Listed 97 sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "VIOTIA Prefecture GREECE" .
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Lysimachus. A comic poet, mentioned by Lucian, who ridicules him for the absurd pedantry with which, though born in Boeotia, he affected to carry the Attic use of T for S to an extreme, using not only such words as tettarakonta, temeron, kattiteron, kattuma and pittan, but even basilittaa. (Lucian, Jud. Vocal.) Nothing more is known of this Lysimachus, and possibly the name is fictitious.
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Phryne (Phrune), one of the most celebrated Athenian hetairae, was the daughter
of Epicles, and a native of Thespiae in Boeotia. She was of very humble origin,
and originally gained her livelihood by gathering capers; but her beauty procured
for her afterwards so much wealth that she is said to have offered to rebuild
the walls of Thebes, after they had been destroyed by Alexander, if she might
be allowed to put up this inscription on the walls : "Alexander destroyed them,
but Phryne, the hetaira, rebuilt them." She had among her admirers many of the
most celebrated men of the age of Philip and Alexander, and the beauty of her
form gave rise to some of the greatest works of art. The orator Hyperides was
one of her lovers, and he defended her when she was accused by Euthias on one
occasion of some capital charge; but when the eloquence of her advocate failed
to move the judges, he bade her uncover her breast, and thus ensured her acquittal.
The most celebrated picture of Apelles, his "Venus Anadyomene", is said to have
been a representation of Phryne, who, at a public festival at Eleusis, entered
the sea with dishevelled hair. The celebrated Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles, who
was one of her lovers, was taken from her, and he expressed his love for her in
an epigram which he inscribed on the base of a statue of Cupid, which he gave
to her, and which she dedicated at Thespiae. Such admiration did she excite, that
her neighbours dedicated at Delphi a statue of her, made of gold, and resting
on a base of Pentelican marble. According to Apollodorus (ap. Athen. xiii. p.
591, e.) there were two hetairae of the name of Phryne, one of whom was surnamed
Clausilegos and the other Saperdium; and according to Herodicus (Ibid.) there
were also two, one the Thespian, and the other surnamed Sestus. The Thespian Phryne,
however, is the only one of whom we have any account. (Athen. xiii. pp. 590, 591,
558, c. 567, e, 583, b. c. 585, e. f.; Aelian, V. H. 32 ; Alciphron, Ep. i. 31;
Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 10; Propert. ii. 5; Jacobs, Att. Alus. vol. iii.
pp. 18,36)
Phryne. A celebrated Athenian courtesan, born at Thespis in Boeotia. She flourished in the times of Philip and Alexander the Great, and was the mistress of some of the most distinguished men of the day. She became so wealthy that she is said to have offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, when destroyed by Alexande:--an offer which was rejected. The famous painting of Apelles, entitled "Aphrodite Anadyomene", or Aphrodite rising from the sea, is said to have had Phryne for its model. Praxiteles, the sculptor, who was another of her lovers, used her as a model for his "Cnidian Aphrodite". At one time she was accused of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries, and was brought before the court of the Heliasts; but her advocate, Hyperides, threw off her veil, and exposed her breasts to the judges, who at once acquitted her amid the applause of the people, by whom she was carried in triumph to the temple of Aphrodite.
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
Phryne (Phrune), one of the most celebrated Athenian hetairae, was the daughter of Epicles, and a native of Thespiae in Boeotia. She was of very humble origin, and originally gained her livelihood by gathering capers; but her beauty procured for her afterwards so much wealth that she is said to have offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, after they had been destroyed by Alexander, if she might be allowed to put up this inscription on the walls : "Alexander destroyed them, but Phryne, the hetaira, rebuilt them". She had among her admirers many of the most celebrated men of the age of Philip and Alexander, and the beauty of her form gave rise to some of the greatest works of art. The orator Hyperides was one of her lovers, and he defended her when she was accused by Euthias on one occasion of some capital charge; but when the eloquence of her advocate failed to move the judges, he bade her uncover her breast, and thus ensured her acquittal. The most celebrated picture of Apelles, his "Venus Anadyomene", is said to have been a representation of Phryne, who, at a public festival at Eleusis, entered the sea with dishevelled hair. The celebrated Cnidian Venus of Praxiteles, who was one of her lovers, was taken from her, and he expressed his love for her in an epigram which he inscribed on the base of a statue of Cupid, which he gave to her, and which she dedicated at Thespiae. Such admiration did she excite, that her neighbours dedicated at Delphi a statue of her, made of gold, and resting on a base of Pentelican marble. According to Apollodorus (ap. Athen. xiii.) there were two hetairae of the name of Phryne, one of whom was surnamed Clausilegos and the other Saperdium; and according to Herodicus (Ibid.) there were also two, one the Thespian, and the other surnamed Sestus. The Thespian Phryne, however, is the only one of whom we have any account. (Athen. xiii.; Aelian, V. H. 32 ; Alciphron, Ep. i. 31; Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19.10; Propert. ii. 5)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AKREFNION (Ancient city) THIVES
