apo
Moira telos ti kakon pherei alla menousin Empeda kai toisin alla prosauxanetai.
The number of coincidences which we can detect between the Argonautica
and the works of Callimachus is very small, as we have few fragments of the Aitia,
which had contained among its subjects the story of the Argonauts. In i 1309 we
have a verse apparently taken completely from Callimachus (fr. 212). Other resemblances
are referred to in the notes on i 129, 738, 972, 997, 1116; ii 713, 770, 1094;
iii 277, 876, 932; iv 961, 1165, 1614, 1717.
Though Theocritus took for his theme some of the subjects which Apollonius
also treats of, we cannot say that Apollonius borrowed from him, as the uncertainty
of the chronology in the case of both poets prevents any definite conclusion as
to their influence on each other. Knaack and Gercke26 assume, on quite insufficient
grounds, that Theocritus' poems on Hylas (xiii) and the Dioscuri (xxii) were composed
as the most effective form of criticism on Apollonius' defective treatment of
the same subjects at the end of the first book and the beginning of the second.
In his Thalusia Theocritus had introduced the attack on imitators of Homer, which
we have already quoted in dealing with the life of our poet, though there is no
evidence that it was directed against Apollonius in particular.
Some of the post-Homeric verbs used in the Argonautica may have been
derived from Lycophron.
The Argonautica
The writers whom we have enumerated formed part of the broad foundation
of literary lore on which Apollonius reared the structure of his poem. We have
next to consider the nature of this poem itself, and how our poet employed the
mass of materials which he had accumulated.
Apollonius chose for his theme the legend of the Argonauts, the quest
of the golden fleece. For the purposes of an epic poem such a theme was well adapted.
The voyage of the Argo, the first vessel which ploughed the lonely deep, was placed
in a remote past antecedent to the poems of Homer, to the siege of Troy, and the
wanderings of Odysseus. The origin of the legend is wrapped in the mist of antiquity.
Whether there is any historical basis for it or not we cannot say. It may have
arisen from traders sailing to the eastern boundary of the world, as Colchis was
then regarded, and bringing back wondrous tales of the countries they had visited,
and the adventures they had encountered on their perilous voyage. Strabo held
that the myth of the golden fleece was connected with the wealth of gold dust
washed down by Colchian rivers rich as the Lydian Pactolus. But, whatever the
origin may have been, we know that the legend was one ever dear to the Greeks
as a seafaring people, so that in choosing it as his subject Apollonius was assured
of the sympathetic interest of his public. The conquest of Alexander and the spread
of commerce had turned men's minds to far-off lands, and tales of romantic adventure
were becoming an established literary type.
The character of the poetry of the Alexandrian school was to a large
extent determined by the character of the age in which they wrote. Whatever the
talents of the poet might be, his work must be replete with historical and legendary
lore if it was to meet with approval from the literary circles in the days of
the Ptolemies. Apollonius, like Catullus, well deserved the title doctus. As Couat
expresses it, "La veritable difficulte pour Apollonius ne fut pas d'inventer,
mais de choisir." To have assimilated materials of such a heterogeneous nature
required ability of no mean order. His vast industry would, however, have resulted
merely in a rudis indigestaque moles, had it not been for the true poetic genius
with which he was endowed.
How far our poet possessed the gift of originality we cannot determine.
We are mainly dependent on the evidence of the scholia, and, to judge from them,
Apollonius might have truly said with Callimachus amairturon ouden aeido. But
most of the works to which they refer as agreeing or differing have not come down
to us, so that we are unable to decide for ourselves the precise nature of our
poet's obligations. However much he may have been indebted to his predecessors
for the matter, the form of the poem is his own, and everywhere we find traces
of that sense of proportion which ensures the symmetry of the whole.
His work fulfils many of the requirements of epic poetry. Great are
the achievements of his heroes--great and wonderful. The mind of the reader is
filled with amaze at the recital of their deeds. The understanding is enriched
with the tales of diverse lands and diverse peoples. The imagination is stirred
by the fabulous and the mystical, by the intercourse of gods with men. The aesthetic
sense is awed with the feeling of the sublime, the contrast between divine omnipotence
and mortal frailty. Every emotion of the human soul is faithfully reflected in
the poem, love and hatred, joy and sorrow, hope and fear. So cunningly are the
various episodes woven into the web of the story that our attention seldom flags,
our expectation is whetted with the eagerness of anticipation.
With the features of the older epic poetry are blended the graces
of the elegy in the romantic loves of Jason and Medea. At times we seem to have
a statue or picture reproduced in verse, as in the description of the youthful
Eros and Ganymede playing at dice together in the gardens of Olympus --an exquisite
passage which shows in all its fullness our poet's skill in simple word-painting.
One of the most prominent characteristics of the poem is the beauty
of the similes, a feature which seems above all others to have attracted Virgil.
Apart from their intrinsic charm, they set forth in a brighter light and with
a relevancy of detail the incidents to which they refer. There is a special appositeness
in their use which at times is not to be found in the similes of Homer. Few who
have studied the poem carefully will agree with Dr. Mahaffy's criticism that "the
poet's similes are rather introduced for their prettiness than for their aptness."
To take but one example from the wealth the poem affords, the simile of the bees,8
to which the women of Lemnos are likened as they throng about the departing heroes,
is peculiarly happy in every circumstance and every detail. In it Apollonius may
be said to have surpassed both Homer and Virgil who employ the same imagery in
a different connexion. Beautiful in its freshness is the comparison of the throbbing
of Medea's heart to the dancing beams of sunlight reflected from the eddying water:
pukna de hoi kradie stetheon entosthen ethuien
eeliou hos tis te domois enipalletai aigle
hudatos exaniousa, to de neon ee lebeti
ee pou en gauloi kechutai: he d' entha kai entha
okeiei strophalingi tinassetai aissousa:
hos de kai en stethessi kear elelizeto koures.( iii 755 sqq)
Virgil (Aen. 8. 22 sqq.) was not slow to adopt this as his own.