420 - 362
A Theban statesman and soldier, son of Polymnis, and in whose praise, for both
talents and rectitude, there is a remarkable concurrence of ancient writers. Nepos
observes that before Epaminondas was born and after his death Thebes was always
in subjection to some other power; while he directed her councils she was at the
head of Greece. His public life extends from the restoration of democracy by Pelopidas
and the other exiles, B.C. 379, to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 362. In the conspiracy
by which that revolution was effected he took no part, but thenceforward he became
the prime mover of the Theban State. His policy was first directed to assert the
right and to secure the power to Thebes of controlling the other cities of Boeotia,
several of which claimed to be independent. In this cause he ventured to engage
his country, single-handed, in war with the Spartans, who marched into Boeotia,
B.C. 371, with a force superior to any which could be brought against them. The
Theban generals were divided in opinion whether a battle should be risked, for
to encounter the Lacedaemonians with inferior numbers was universally esteemed
hopeless. Epaminondas prevailed upon his colleagues to venture it, and devised
on this occasion a new method of attack. Instead of joining battle along the whole
line he concentrated an overwhelming force on one point, directing the weaker
part of his line to keep back. The Spartan right being broken and their king slain,
the rest of the army found it necessary to abandon the field. This memorable battle
was fought at Leuctra (B.C. 371). The moral effect of it was much more important
than the mere loss inflicted upon Sparta, for it overthrew the prescriptive superiority
in arms claimed by that State ever since its reformation by Lycurgus.
This brilliant success led Epaminondas to the second object of his policy, the
overthrow of the supremacy of Sparta and the substitution of Thebes as the leader
of Greece in the democratic interest. In this hope a Theban army, under his command,
marched into the Peloponnesus early in the winter, B.C. 369, and, in conjunction
with the Eleans, Arcadians, and Argives, invaded and laid waste a large part of
Laconia. Numbers of the Helots took that opportunity to shake off a most oppressive
slavery; and Epaminondas struck a deadly blow at the power of Sparta by establishing
these descendants of the old Messenians on Mount Ithome in Messenia, as an independent
State, and inviting their countrymen, scattered through Italy and Sicily, to return
to their ancient patrimony. Numbers obeyed the call. This memorable event is known
in history as the return of the Messenians, and two hundred years had elapsed
since their expulsion. In B.C. 368, Epaminondas again led an army into the Peloponnesus;
but, not fulfilling the expectations of the people, he was disgraced and, according
to Diodorus, was ordered to serve in the ranks: In that capacity he is said to
have saved the army in Thessaly when entangled in dangers which threatened it
with destruction, being required by the general voice to assume the command. He
is not again heard of in a public capacity till B.C. 366, when he was sent to
support the democratic interest in Achaia, and by his moderation and judgment
brought that whole confederation over to the Theban alliance without bloodshed
or banishment. It soon became plain, however, that a mere change of masters--Thebes
instead of Sparta--would be of no service to the Grecian States. Achaia first,
then Elis, then Mantinea and a great part of Arcadia, returned to the Lacedaemonian
alliance. To check this defection, Epaminondas led an army into the Peloponnesus
for the fourth time, in B.C. 362. Joined by the Argives, Messenians, and part
of the Arcadians, he entered Laconia and endeavoured to take Sparta by surprise;
but the vigilance of Agesilaus just frustrated his scheme. Epaminondas then marched
against Mantinea, near which was fought the celebrated battle in which he fell.
The disposition of his troops on this occasion was an improvement on that by which
he had gained the battle of Leuctra, and would have had the same decisive success,
but that, in the critical moment, when the Lacedaemonian line was just broken,
he received a mortal wound, said to have been inflicted by Gryllus, the son of
Xenophon. The Theban army was paralyzed by this misfortune; nothing was done to
profit by a victory which might have been made certain; and this battle, on which
the expectation of all Greece waited, led to no important result.
Whether Epaminondas could much longer have upheld Thebes in the rank to which
he had raised her is very doubtful; without him she fell at once to her former
obscurity. His character is certainly one of the noblest recorded in Greek history.
His private life was moral and refined, his public conduct uninfluenced by personal
ambition or by personal hatred. He was a sincere lover of his country; and if,
in his schemes for her advancement, he was indifferent to the injury done to other
members of the Grecian family, this is a fault from which, perhaps, no Greek statesman
except Aristides was free.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Epaminondas, (Epameinondas), the Theban general and statesman, son of Polymnis,
was born and reared in poverty, though his blood was noble. In his early years
he is said to have enjoyed the instructions of Lysis of Tarentum, the Pythagorean,
and we seem to trace the practical influence of this philosophy in several passages
of his later life. (Plut. Pelop. 3, de Gen. Soc. 8, &c.; Ael. V. H. ii. 43, iii.
17, v. 5, xii. 43; Paus. iv. 31, viii. 52, ix. 13; C. Nep. Epam. 1, 2; comp. Fabric.
Bibl. Graec. vol. i., and the works of Dodwell and Bentley there referred to.)
His close and enduring friendship with Pelopidas, unbroken as it was through a
long series of years, and amidst all the military and civil offices which they
held together, strikingly illustrates the tendency which contrast of character
has to cement attachments, when they have for their foundation some essential
point of similarity and sympathy. According to some, their friendship originated
in the campaign in which they served together on the Spartan side against Mantineia,
where Pelopidas having fallen in a battle, apparently dead, Epaminondas protected
his body at the imminent risk of his own life, B. C. 385. (Plut. Pelop. 4; Xen.
Hell. v. 2.1, &c.; Diod. xv. 5, 12; Paus. viii. 8.) When the Theban patriots engaged
in their enterprise for the recovery of the Cadmeia, in B. C. 379, Epaminondas
held aloof from it at first, from a fear, traceable to his Pythagorean religion,
lest innocent blood should be shed in the tumult. To the object of the attempt,
however,--the delivers of Thebes from Spartan domination,--he was of course favourable.
He had studiously exerted himself already to raise the spirit and confidence of
the Theban youths, urging them to match themselves in gymnastic exercises with
the Lacedaemonians of the citadel, and rebuking them, when successful in these,
for the tameness of their submission to the invaders ; and, when the first step
in the enterprise had been taken, ard Archias and Leontiades were slain, he came
forward and took part decisively with Pelopidas and his confederates. (Plut. Pelop.
5, 12, de Gen. Soc. 3; Polyaen. ii. 2; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 2, &c.) In B. C. 371,
when the Athenian envoys went to Sparta to negotiate peace, Epaminondas also came
thither, as an ambassador, to look after the interests of Thebes, and highly distinguished
himself by his eloquence and ready wit in the debate which ensued on the question
whether Thebes should be allowed to ratify the treaty in the name of all Boeotia,
thus obtaining a recognition of her claim to supremacy over the Boeotian towns.
This being refused by the Spartans, the Thebans were excluded from the treaty
altogether, and Cleombrotus was sent to invade Bocotia. The result was the battle
of Leuctra, so fatal to the Lacedaemonians, in which the success of Thebes is
said to have been owing mainly to the tactics of Epaminondas. He it was, indeed,
who most strongly urged the giving battle, while he employed all the means in
his power to raise the courage of his countrymen, not excluding even omens and
oracles, for which, when unfavourable, he had but recently expressed his contempt.
(Xen. Hell. vi. 3.18-20, 4.1-15; Diod. xv. 33, 51-56; Plut. Ages. 27, 28, Pelop.
20-23, Cam. 19, Reg. et Imp. Apoph., ed. Tauchn., De seips. cit. inv. land. 16,
De San. Tuend. Prace. 23; Paus. viii. 27, ix. 13; Polyaen. ii. 2; C. Nep. Epam.
6; Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 46, de Off. i. 24; Suid. s. v. Epaminondas.) The project
of Lycomedes for the founding of Megalopolis and the union of Arcadia was vigorously
encouraged and forwarded by Epaminondas, B. C. 370, as a barrier against Spartan
dominion, though we need not suppose with Pausanias that the plan originated with
him. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5.6, &c.; Paus. viii. 27, ix. 14; Diod. xv. 59; Aristot.
Polit. ii. 2, ed. Bekk.) In the next year, B. C. 369, the first invasion of the
Peloponnesus by the Thebans took place, and when the rest of their generals were
anxious to return home, as the term of their command was drawing to a close, Epaminondas
and Pelopidas persuaded them to remain and to advance against Sparta. The country
was ravaged as far as the coast, and the city itself, thrown into the utmost consternation
by the unprecedented sight of an enemy's fires, and endangered also by treachery
within, was saved only by the calm firmness and the wisdom of Agesilaus. Epaminondas,
however, did not leave the Peloponnesus before he had inflicted a most serious
blow on Sparta, and planted a permanent thorn in her side by the restoration of
the Messenians to their country and the establishment of a new city, named Messene,
on the site of the ancient Ithome,--a work which was carried into effect with
the utmost solemnity, and, as Epaminondas wished to have it believed, not without
the special interposition of gods and heroes. Meanwhile the Lacedaemtonians had
applied successfully for aid to Athens; but the Athenian general, Iphicrates,
seems to have acted on this occasion with less than his usual energy and ability,
and the Theban army made its way back in safety through an unguarded pass of the
Isthmus. Pausanias tells us that Epaminondas advanced to the walls of Athens,
and that Iphicrates restrained his countrymen from marching out against him; but
the several accounts of these movements are by no means clear. (Xen. Hell. vi.
5.22, &c., 33-52. vii. 1.27; Arist. Polit. ii. 9, ed. Bekk.; Plut. Pel. 24, Ages.