Another charm of the Argonautica lies in the grace and vividness of
the descriptive passages. Be it the glorious majesty of Apollo or the sufferings
of Phineus, the beauty of Jason or the deformity of Polyxo, the o'erweening pride
of Aeetes or the love-pangs of Medea, the might of the hero going forth to battle
or the weariness of the husbandman returning home at even, the resistless fury
of the raging sea or the dreary waste of the Libyan sands, all are set before
us with the same realistic power. As the scenes of action unfold themselves, we
are no longer readers, we are witnesses. We see, as if we were present, that the
rude boxing of Amycus can be of no avail against the skill of Polydeuces. The
brazen-hoofed bulls with fiery nostrils, the warriors springing from the furrow,
the sleepless dragon which guards the fleece are quickened into life by the poet's
pen. Again, in scenes of repose, the spirit of restful calm steals over us as
we read the lines depicting the unbroken peacefulness of a stilly night:
Nux men epeit' epi gaian agen knephas: hoi d' eni pontoi
nautai eis Heliken te kai asteras Orionos
edrakon ek neon: hupnoio de kai tis hodites
ede kai pulaoros eeldeto: kai tina paidon
metera tethneoton adinon peri kom' ekalupten:
oude kunon hulake et' ana ptolin, ou throos een
echeeis: sige de melainomenen echen orphnen.(iii 744 sqq)
A large part is played by the gods in all epic poetry, and the Argonautica
is no exception, though in it their intervention is strangely fitful, and their
characterization at times quite un-Homeric. Apollonius exercised a certain restraint
in introducing them. He seems to have followed the rule which Horace prescribes
for the writers of tragedy, "nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus." Thus
it is to Athene that the building of the Argo is ascribed. The mortal skill of
Argus could never unaided have fashioned a vessel to face the perils of the unknown
sea. It is Athene who brings the heroes safely through the clashing of the Cyanean
rocks. So too it is Hera who stays with her thunderstorms the pursuing forces
of the Colchians, and rescues the Argonauts from impending doom as they thread
the tortuous channel of the Rhone.
Zeus, though often mentioned with his various attributes as Xeinios,
Hikesios, Epopsios, and Phuxios, appears but seldom in the working out of the
main theme. We are told of his wrath against the sons of Aeolus, which can only
be appeased by the propitiation of Phrixus and the recovery of the fleece. His
anger is manifested against the heroes after the murder of Absyrtus, and he ordains
that Jason and Medea must be purified by Circe.
Phoebus Apollo is the divinity who inspires the whole adventure. At
the opening of the poem we have the oracle which alarms Pelias and makes him send
forth Jason on an apparently hopeless quest. Jason comforts his weeping mother
by telling her that Phoebus has vouchsafed a prosperous voyage. Before entering
on the expedition Jason had gone to consult the god at Delphi, and the god had
given him two tripods, to be dedicated in places to which they would come on their
journey. One of these tripods, Apollonius tells us, was dedicated in the land
of the Hyllaeans, the other in Libya at Lake Tritonis. To Apollo, under the titles
of Aktios and Embasios, they sacrifice ere setting out. Altars are raised to him
at many places where they land. On the isle of Thynias the god appears to them
at morn as he is returning from the Lycians to the Hyperboreans, and again they
sacrifice and make vows to him as Eoos, the god of the dawning day. When they
are nearing home again, a dense darkness envelops them on leaving Crete, but Phoebus
with his flashing bow illumines for them the island which they name the Isle of
the Appearance (Anaphe), and they dedicate an altar to him as Aigletes.
The building of the Argo by Athene is not described by Apollonius;
only incidentally is it mentioned as her handiwork. Valerius Flaccus has given
us a vivid narrative thereof. With Hera Athene watches over the passage of the
Argo near Scylla and Charybdis. With Hera too she goes to Aphrodite to implore
her aid and that of her son Eros in moving Medea's heart to succour Jason.
The goddess who takes the principal and most direct part in the story
is Hera. It is strange that she is not mentioned when our poet is describing the
first assembling of the heroes. We are not told how they were brought together.
Far more striking is the opening of the poem of Valerius Flaccus, where Jason,
hearing the ordeal imposed on him by Pelias, prays to Hera and Athene for their
help. The goddesses hear his prayer, and, while Athene builds for him the vessel,
Hera goes through Argolis and Macedonia summoning the heroes to take part in the
adventure. In the first two books of our poem Hera is passed over almost in silence
in the description of the outward voyage, but from the beginning of the third
book to the end of the poem her powers are exercised actively and frequently.
Two causes are assigned by her for her watchful care of Jason. One is her wrath
against Pelias for neglecting her in sacrifice; the other is her fondness for
Jason from the day when he had borne her over the swollen torrent Anaurus as she
roamed the earth making trial of the righteousness of men. Throughout the sojourn
in the land of Colchis and on the homeward voyage she shows in manifold ways her
lovingkindness towards the hero. Widely different is her role in the Aeneid, where,
as the vengeful jealous wife of Jove, she thwarts and baffles the stormtossed
Aeneas.
The fondness of the Greeks for representing the gods as endowed with
like forms and like passions with themselves is strikingly illustrated in the
famous passage at the beginning of the third book where Cypris is surprised at
her toilet by Hera and Athene; and the interview which follows between the goddesses
is characterized by a polished diplomacy and duplicity, which, as Couat well says,
is worthy of the court of the Ptolemies, and is far removed from the tumultuous
councils of the gods in the Iliad.
We hear but little of the other gods and goddesses. Glaucus rises
up from the sea to declare that it is the will of heaven that Heracles and Polyphemus
should not journey further with the Argonauts. Iris comes down from Olympus to
stay the sons of Boreas in their pursuit of the harpies. The sea-god Triton shows
the toil-worn mariners the outlet from Lake Tritonis to the sea.
The Argonautica cannot be described as a religious poem in the sense
in which the Iliad and Odyssey are religious poems. In the Iliad and the Odyssey
there is a continuous working out of a divine purpose, and every step in the action
is determined thereby. In the Argonautica, on the other hand, the religious motive
is present, but this motive is rather in the poem than of it; it fills the mind
neither of the poet nor his readers, and Jason, though nominally the instrument
chosen to fulfil a divine mission, in reality plays the part of a leader of adventurers.
At times we find a tinge of scepticism when the poet is recounting
some wondrous legend concerning the gods. "Withhold not your favour, O goddesses
of song," he cries, "unwillingly I tell the tale our fathers told." Such wavering
faith in venerable tradition is characteristic of the Alexandrian school.
Throughout the whole poem we detect an undercurrent of sadness, of
that pessimism which was peculiarly Greek, the realization of the inevitableness
of doom, the feeling that the cup of happiness must ever be embittered with an
admixture of sorrow.
In estimating the worth of a narrative poem a question of paramount
importance is the poet's power of delineating character (ethopoiia). Judged from
this standpoint we can only attribute to Apollonius a very partial success. Of
the multitude of figures which fill the canvas one, and one only, stands out in
bold relief; the others are sketched in vague and shadowy outline. The poet lavished
all his colours on the portraiture of the wonder-working Medea. Her varying moods
enthral us from the moment when first she beholds the godlike Jason as he enters
her father's court until their nuptials are consummated on the isle of the Phaeacians.
Her inmost feelings are laid bare to us with a psychological subtlety strangely
modern and unknown to Homer. Impulsive, passionate with the passionateness of
the East, torn at first by the conflict betwixt love and duty, gradually she yields
to the overmastering sway of Eros. Duty and honour are flung to the winds. She
steals forth at night from her father's home. For Jason alone she lives. The ties
of kin no longer bind her. Cunningly and remorselessly she plots her brother's
death. Woe unto Jason if he should prove false to her! Fickle and faithless he
proved himself in after years, and Euripides has shown us that "Hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned." In his wondrous drama the intensity of Medea's hate is
only equalled by the intensity of her love as depicted in our poem. The third
book, in which the love interest is introduced, is incomparably superior to the
other three. The passage where Medea would end the turmoil of her soul by self-destruction,
but shrinks from death as she reflects that life is sweet and that she is still
in the morning of life, is one of the great things in Greek literature, and has
been compared with the splendid scene near the opening of Goethe's Faust. As we
read of this hapless maiden, daughter of a savage sire, priestess of the weird
goddess Hecate in her lonely temple on the plain, and see her suddenly called
by fate to a new and strange destiny, made the instrument for the fulfilment of
the purposes of gods and men, smitten by a love which her young heart cannot understand,
though it obeys its impulses, we are moved in a way in which the widowed Dido
with her mad infatuation, amid the hum and bustle of rising Carthage, moves us
not.
Compared with Medea the character of Jason is tame and insipid. Endowed
with the radiant beauty of Apollo he is brave and gallant as heroes are wont to
be, and steadfastly fulfils his task of recovering the golden fleece. He is tactful,
lovable, and urbane in his dealings with his comrades, and is slow to wrath even
when provoked by the taunting words of the Colchian king. He is prone to exhibit
a soft sentimentality, seen also in the character of Aeneas which is largely modelled
on that of Jason. In his intercourse with Medea he displays a calculating and
deliberate selfishness which reappears as the dominant note in his character in
the play of Euripides. We cannot discern in him the qualities of a leader of men.
We feel that he is but one of the four-and-fifty heroes, many of them riper in
years and more famous for their doughty deeds than he. Upon the shore at Pagasae
Jason bids them choose out a leader from among their number, and with one accord
they acclaim Heracles. Heracles will not take command, and persuades the others
to acknowledge Jason as their chief. Such is the position of Jason, a leader chosen
by his comrades against their own better judgment. Nominally he is first and foremost,
in reality he is but primus inter pares. So it is throughout the poem. On the
outward voyage the only prominent part he plays is in the love-adventures with
Hypsipyle on the island of Lemnos. At the opening of the second book it is Polydeuces
who flings back the haughty challenge of Amycus, while Jason takes but little
part even in the slaughter of the Bebrycians which follows the downfall of their
champion. Again and again when a crisis arises we find him sorely perplexed. When
Idmon and Tiphys are stricken by death, Jason, like the rest, throws himself down
with muffled head on the seashore in the anguish of despair, until Ancaeus, ignoring
him, declares to Peleus his willingness to take the helmsman's post. It is Amphidamas,
not Jason, who bethinks himself how to ward off the birds of the brazen plumes
on the isle of Ares. On that same isle the shipwrecked sons of Phrixus reveal
to the heroes the implacable nature of the Colchian king and the dangers which
lie before them. It is Peleus, not Jason, who revives their drooping spirits when
dismayed at this recital. At last they reach the realms of Aeetes. Jason bears
the petulant insults of the incensed monarch with a forbearance, wise, perhaps,
but with the wisdom of a later age. The ordeal of yoking the fire-breathing bulls
and sowing the dragon's teeth is appointed. How does Jason meet it? Gladly he
has recourse to the magic drugs of Medea, and his achievements are shorn of half
their greatness. To Medea, not to his own right hand, he owes the winning of the
golden fleece. Now begins the flight from Colchis with the Colchians in close
pursuit. When the Argonauts are sorely pressed, Jason makes a treacherous truce,
and, with Medea's aid, compasses the murder of the Colchian chief, Medea's brother,
Absyrtus. Purified from this foul deed by Circe, anon they reach Phaeacia. Thither
come the Colchian forces demanding the surrender of Medea. Now at length it seems
as if a deadly contest must ensue, in which the heroes may prove their prowess
in the face of fearful odds, but Jason avoids the struggle by putting himself
and Medea under the protection of the Phaeacian king, Alcinous, and fulfilling
the conditions which he prescribes. From this to the end of the poem we hear little
of Jason save when the Libyan goddesses appear to him to deliver him and his comrades
from death, and when he sacrifices thank-offerings to Triton at Lake Tritonis
and to Apollo at the Isle of the Appearance. It is in his delineation of Jason
that Valerius Flaccus far surpasses our poet. In reading the poem of the Roman
writer we feel that Jason has a part assigned to him worthy of a leader, and that
he stands out unmistakably in the forefront of his comrades.
Among the other Argonauts only two can be said to have any distinctive
personality, Orpheus and Peleus. Orpheus, with his wondrous lyre, whose music
charmed rocks, streams, and trees, is the first to be mentioned in the catalogue
of heroes. His minstrelsy holds as with a spell the rowers of the Argo. Their
oars dip rhythmically to his melodious strains. When angry feelings would rage
tumultuously he soothes them with a lay whose burden is that Earth's fair harmony
arose from discord at the first. He cheers his comrades when downhearted, and
brings them safely past the temptings of the Sirens with a chant surpassing in
sweetness even their alluring notes. Peleus, the noble father of a nobler son,
acts the part of the wise counsellor to his fellow-Argonauts. To him, rather than
to Jason, they turn for guidance in times of doubt and difficulty. His confidence
gives confidence to them. Fatherly love dwells strong within him. One of the most
touching passages in the poem is the description of the wife of Chiron holding
up the babe Achilles in her arms in fond farewell to Peleus as the Argo passes
along the coast of Thessaly.
Heracles is left behind in Mysia early in the voyage, a version of
the legend which must have been well-pleasing to our poet, avoiding, as it does,
the difficulty of subordinating his dominant individuality to the weakness of
Jason throughout the adventure. During the brief period for which he journeyed
with the other heroes we see him as the man of mighty physical strength and restless
energy. The bench in the centre of the vessel, which required the rowers with
the stoutest thews, is given without lot to him and Ancaeus. He will have no part
in the revellings in Lemnos, and in tones of bitter irony he utters his contempt
for Jason's dalliance with Hypsipyle. His club deals out destruction to the giants
in the island of Cyzicus. The breaking of his oar beneath the strain of his sinewy
arms leads to his going on shore to replace it and to the loss of Hylas. Terrible
in its intensity is his grief for the well-beloved youth, and roaming distractedly
in search of him he passes from our view.