31-34 ; Diod. xv. 62-67; Paus. iv. 26, 27, ix. 14 ; Polyb. iv. 33; C. Nep. Iph.
21.) On their return home Epaminondas and Pelopidas were impeached by their enemies
on a capital charge of having retained their command beyond the legal term. The
fact itself was true enough, but they were both honourably acquitted, Epaminondas
having expressed his willingness to die if the Thebans would record that he had
been put to death because he had humbled Sparta and taught his countrymen to face
and to conquer her armies. Against his accusers he was philosophical and magnanimous
enough, unlike Pelopidas, to take no measures of retaliation. (Plut. Pelop. 25,
De seips. cit. inv. laud. 4, Reg. et Imp. Apoph., ed. Tauchn. ; Paus. ix. 14;
Ael. V. H. xiii. 42; C. Nep. Epam. 7, 8.)
In the spring of 368 he again led a Theban army into the Peloponnesus,
and having been vainly opposed at the Isthmus by the forces of Sparta and her
allies, including Athens, he advanced against Sicyon and Pellene, and obliged
them to relinquish their alliance with the Lacedaemonians; but on his return,
he was repulsed by Chabrias in an attack which he made on Corinth. It seems doubtful
whether his early departure home was owing to the rising jealousy of the Arcadians
towards Thebes, or to the arrival of a force, chiefly of Celts and Iberians, sent
by Dionysius I. to the aid of the Spartans. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1.15-22; Diod. xv.
68-70; Paus. ix. 15.) In the same year we find him serving, but not as general,
in the Theban army which was sent into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas from Alexander
of Pherae, and which Diodorus tells us was saved from utter destruction only by
the ability of Epaminondas. According to the same author, he held no command in
the expedition in question because the Thebans thought he had not pursued as vigorously
as he might his advantage over the Spartans at the Isthmus in the last campaign.
The disaster in Thessaly, however, proved to Thebes his value, and in the next
year (367) he was sent at the head of another force to release Pelopidas, and
accomplished his object, according to Plutarch, without even striking a blow,
and by the mere prestige of his name. (Diod. xv. 71, 72, 75; Plut. Pelop. 28,
29.) It would appear--and if so, it is a noble testimony to his virtue--that the
Thebans took advantage of his absence on this expedition to destroy their old
rival Orchomenus,--a design which they had formed immediately after their victory
at Leuctra, and which had been then prevented only by his remonstrances. Diod.
xv. 57, 79; Paus ix. 15; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v.) In the spring of 366 he
invaded the Peloponnesus for the third time, with the view chiefly of strengthening
the influence of Thebes in Achaia, and so indirectly with the Arcadians as well,
who sere now more than half alienated from their former ally. Having obtained
assurances of fidelity from the chief men in the several states, he did not deem
it necessary to put down the oligarchical governments which had been established
under Spartan protection ; but the Arcadians made this moderation a ground of
complaint against him to the Thebans, and the latter then sent harmosts to the
different Achaean cities, and set up democracy in all of them, which, however,
was soon overthrown every-where by a counter-revolution. (Xen. Hell. vii. 1.41-43;
Diod. xv. 75.) In B. C. 363, when the oligarchical party in Arcadia had succeeded
in bringing about a treaty of peace with Elis, the Theban officer in command at
Tegea at first joined in the ratification of it; but afterwards, at the instigation
of the chiefs of the democratic party, he ordered the gates of Tegea to be closed,
and arrested many of the higher class. The Mantineians protested strongly against
this act of violence, and prepared to resent it, and the Theban then released
the prisoners, and apologized for his conduct. The Mantineians, however, sent
to Thebes to demand that he should be capitally punished; but Epaminondas defended
his conduct, saying, that he had acted more properly in arresting the prisoners
than in releasing them, and expressed a determination of entering the Peloponnesus
to carry on the war in conjunction with those Arcadians who still sided with Thebes.
(Xen. Hell. vii. 4.12-40.) The alarm caused by this answer as symptomatic of an
overbearing spirit of aggression on the part of Thebes, withdrew from her most
of the Peloponnesians, though Argos, Messenia, Tegea, and Megalopolis still retained
their connexion with her. It was then against formidable coalition of states,
including Athens and Sparta, that Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnesus, for the
fourth time, in B. C. 362. The difficulties of his situation were great, but his
energy and genius were fully equal to the crisis, and perhaps at no period of
his life were they so remarkably displayed as at its glorious close. Advancing
to Tegea, he took up his quarters there; but the time for which he held his command
was drawing to an end, and it was necessary for the credit and interest of Thebes
that the expedition should not be ineffectual. When then he ascertained that Agesilaus
was on his march against him, he set out from Tegtea in the evening, and marched
straight on Sparta, hoping to find it undefended; but Agesilaus received intelligence
of his design, and hastened back before his arrival, and the attempt of the Thebans
on the city was baffled. They returned accordingly to Tegea, and thence marched
on to Mantineia, whither their cavalry had preceded them. In the battle which
ensued at this place, and in which the peculiar tactics of Epaminondas were brilliantly
and successfully displayed, he himself, in the full career of victory, received
a mortal wound, and was borne away from the throng. He was told that his death
would follow directly on the javelin being extracted from the wound; but he would
not allow this to be done till he had been assured that his shield was safe, and
that the victory was with his countrymen. It was a disputed point by whose hand
he fell : among others, the honour was assigned to Gryllus, the son of Xenophon.