Of the minor characters little need be said. The brutal Amycus, the
hot-headed arrogant Idas are well depicted. In Telamon we recognize some of the
traits of his son Ajax. He is a blunt outspoken warrior, staunch to his friends,
quick to quarrel, but generous in admitting his faults.
Two famous criticisms on Apollonius have come down to us from ancient
times, the one by a Greek, the other by a Latin writer, and both when examined
are found to express practically the same view. Longinus, in his treatise peri
hupsous (33, 4), says epeitoige kai aptotos ho Apollonios en tois Argonautais
poietes ? ar' oun Omeros an mallon e Apollonios ethelois genesthai; The writer
is contrasting two classes of poets, the brilliant genius whose very brilliancy
makes him at times careless and negligent in detail, and the author possessed
of less natural talent who, by that genius which consists in the infinite capacity
for taking pains, avoids the slips to which the other is prone. Homer, who, as
Horace says, sometimes nods, is the type of the former, Apollonius of the latter.
The question which Longinus asks carries, of course, its own answer with it. It
is true that Apollonius was the greatest Greek writer of epic poetry after Homer--proximus
sed longo intervallo, but to compare him with Homer is to apply to him a test
which no ancient poet will stand, not even Virgil himself. We should bear in mind
the words of Cicero, "in poetis non Homero soli locus est, aut Archilocho, aut
Sophocli, aut Pindaro, sed horum vel secundis vel etiam infra secundos."
Quintilian's estimate harmonizes with that of the Greek critic. His
words are: "Apollonius in ordinem a grammaticis datum non venit, quia Aristarchus
atque Aristophanes poetarum iudices neminem sui temporis in numerum redigerunt;
non tamen contemnendum reddidit ['produced'] opus aequali quadam mediocritate."
Peterson, in his note ad loc., says justly: "No disparagement is implied: the
meaning is that Apollonius keeps pretty uniformly to the genus medium, neither
rising on the one hand to the genus grande nor on the other descending to the
genus subtile. So in the peri hupsous he receives the epithet aptotos." Mediocritas
thus expresses what Cicero calls the modicum or temperatum dicendi genus, and
it is to be observed that this mediocritas was according to Varro the characteristic
of Terence. Weichert argues, though I think it is possibly straining the words
of Quintilian, that in accordance with the ancient use of litotes we are justified
in translating 'non contemnendum opus' not merely as 'ein schatzbares' but even
as 'ein sehr schatzbares Werk.' In spite of the obvious meaning of Quintilian's
judgment many critics perversely hold that he is sneering at Apollonius as a poet
of respectable mediocrity. A sufficient answer to this is furnished by his explaining
why Apollonius was not admitted to the canon of Greek poets by the Alexandrian
critics, and also by his own words in introducing the list of authors whom he
discusses, 'paucos qui sunt eminentissimi excerpere in animo est.'
The one testimony to the poetic worth of Apollonius which outweighs
all others is that of Virgil. With the exception of Homer there is no Greek writer
from whom Virgil drew so largely. The fourth book of the Aeneid owes much of its
ineffable charm to the romantic loves of Jason and Medea. Conington, though he
consistently disparages Apollonius in order to exalt Virgil, has summed up some
of the principal obligations of the Latin poet to his Alexandrian predecessor:--"Not
only is the passion of Medea confessedly the counterpart of the passion of Dido,
but the instances are far from few where Virgil has conveyed an incident from
his Alexandrian predecessor, altering and adapting, but not wholly disguising
it. The departure of Jason from his father and mother resembles the departure
of Pallas from Evander; the song of Orpheus is contracted into the song of Iopas,
as it had already been expanded into the song of Silenus; the reception of the
Argonauts by Hypsipyle is like the reception of the Trojans by Dido, and the parting
of Jason from the Lemnian princess reappears, though in very different colours,
in the parting of Aeneas from the queen of Carthage; the mythical representations
in Jason's scarf answer to the historical representations which distinguish the
shield of Aeneas from that of Achilles; the combat of Pollux with Amycus is reproduced
in the combat of Entellus with Dares; the harpies of Virgil are the harpies of
Apollonius, while the deliverance of Phineus by the Argonauts may have furnished
a hint for the deliverance of Achemenides by the Trojans, an act of mercy which
has another parallel in the deliverance of the sons of Phrixus; Phineus' predictions
are like the predictions of Helenus; the cave of Acheron in Asia Minor suggests
the cave of Avernus in Italy; Evander and Pallas appear once more in Lycus and
Dascylus; Hera addresses Thetis as Juno addresses Juturna; Triton gives the same
vigorous aid in launching the Argo that he gives to the stranded vessels of Aeneas,
or that Portunus gives to the ship of Cloanthus in the Sicilian race."
These are but a few of the resemblances which strike us again and
again in reading the Aeneid. To many at the present day the work of Apollonius
is only known by the references of the commentators on Virgil. When discussing
the unfair treatment which our poet has received at the hands of the moderns,
Preston says: Even when Apollonius is remembered among the learned, he is usually
introduced in the degrading attitude of a captive, bound to the chariot and following
the triumphal pomp of Virgil, who has literally fulfilled in the person of the
poet his own prediction in the third Georgic, Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas.
Thus is the name of Apollonius lost and absorbed in that of his conqueror. His
poetical beauties are all hung up as trophies to decorate the shrine of Virgil.
His primary and original claims on our attention, in his own right, are forgotten;
and he is honoured only with the derivative and subordinate praise of having supplied
to the Mantuan bard the crude materials and unformed elements from whence some
of his beauties have been wrought and fashioned."
The influence of Apollonius at Rome was by no means confined to Virgil.
The Argonautica was translated with some freedom into Latin by Varro, a native
of Atax in Insubrian Gaul (82-37 b.c.). This version was highly esteemed by the
ancients, and some fragments of it are still extant. Catullus, Propertius, and
especially Ovid afford evidence in their poetry of their familiarity with the
work of Apollonius. Lucan imitates him in his description of Africa and the deadly
serpents which infest it. In the days of Vespasian and Domitian Valerius Flaccus
wrote an epic poem on the Argonauts which has come down to us. It is largely borrowed
from the work of Apollonius, though there are many differences from the Greek
original. As Apollonius imitated Homer's style and language, so Valerius Flaccus
imitated Virgil. The work is incomplete, the story of the return voyage being
left untold, but the merit of the eight completed books was recognized by Quintilian,
who says of him, "multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus." How favourite a theme
the legend of the Argonauts had become at Rome amongst rhetorical poets of this
age is shown by Juvenal's well-known lines in the first Satire.
The chief cause of the neglect with which the work of Apollonius has
been treated in modern times is to be found in its form. Apollonius chose the
historical form for his poem, a choice which was largely determined by his theme,
and we cannot help feeling how vastly superior is Homer's method of plunging the
reader in medias res non secus ac notas. The catalogue of the heroes with which
the work opens, after a brief preface, is apt to repel us before our sympathies
are elicited, though catalogues of this kind form a traditional part of all great
epics, as Homer, Virgil, and Milton show. The geographical minuteness with which
the outward voyage is described contrasts unfavourably with the delightfully vague
and imaginary geography of the Homeric poems, and when in narrating the return
of the heroes from the land of Colchis all geographical probability, or even possibility,
is ignored, the resulting compound is unpalatable. When we read the fourth book
we wish in vain that our poet had shaken himself loose from the coils of legendary
tradition and given free play to his inventive talent. But, in whatever way the
poet might best have treated the return voyage, it would have been difficult,
if not impossible, to remove the impression of anti-climax which the greater portion
of the last book produces on us. The second part of the story, all that follows
after the taking of the fleece, the fresh dangers faced, the fresh privations
endured, does not heighten the effect but rather diminishes it.
Another cause of the unpopularity of the Argonautica is that it is
a learned work, and those who love the direct simplicity of the earlier epic are
prone to turn aloof from such. This learning, as we have seen, was demanded from
the poet by the age in which he lived, but, with few exceptions, he makes no ostentatious
display of his learning in the way Callimachus or Propertius would have done if
treating of the same theme. In the description of men and places, in the various
incidents of the poem, there is a studied moderation. Apollonius knew how essential
to a poet is the precept meden agan. Rarely does the language of extravagant hyperbole
strike a jarring note. The versification of the poem is remarkably smooth and
harmonious, and the diction, as a rule, simple and unaffected, rare and obsolete
words occurring but seldom. The most noticeable affectation is in the use or abuse
of the pronouns.
One misses naturally the freshness and charm of the language of Homer,
the living appreciation of earlier ages being replaced by a merely literary and
imitative interest. The old order had changed. The minds of men had developed
far beyond the stage when speech is the artless childlike overflow of feeling.
A literary atmosphere had come into being. Little wonder that Apollonius, strive
as he might to relive the past, could not "set his soul to the same key Of the
remembered melody."
Such are some of the characteristics of a poem at once so Homeric
and so un-Homeric. Taken as a whole it may be justly said to be deficient in epic
unity and inspiration. The unity which it possesses is mainly that of chronological
sequence. It is a mosaic, but a mosaic fashioned and put together with artistic
skill. The tempering of the stricter epic with the charm of elegy and romance
constitutes the strength and weakness of the work. It would be manifestly unjust
to apply to Apollonius Ovid's criticism on Callimachus "quamvis ingenio non valet,
arte valet"; rather would I adopt Cicero's judgment of the work of Lucretius and
say of the Argonautica "multis luminibus ingenii, multae tamen artis."
Other works of Apollonius
The literary activity of Apollonius was not exclusively confined to
the Argonautica, as we find references to various other writings which are attributed
to him with more or less probability.
(1) The Epigrams of Apollonius are mentioned by Antonius Liberalis: historei Nikandros
kai Apollonios ho Rhodios en tois epigrammasin. The only epigram of his which
has been preserved is that on Callimachus already quoted in connexion with the
quarrel between the two poets.
(2) His Ktiseis, which are frequently cited, were poetical works describing the
history, antiquities, and characteristics, either of whole regions or of special
cities. We hear of works of this kind written by him on Alexandria, Canopus, Caunus,
Cnidus, Naucratis, and Rhodes. These were probably all separate works, and not
parts of one larger whole, as the metres vary, the fragments from the Ktisis Kanopou
being scazons, while the fragments of the other Ktiseis are all hexameters. Suidas
tells us that Callimachus also wrote Ktiseis Neson kai Poleon.
(3) As a Homeric critic Apollonius acquired a considerable reputation, though
he does not seem to have published any edition of the Iliad or Odyssey. We read
of a work of his, pros Zenodoton, in which he criticized the readings defended
by Zenodotus in his edition. The loss of this work is greatly to be deplored,
as the knowledge we possess from other sources of the views of Zenodotus on Homeric
questions is fragmentary and unreliable. Only in a few instances do we find the
full title, Apollonios ho Rhodios, given in the scholia on the Iliad, but in many
other cases where simply Apollonios is found, a comparison of the usages in the
Argonautica shows that it is our poet whose views are cited. Often, where we have
no direct evidence, we can judge indirectly of the attitude of Apollonius to Zenodotus
by a consideration of forms adopted or rejected in the Argonautica, which the
Scholiasts on Homer tell us were read by Zenodotus in the Homeric text.
Among the Zenodotean forms which Apollonius adopts are tethneios,
thelo, hedumos, molis, passudiei, dusaschetos, Gorgonos, Rheien, emelle, kakeinos
(Aristarchus kai keinos), epimartures, Mino, and chros. On the other hand, while
Zenodotus wrote in Homer the forms dendros, eupoieteisi, anchialen, eexen, anaptas,
dedaasthai, stenache, Ariedne, polupidakou, eustrophoi, Apollonius uses dendreon,
eupoieton himasthlen, anchialou aktes (Anchiale as prop. name), axen (or eaxe),
ampetasas, dedaesthai, stonache, Ariadne, polupidakos, eustrephei. Apollonius
seems to have agreed with Zenodotus' views on many points, especially in the use
of the pronouns (e.g. hou, heio, heoio: min as acc. pl.: the extended application
of hos, heos, sphoiteros, etc.), though, on the whole, he conforms rather to the
principles of Aristarchus, as Merkel shows in his Prolegomena by a minute examination
of the relations between Apollonius, Zenodotus, Aristophanes, and Aristarchus.
(4) Apollonius is also mentioned as a critic of the Hesiodic poems. The author
of Argument III to the Scutum Herculis tells us that Apollonius maintained the
genuineness of this work, the authenticity of which was disputed by Aristophanes
of Byzantium amongst others.
(5) Athenaeus refers to a work of our poet peri Archilochou, but the precise nature
of this cannot be determined. It may have formed part of a more general work comprising
hupomnemata or commentaries on the ancient poets.
(6) To a general work of this kind might also be referred the views in the scholia
on Aristophanes which are ascribed to an Apollonius who is supposed to be our
poet. It is a very much disputed point, however, whether this Apollonius is the
Rhodian, or one of the hundred other grammarians who bore the name.