He was buried where he died, and his tomb was surmounted by a column, on which
a shield was suspended, emblazoned with the device of a dragon--symbolical (says
Pausanias) of his descent from the blood of the Spartoi, the children of the dragon's
teeth. (Xen. Hell. vii. 5 ; Isocr. Ep. ad Arch. § 5; Diod. xv. 82-87; Plut. Ages.
34, 35, Apoph. 24; Paus. viii. 11, ix. 15 ; Just. vi. 7, 8; Cic. ad Fam. v. 12,
de Fin. ii. 30 ; Suid. s. v. Epaminondas; C. Nep. Epam. 9; Polyb. iv. 33.) The
circumstances of ancient Greece supplied little or no scope for any but the narrowest
patriotism, and this evil is perhaps never more apparent than when we think of
it in connexion with the noble mind of one like Epaminondas. We do indeed find
him rising above it, as, for instance, in his preservation of Orchomenus; but
this was in spite of the system under which he lived, and which, while it checked
throughout the full expansion of his character, sometimes (as in his vindication
of the outrage at Tegea) seduced him into positive injustice. At the best, amidst
all our admiration of his genius and his many splendid qualities, we cannot forget
that they were directed, after all, to the one petty object of the aggrandizement
of Thebes. In the ordinary characters of Grecian history we look for no more than
this ;--it comes before us painfully in the case of Epaminondas. (Ael. V. H. vii.
14; Cic. de Orat. iii. 34, de Fin. ii. 19, Brut. 13, Tusc. Disp,. i. 2; Polyb.
vi. 43, ix. 8, xxxii. 8, Fragm. Hist. 15; C. Nep. Epam. 10; Aesch. de Fals. Leg.)
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
Epaminondas : Various WebPages
Born in Thebes, Epaminondas is known as a great tactic, general and
statesman.
He was a very severe person and did not stand any kind of lies, not
even in jokes. As a young man he had trained himself in ascetic ways, and had
studied music and philosophy according to Pythagoras.
After the liberation of Thebes from the Spartans, Epaminondas was
elected representative at the peace meeting in Sparta.
He had no success there, and left the meeting after an argument with the Spartan
king Agesilaus.
As a military leader, Epaminondas invented the ingenious strategy
of putting the emphasis of the phalanx to the left, as well as making it attack
sideways instead of straight on, which made the enemy's left held shields weak.
He defeated the Spartans at Leuctra, which gave Thebes a leading position among
the Greek city-states. He also liberated Messenia from the Spartans, and founded
Megalopolis as capital of the Arcadian Laegue. These victories were to end Spartas
leading role.
On his return to Thebes, Epaminondas was charged and sentenced to
death for having kept his high office for much longer than the given month. The
sentence was soon revoked though, after Epamindondas had held a speech about how
he had saved Thebes. Epaminondas died during a campaign against the Spartan League,
hit by a spear. Dying he asked the Thebans to ask for peace with the enemies,
which happened, forever crushing Thebes' aspirations of becoming the leading state
of Greece.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
AMVROSSOS (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Perseus Encyclopedia
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Arimnestus (Arimnestos), the commander of the Plataeans at the battles of Marathon and Plataea. (Paus. ix. 4.1; Herod. ix. 72; Plut. Arist. c. 11). The Spartan who killed Mardonius is called by Plutarch Arimnestus, but by Herodotus Aeimestus.
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
commanding Thespian force at Thermopylae.
While the Peloponnesians and their allies in Attica were engaged in the work of fortification, their countrymen at home sent off, at about the same time, the heavy infantry in the merchant vessels to Sicily; the Lacedaemonians furnishing a picked force of Helots and Neodamodes ‘or freedmen), six hundred heavy infantry in all, under the command of Eccritus, a Spartan; and the Boeotians three hundred heavy infantry, commanded by two Thebans, Xenon and Nicon, and by Hegesander, a Thespian.
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
410 - 364
A Theban general and statesman, son of Hippoclus. He was descended from a noble
family, and inherited a large estate, of which he made a liberal use. He lived
always in the closest friendship with Epaminondas, to whose simple frugality,
as he could not persuade him to share his riches, he is said to have conformed
his own mode of life. He took a leading part in expelling the Spartans from Thebes,
B.C. 379; and from this time until his death there was not a year in which he
was not intrusted with some important command. In 371 he was one of the Theban
commanders at the battle of Leuctra, so fatal to the Lacedaemonians, and joined
Epaminondas in urging the expediency of immediate action. In 369 he was also one
of the generals in the first invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Thebans. In 368
Pelopidas was sent again into Thessaly, on two separate occasions, in consequence
of complaints against Alexander of Pherae. On his first expedition Alexander of
Pherae sought safety in flight, and Pelopidas advanced into Macedonia to arbitrate
between Alexander II. and Ptolemy of Alorus. Among the hostages whom he took with
him from Macedonia was the famous Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. On
his second visit to Thessaly, Pelopidas went simply as an ambassador, not expecting
any opposition, and unprovided with a military force. He was seized by Alexander
of Pherae, and was kept in confinement at Pherae till his liberation in 367 by
a Theban force under Epaminondas. In the same year in which he was released he
was sent as ambassador to Susa to counteract the Lacedaemonian and Athenian negotiations
at the Persian court. In 364 the Thessalian towns again applied to Thebes for
protection against Alexander, and Pelopidas was appointed to aid them. His forces,
however, were dismayed by an eclipse of the sun (June 13), and, therefore, leaving
them behind, he took with him into Thessaly only three hundred horse. On his arrival
at Pharsalus he collected a force which he deemed sufficient, and marched against
Alexander, treating lightly the great disparity of numbers, and remarking that
it was better as it was, since there would be more for him to conquer. At Cynoscephalae
a battle ensued, in which Pelopidas drove the enemy from their ground, but he
himself was slain as, burning with resentment, he pressed rashly forward to attack
Alexander in person. The Thebans and Thessalians made great lamentations for his
death, and the latter, having earnestly requested leave to bury him, celebrated
his funeral with extraordinary splendour.
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410 - 364
Saved in battle by Epaminondas, imprisoned by Alexander in Thessaly, rescued by Epaminondas.
Pelopidas: Perseus Project index.
Lives, by Plutarch: Pelopidas
General from Thebes, who was exiled by the oligarchic party, only
to return after some time in Athens,
taking over the citadel and establishing a democracy.
Dressed as farmers, Pelopidas and his men managed to get into Thebes
without being recognized and then, at a friends' house, disguised themselves as
female dancers, performing for the leading aristocrats. When the leaders were
drunk, Pelopidas and his party took out their daggers and slayed the aristocrats.
Pelopidas led the Sacred Band of Theban Youth, an important factor
in the Theban general Epaminondas' victory over the Spartans at Leuctra
in 371 BC.
Three years later Pelopidas was taken prisoner by the Thessalian tyrant
Alexander of Pherae after
an unsuccsessful expedition, and Epaminondas came to his rescue, releasing him
from the tyrant. After this, Pelopidas served as Theban ambassador in Susa,
Persia.
He defeated Alexander of Pherae
at the Battle of Cynoscephalae,
but was killed in action.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Pelopidas: Various WebPages
Theban general, defeated by Cleombrotus.
Coeratadas (Koiratadas), a Theban, commanded some Boeotian forces under Clearchus, the Spartan harmost at Byzantium, when that place was besieged by the Athenians in B. C. 408. When Clearchus crossed over to Asia to obtain money from Pharnabazus, and to collect forces, he left the command of the garrison to Helixus, a Megarian, and Coeratadas, who were soon after compelled to surrender themselves as prisoners when certain parties within the town had opened the gates to Alcibiades. They were sent to Athens, but during the disembarkation at the Peiraeeus, Coeratadas contrived to escape in the crowd, and made his way in safety to Deceleia (Xen. Hell. i. 3.15-22; Diod. xiii. 67; Plut. Alc. 31). In B. C. 400, when the Cyrean Greeks had arrived at Byzantium, Coeratadas, who was going about in search of employment as a general, prevailed on them to choose him as their commander, promising to lead them into Thrace on an expedition of much profit, and to supply them plentifully with provisions. It was however almost immediately discovered that he had no means of supporting them for even a single day, and he was obliged accordingly to relinquish his command. (Xen. Anab. vii. 1.33-41)
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
Eurymachus, (Eurumachos), grandson of another Eurymachus and son of Leontiades, the Theban commander at Thermopylae, who led his men over to Xerxes. Herodotus in his account of the father's conduct relates, that the son in after time was killed by the Plataeans, when at the head of four hundred men and occupying their city. (Herod. vii. 233.) This is, no doubt, the same event which Thucydides (ii. 1-7) records as the first overt act of the Peloponnesian war, B. C. 431. The number of men was by his account only a little more than three hundred, nor was Eurymachus the actual commander, but the enterprise had been negotiated by parties in Plataea through him, and the conduct of it would therefore no doubt be entrusted very much to him. The family was clearly one of the great aristocratical houses. Thucydides (ii. 2) calls Eurymachus "a man of the greatest power in Thebes."