(7) Lastly, there are two works of Apollonius mentioned by Athenaeus, one dealing
with the Egyptians (though Athenaeus may be referring merely to some of the Ktiseis
such as those of Alexandria or Naucratis), the other entitled Trierikos, which
probably dealt with the technical terms employed in describing a trireme.
MSS. of the Argonautica
The principal ms. of the Argonautica is the Laurentianus xxxii, 9,
in the Laurentian Library at Florence, dating from the tenth century. This famous
ms. contains also the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles. It is adopted by Merkel
as his basis in constituting the text of the Argonautica. Of its importance for
the text of Sophocles, Jebb says: "With L safe, the loss of our other mss. would
have been a comparatively light misfortune."
Three centuries later than L we have three other mss. of Apollonius:
(1) Vaticanus 280, in the Palatine Library, collated by Flangini. (2) Guelferbytanus,
the ms. of Wolfenbuttel. This ms., known as G, ranks next in importance to L.
(3) Laurentianus xxxii, 16. Keil regarded this ms. as transcribed either from
L or a copy of L, but Ziegler and Merkel have shown from its frequent and striking
agreements with G that both it and G are from a common archetype.
All other mss. are of the fifteenth or sixteenth century. They are
classified by Merkel as follows:
(a) Membranacei--Ambrosianus B 98; Laurentianus xxxi, 26; Laurentianus xxxi, 11;
Laurentianus xxxii, 35.
(b) Chartacei--Ambrosianus 22, containing the first two books; Ambrosianus 37;
Ambrosianus 64, ending at iii, 1306; Laurentianus xxxi, 29; Vaticanus 150, containing
the first three books; Vaticanus 36; Vaticanus 37; Vaticanus 146; Vaticanus 1358;
Ottobonensis 306; Ricardianus 35; Parisienses 2727, 2846, 2728, 2729, 1845; Vindobonensis
and Wratislavensis, both collated by Wellauer.
There are thus twenty-six mss. in all, of which the last twenty-two,
according to Merkel, are far inferior to the first four.
The value of the Paris mss. has been much disputed. Brunck esteemed
them very highly, and mainly relied on them in his edition. Merkel, on the other
hand, seems to go to the opposite extreme in disparaging them, assigning them
to the same category as the interpolated Italian mss. of Latin poets. He says
of them: "Inest his non nihil forsitan e melioribus libris petitum, sed quo uti
non liceat aliter nisi cum carere possis." Whatever is in the text on their authority
has, in Merkel's opinion, no more weight than an ingenious conjecture. These strictures
appear far too severe in the case of mss. on which we have to rely to an appreciable
extent. There are over fifty passages in the ordinary accepted text of the Argonautica
where the reading rests on the authority of the Paris mss., and in all these passages
L and G are but broken reeds.
All the mss. of the thirteenth century are vitiated by interpolations,
and this is a prominent feature of G. As a typical instance of this defect we
may take iv 1429, dendreon, hoiai esan, toiai palin empedon autos, where for hoiai
G has rhoiai, with a gloss rhoai kai roiai kai roidea dendra eukarpa. Apart from
these interpolations, its readings in conjunction with those of L carry great
weight, and in several places where L is corrupt G has preserved the true reading.
In the first book there is a serious break in G, three hundred lines (560-861)
being wanting.
In L we find many corrections made by a later hand. These corrections,
as Keil and Merkel show, were made, not from the Laurentian archetype, but from
the archetype of G and L 16, as they agree very closely in writing, spelling,
and form with G and not with L. It is uncertain whether this second hand was the
hand of the same scribe as the first, only working at a later period, as Keil
thinks, or not, but that is of no great consequence, since in any case it affords
us fragments of a different recension. This same second hand wrote the Laurentian
scholia, which are more in accord with the readings of G than with those of L.
It is possible to trace the family of mss. to which G and L 16 are
to be referred considerably further back than the tenth century, for the Et. Mag.
often cites Apollonius, and the readings it contains, which were derived from
grammarians like Choeroboscus (c. 6 cent.), agree as a rule with the archetype
of G and L 16. From this it is clear that another recension of Apollonius distinct
from L existed in the fifth or fourth century. But this by no means detracts from
the authority of L, which by the superiority of its readings in countless doubtful
passages, and the purity and correctness of its forms, must always constitute
the basis of any critical text of the Argonautica.
A Hellenistic Bibliography: Apollonius Rhodius. This file forms part of A Hellenistic Bibliography, a bibliography on post-classical Greek poetry and its influence, accessible through the website of the department of Classics of the University of Leiden.
The file contains ca.
- 1850 publications on Apollonius Rhodius from the period 1496-2002 (including reviews from ca. 1960, work in progress, forthcoming publications), listed by author/year.
- 262 publications on Apollonius Rhodius from the period 1998-2003 (including reviews).
- Editions, Commentaries, Scholia, Translations
Compiled and maintained by Martijn Cuypers
Editor's Information
The e-texts of the works by Apollonius are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
Antagoras, of Rhodes, a Greek epic poet who flourished about the year B. C. 270.
He was a friend of Antigonus Gonatas and a contemporary of Aratus (Paus. i. 2.3;
Plut. Apophth., Sympos. iv.). He is said to have been very fond of good living,
respecting which Plutarch and Athenaeus (viii.) relate some facetious anecdotes.
Antagoras wrote an epic poem entitled Thebais (Thebais, Vita Arati). This poem
he is said to have read to the Boeotians, to whom it appeared so tedious that
they could not abstain from yawning (Apostol. Proverb. Cent. v. 82; Maxim. Confess.
ii.). He also composed some epigrams of which specimens are still extant. (Diog.
Laert. iv. 26 ; Anthol. Graec. ix. 147.)
Aristodicus, the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology, in one of which he is called a Rhodian, but nothing further is known about him.
Constantinus Rhodius (Konstantinos ho Hpodios), is the author of three epigrams in the Greek Anthology,
the first of which was written, as appears from internal evidence, during the
joint reign of the emperors Leo and Alexander, that is, between A. D. 906 and
911. Reiske supposed him to be the same person as Constantinus Cephalas, who compiled
the Palatine Anthology. The poetry of Constantine himself is barbarous in the
last degree.
Dosiadas, of Rhodes, the author of two enigmatic poems in the Greek Anthology, the verses of which are so arranged that each poem presents the profile of an altar, whence each of them is entitled Dosiada bomos. (Brunck, Anal. i. 412; Jacobs, i. 202.) The language of these poems is justly censured by Lucian. (Lexiph. 25.) Dosiadas is also one of the authors to whom the " Egg of Simmias " is ascribed. The time at which he lived is unknown. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iii. 810-812; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vii., xiii.)
Evodus, (Euodos), the author of two short epigrams in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anai. vol. ii.; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. ii.) Nothing more is known of him, unless he be the same as the epic poet of Rhodes, in the time of Nero, who is mentioned by Suidas (s. v.). There was an Evodus, the tutor of Caligula. (Joseph. Ant. Jud. xviii. 8.)
Athenagoras, a Milesian, was sent by Ptolemy at the head of some mercenary troops to the assistance of the Rhodians, when they were attacked by Demetrius Poliorcetes (B. C. 305), and commanded the guard of the counter-mine which was dug by the Rhodians. Demetrius attempted to bribe him, but he disclosed his overtures to the Rhodians, and enabled them to make prisoner Alexander, an officer of high rank in the service of Demetrius. (Diod. xx. 94.)
C. Decimius, was sent in B. C. 171 as ambassador to Crete to request the Cretans to send auxiliaries for the war against Perseus of Macedonia. In 169 he was praetor peregrinus, and ill the year following he was sent with two others as ambassador to Antiochus and Ptolemy, to bring about a reconciliation between the two kings, and to declare that, whichever of them should continue hostilities, should cease to be treated as the friend and ally of Rome. On that occasion Decimius and his colleagues visited the island of Rhodes at the request of the Rhodians themselves, and on his return to Rome his report was in favour of the Rhodians, in as much as he endeavoured to throw the guilt of their hostility towards Rome upon some individuals only, while he tried to exculpate the body of the people. (Liv. xlii. 35, xliii. 11, 15, xliv. 19, xlv. 10.)
Diognetus, an engineer, who aided the Rhodians in their resistance to Demetrius Poliorcetes. (Vitruv. x. 21)
RHODES (Town) DODEKANISSOS
(Sometimes, of COLOSSUS) Theologian, d. 1440. He was Greek by birth,
and born of schismatic parents. In early youth he had no opportunities for education,
but afterwards devoted himself to Latin and Greek, and to theology, especially
the questions in dispute between the Latin and Greek Churches.
The study of the early Fathers, both Greek and Latin, convinced him
that in the disputed points, truth was on the side of the Latin Church. He therefore
solemnly abjured his error, made a profession of faith, and entered the Dominican
Order about the time of the Western Schism. He led thenceforth an apostolic life.
He was especially earnest in his efforts to induce his fellow-Greeks to follow
in his footsteps and reunite with Rome.
In 1413 he was made Archbishop of Rhodes.
The Dominican biographer, Echard, credits him with having taken an
active part in the twentieth session of the Council of Constance
(1414-18). Others maintain that there is here a confusion with Andrew of Colaczy,
in Hungary. At the Council
of Basle, he delivered an oration in the name of the Pope. He took part in the
Council of Ferrara-Florence,
and was one of the six theologians appointed by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Julian,
to reply to the objections of the Greeks. He proved that it was fully within the
province of the Church to add the Filioque to the Creed, and that the Greek Fathers
had been of the same opinion.
After the close of the Council, trouble arose between the Latins and
Greeks in Cyprus; the latter
accused the former of refusing to hold communion with them. Andrew was sent thither
by Eugene IV, and succeeded in establishing peace. He also succeeded in overcoming
the local forms of the Nestorian, Eutychian, and Monothelite heresies. The heretical
bishops abjured and made a profession of faith at a synod held at Nicosia;
some of the prelates went afterwards to Rome
to renew their profession before the Holy See.
There are preserved in the Vatican manuscript copies of his treatise
on the Divine essence and operation, compliled from the commentaries of St. Tomas
Aquinas, and addressed to Cardinal Bessarion also a little work in the form of
a dialogue in reply to a letter of Mark of Ephesus against the rites and ceremonies
of the Roman Church.
J.L. Finnerty, ed.
Transcribed by: Dawn Felton Francis
This text is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
LINDOS (Ancient city) LINDOS
Chares, of Lindus in Rhodes, a statuary in bronze, was the favourite pupil of
Lysippus, who took the greatest pains with his education, and did not grudge to
initiate him into all the secrets of his art. Chares flourished at the beginning
of the third century B. C. (Anon. ad Herenn. iv. 6; printed among Cicero's rhetorical
works). He was one of the greatest artists of Rhodes, and indeed he may be considered
as the chief founder of the Rhodian school of sculpture. Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. 7.
s. 18) mentions among his works a colossal head, which P. Lentulus (the friend
of Cicero, cos. B. C. 57) brought to Rome and placed in the Capitol, and which
completely threw into the shade another admirable colossal head by Decius which
stood beside it (The apparently unnecessary emendation of Sillig and Thiersch,
improbabilis for probabilis, even if adopted, would not alter the general meaning
of the sentence, at least with reference to Chares).
But the chief work of Chares was the statue of the Sun, which, under
the name of "The Colossus of Rhodes", was celebrated as one of the seven wonders
of the world. Of a hundred colossal statues of the Sun which adorned Rhodes, and
any one of which, according to Pliny, would have made famous the place that might
possess it, this was much the largest. The accounts of its height differ slightly,
but all agree in making it upwards of 105 English feet. Pliny, evidently repeating
the account of some one who had seen the statue after its fall, if he had not
seen it himself, says that few could embrace its thumb; the fingers were larger
than most statues; the hollows within the broken limbs resembled caves; and inside
of it might be seen huge stones, which had been inserted to make it stand firm.
It was twelve years in erecting (B. C. . 292-280), and it cost 300 talents. This
money was obtained by the sale of the engines of war which Demetrius Poliorcetes
presented to the Rhodians after they had compelled him to give up his siege of
their city (B. C. 303). The colossus stood at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes.
There is no authority for the statement that its legs extended over the mouth
of the harbour. It was overthrown and broken to pieces by an earthquake 56 years
after its erection (B. C. 224, Euseb. Chron., and Chron. Pasch. sub Ol. 139. 1;
Polyb. v. 88, who places the earthquake a little later, in B. C. 218). Strabo
(xiv.) says, that an oracle forbade the Rhodians to restore it (See also Philo
Byzant. de VII Orbis Miraculis, c. iv.). The fragments of the colossus remained
on the ground 923 years, till they were sold by Moawiyeh, the general of the caliph
Othman IV., to a Jew of Emesa, who carried them away on 900 camels (A. D. 672).