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Ismenias, a Theban, of the party adverse to Rome and friendly to Macedonia. When he was chosen Boeotarch, a considerable number of the opposite faction were driven into exile, and condemned to death by him in their absence. These men met, at Larissa in Thessaly, the Roman commissioners, who were sent into Greece in B. C. 171, preparatory to the war with Perseus; and on being upbraided with the alliance which Boeotia had made with the Macedonians, they threw the whole blame on Ismenias. Shortly after they appeared before the commissioners at Chalcis; and here Ismenias also presented himself, and proposed that the Boeotian nation should collectively submit to Rome. This proposal, however, did not at all suit Q. Marcius and his colleagues, whose object was to divide the Boeotian towns, and dissolve their confederacy. They therefore treated Ismenias with great contumely; and his enemies being thereby emboldened to attack him, he narrowly escaped death by taking refuge at the Roman tribunal. Meanwhile, the Roman party entirely prevailed at Thebes, and sent an embassy to the Romans at Chalcis, to surrender their city, and to recal the exiles. Ismenias was thrown into prison, and, after some time, was put to death, or (as we may perhaps understand the words of Polybius) committed suicide. (Liv. xlii. 38, 43, 44; Polyb. xxvii. 1, 2.)
Lacrates (Lakrates).A general sent out by the Thebans, at the head of 1000 heavyarmed troops, to assist Artaxerxes Ochus in his invasion of Egypt, B. C. 350. He commanded that division of the royal forces sent against Pelusium. (Diod. xvi. 44, 49).
Leontiades, a Theban, of noble family, commanded at Thermopylae the forces supplied by Thebes to the Grecian army. (Herod. vii. 205; comp. Diod. xi. 4.) They came unwillingly, according to Herodotus, and therefore were retained by Leonidas, rather as hostages than allies, when he sent away the main body of the Greeks (Herod. vii. 220-222; but see Plut. de Herod. Mal 31; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. ii. p. 287.). In the battle -a hopeless one for the Greeks- which was fought after the Persians had been conducted over Callidromus, Leontiades and the force under his command surrendered to the enemy and obtained quarter. Herodotus tells us, however, that some of them were nevertheless slain by the barbarians, and that most of the remainder, including Leontiades, were branded as slaves by the order of Xerxes (Herod. vii. 233). Plutarch contradicts this (de Herod. Mal. 33), -if, indeed, the treatise be his,- and also says that Anaxander, and not Leontiades, commanded the Thebans at Thermopylae.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Leontiades, son of Eurymachus. and grandson, apparently, of the above, was one of the polemarchs at Thebes, in B. C. 382, when the Spartan commander, Phoebidas, stopped there on his way against Olynthus. Unlike Ismenias, his democratic colleague, Leontiades courted Phoebidas from the period of his arrival, and, together with Archias and Philip, the other chiefs of the oligarchical party, instigated him to seize the Cadmeia with their aid. This enterprise having been effected on a day when the women were keeping the Thesmophoria in the citadel, and the council therefore sat in or near the agora, Leontiades proceeded to the council and announced what had taken place, with an assurance that no violence was intended to such as remained quiet. Then, asserting that his office of polemarch gave him power to apprehend any one under suspicion of a capital offence, he caused Ismenias to be seized and thrown into prison. Archias was forthwith appointed to the office thus vacated, and Leontiades went to Sparta and persuaded the Lacedaemonians to sanction what had been done. Accordingly, they sent commissioners to Thebes, who condemned Ismenias to death, and fully established Leontiades and his faction in the government under the protection of the Spartan garrison (Xen. Hell. v. ii. 25-36; Diod. xv. 20; Plut. Ages. 23, Pelop. 5, de Gen. Soc. 2). In this position, exposed to the hostility and machinations of some 400 democratic exiles, who had taken refuge at Athens (Xen. Hell. v. 2.31), Leontiades, watchful, cautious, and energetic, presented a marked contrast to Archias, his voluptuous colleague, whose reckless and insolent profligacy he discountenanced, as tending obviously to the overthrow of their joint power. His unscrupulousness, at the same time, was at least equal to his other qualifications for a party-leader; for we find him sending emissaries to Athens to remove the chief of the exiles by assassination, though Androcleidas was the only one who fell a victim to the plot. In B. C. 379, when the refugees, associated with Pelopidas, had entered on their enterprise for the deliverance of Thebes, Pelopidas himself, with Cephisodorus, Damocleidas, and Phyllidas, went to the house of Leontiades, while Mellon and others were dealing with Archias. The house was closed for the night, and it was with some difficulty that the conspirators gained admittance. Leontiades met them at the door of his chamber, and killed Cephisodorus, who was the first that entered; but, after an obstinate struggle, he was himself despatched by Pelopidas (Xen. Hell. v. 4. 1-7; Plut. Pel. 6, 11, Ages. 24, de Gen. Soc. 4, 6, 31; Diod. xv. 25). It may be remarked that Plutarch calls him, throughout, Leontidas (Schn. ad Xen. Hell. v. 2.25).