Hence Scaliger calculated considering the mechanical difficulties both of modelling
and of casting so large a statue, the nicety required to fit together the separate
pieces in which it must necessarily have been cast, and the skill needed to adjust
its proportions, according to the laws of optics, and to adapt the whole style
of the composition to its enormous size, we must assign to Chares a high place
as an inventor in his art.
There are extant Rhodian coins, bearing the head of the Sun surrounded
with rays, probably copied from the statue of Chares or from some of the other
colossal statues of the sun at Rhodes. There are two epigrams on the colossus
in the Greek Anthology.
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
Another passage concerning Chares, written in Rome around 70 B.C. but probably derived from a second-century Hellenistic rhetorician, has been taken by Preisshofen 1970-1 as a manifesto for eclectic neo-classicism:
Do not these schoolmasters, teachers of rhetoric to all the world, see that they are making asses of themselves when they seek to borrow the very thing they offer to bestow on others? . . . Chares did not learn from Lysippus how to make statues by Lysippus showing him a head by Myron, arms by Praxiteles, a torso by Polycleitus, but observed the master making all right in front of him; he could study the works of others, if he wished, on his own initiative. But these writers believe that those who want to learn [rhetoric] can best be taught by the methods of others.
(Auctor ad Herrenium 4.6.9)
This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Feb 2003 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Architect, Sculptor, student of the famous sculptor Lysippos. Mentioned by Polybios,
Plinius, Philon the Byzantian, Stobaios and Strabon.
Work: The Colossus of Rhodes
This bronze statue is a remarkable work combining engineering, architecture and
sculpture and is one of the Seven Wonders of the world. It was dedicated to God
Apollon and weighed 225 ton. The height was equal to 33 m. The construction time
lasted 12 years, from 292 to 280 BCE. A group of almost normal beams, starting
at the feet and ending at the head, were connected to the outside covering (3,5
cm thick) which supported the whole statue. Chares used great volume of earth
which surrounded the statue. He began the construction from the lowest point going
upwards. After finishing the statue he removed the beams and the earth masses.
The total cost of the work amounted to 300 talents. Parts of the descriptions
of Philon Byzantios, Plinius and Strabon still exist today. Polybios mentions
that Plolaemeos promised the Rhodians to spend 3.000 talents for the re-erection,
but it never took place. Strabon justifies the "non reerection" by the
existence of an adverse oracle. The statue was broken at the knees and destroyed
by an earthquake in the year 220 BCE. The year 654 ACE it was sold to a Jewish
merchant who used 900 camels to remove it, according to the Byzantine Chonicler
Kedrenos (" A composition of Stories" - 11th cent. ACE ).
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Feb 2003 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Agesander, a sculptor, a native of the island of Rhodes. His name occurs in no author except Pliny (H. N. xxxvi. 5. s. 4), and we know but of one work which he executed; it is a work however which bears the most decisive testimony to his surpassing genius. In conjunction with Polydorus and Athenodorus he sculptured the group of Laocoon, a work which is ranked by all competent judges among the most perfect specimens of art, especially on account of the admirable manner in which amidst the intense suffering portrayed in every feature, limb, and muscle, there is still preserved that air of sublime repose, which characterised the best productions of Grecian genius. This celebrated group was discovered in the year 1506, near the baths of Titus on the Esquiline hill : it is now preserved in the museum of the Vatican. Pliny does not hesitate to pronounce it superior to all other works both of statuary and painting. A great deal has been written respecting the age when Agesander flourished, and various opinions have been held on the subject. Winckelmann and Muller, forming their judgment from the style of art displayed in [p. 69] the work itself, assign it to the age of Lysippus. Miller thinks the intensity of suffering depicted, and the somewhat theatrical air which pervades the group, shews that it belongs to a later age than that of Phidias. Lessing and Thiersch on the other hand, after subjecting the passage of Pliny to an accurate examination, have come to the conclusion, that Agesander and the other two artists lived in the reign of Titus, and sculptured the group expressly for that emperor ; and this opinion is pretty generally acquiesced in. In addition to many other reasons that might be mentioned, if space permitted, if the Laocoon had been a work of antiquity, we can hardly understand how Pliny should have ranked it above all the works of Phidias, Polycletus, Praxiteles, and Lysippus. But we can account for his exaggerated praise, if the group was modern and the admiration excited by its execution in Rome still fresh. Thiersch has written a great deal to shew that the plastic art did not decline so early as is generally supposed, but continued to flourish in full vigour from the time of Phidias uninterruptedly down to the reign of Titus. Pliny was deceived in saying that the group was sculptured out of one block, as the lapse of time has discovered a join in it. It appears from an inscription on the pedestal of a statue found at Nettuno (the ancient Antium) that Athenodorus was the son of Agesander. This makes it not unlikely that Polydorus also was his son, and that the father executed the figure of Laocoon himself, his two sons the remaining two figures.
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
Athenodorus, a sculptor, the son and pupil of Agesander of Rhodes, whom he assisted in executing the group of Laocoon.
Asinius Pollio, an ardent enthusiast, naturally wanted his art collection to be seen. In it are the Centaurs carrying Nymphs by Arcesilaus, the Heliconian Muses of Cleomenes, the Oceanus and Jupiter of Heniochus, the Appian Nymphs by Stephanus, the Hermerotes by Tauriscus (not the well-known engraver but the native of Tralles), the Jupiter Hospitalis by Papylus, Praxiteles' pupil, and the group by Apollonius and Tauriscus that was brought from Rhodes: Zethus and Amphion, along with Dirce, the bull, and the rope, all carved from one block. These two artists started a dispute about their parentage, alleging that though Menecrates appeared to be their father, their real father was Artemidorus. In the same collection there is a praiseworthy Liber Pater [Bacchus] by Eutychides. Pliny, N.H.36.33-4
This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Feb 2003 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
In this temple (the first temple of Apollo in Rome, in the campus Martius) were some famous works of art, brought probably for the most part to Rome by C. Sosius-paintings by Aristides of Thebes(Plin. NH xxxv. 99), several statues by Philiscus of Rhodes (ib. xxxvi. 34). . .
By the Porticus Octaviae an Apollo made by the Rhodian Philiscus stands in his
own shrine, together with a Leto, a Diana, the nine Muses, and another, nude Apollo.
Timarchides made Apollo who holds a cithara in the same temple, and in the temple
of Juno that stands with the Porticus the goddess herself, while Dionysius and
Polycles made another, Philiscus the Venus in the same place, and Praxiteles [or
Pasiteles] the rest of the statues. The same Polycles and Dionysus, the sons of
Timarchides, made the Jupiter in the shrine next door. . . Pliny, N.H. 36.34-35 This extract is from: Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works. Cited Feb 2003 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains extracts from the ancient literature, bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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