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PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Daemachus or Deimachus (Daimachos or Deimachos), of Plataeae, a Greek historian, whose age
is determined by the fact, that he was sent as ambassador to Allitrochades, the
son of Androcottus or Sandrocottus, king of India (Strab. ii.), and Androcottus
reigned at the time when Seleucus was laying the foundation of the subsequent
greatness of his empire, about B. C. 312. (Justin. xv. 4.) This fact at once shews
the impossibility of what Casaubon (ad Diog. Laert. i. 1) endeavoured to prove,
that the historian Ephorus had stolen whole passages from Daimachus's work, since
Ephorus lived and wrote before Daimachus. The latter wrote a work on India, which
consisted of at least two books. He had probably acquired or at least increased
his knowledge of those eastern countries during his embassy; but Strabo nevertheless
places him at the head of those who had circulated false and fabulous accounts
about India. (Comp. Athen. ix.; Harpocrat. s. v. engutheke; Schol. ad Apollon.
Rhod. i. 558.) We have also mention of a very extensive work on sieges (poliorketika
hupomnemata) by one Daimachus, who is probably the same as the author of the Indica.
If the reading in Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Lakedaimon) is correct, the work
on sieges consisted of at least 35 (le) books. (Comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Il. ii.
581.) The work on India is lost, but the one on sieges may possibly be still concealed
somewhere, for Magius (in Gruter's Fax Artium) states, that he saw a MS. of it.
It may be that our Daimachus is the same as the one quoted by Plutarch (Comparat.
Solon. cum Publ. 4) as an authority on the military exploits of Solon. In another
passage of Plutarch (Lysand. 12) one Laimachus (according to the common reading)
is mentioned as the author of a work peri eusebeias, and modern critics have changed
the name Laimachus into Daimachus, and consider him to be the same as the historian.
In like manner it has been proposed in Diogenes Laertius (i. 30) to read Daimachos
ho Plataieus instead of Daidachos ho Platonikos, but these are only conjectural
emendations.
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THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Aristophanes, a Boeotian (Plut. de Malign. Herod.), of whom Suidas (s. vv. Homoloios, Thebaious horous; comp. Steph. Byz. s. v. Antikonduleis) mentions the second book of a work on Thebes (Thebaika). Another work bore the name of Boiotika, and the second book of it is quoted by Suidas. (s. v. Chaironeia)
Armenidas or Armenides, a Greek author, who wrote a work on Thebes (Thebaika), which is referred to by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (i. 551) and Stephanus Byzantius. (s. v. Hhaliartos. But whether his work was written in prose or in verse, and at what time the author lived, cannot be ascertained.
Cephisodorus, an Athenian orator, a most eminent disciple of Isocrates, wrote
an apology for Isocrates against Aristotle. The work against Aristotle was in
four books, under the title of hai pros Aristotele antigraphai. He also attacked
Plato.
A writer of the same name is mentioned by the Scholiast on Aristotle
(Eth. Nicom. iii. 8) as the author of a history of the Sacred War. As the disciples
of Isocrates paid much attention to historical composition, Ruhnken conjectures
that the orator and the historian were the same person (Hist. Crit. Orat. Graec.38).
There is a Cephisodorus, a Theban, mentioned by Athenaeus (xii.) as an historian.
It is possible that he may be the same person. If so, we must suppose that Cephisodorus
was a native of Thebes, and settled at Athens as a metoikos: but this is mere
conjecture.
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Anaxis, a Boeotian, wrote a history of Greece, which was carried down to B. C. 360, the year before the accession of Philip to the kingdom of Macedonia. (Diod. xv. 95.)
Ctesiphon, the author of a work on Boeotia, of which Plutarch (Parall. Min. 12) quotes the third book. Whether he is the same as the Ctesiphon who wrote on plants and trees (Plut. de Fluv. 14, 18) is uncertain.
Dionysodorus, (Dionusodoros). A Boeotian, who is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (xv. 95) as the author of a history of Greece, which came down as far as the reign of Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great. It is usually supposed that he is the same person as the Dionysodorus in Diogenes Laertius (ii. 42), who denied that the paean which went by the name of Socrates, was the production of the philosopher. (Comp. Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 917.) It is uncertain also whether he is the auther of a work on rivers (peri potamon, Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 122), and of another entitled ta tara tois tragoidois hemartemena, which is quoted by a Scholiast. (Ad Eurip. Rhes. 504.)
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
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Perseus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
ASKRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Ctesibius (Ktesibios). A native of Ascra and contemporary of Archimedes, who flourished during the reigns of Ptolemy II. and Ptolemy III., or between B.C. 260 and 240. He was the son of a barber, and for some time exercised at Alexandria the calling of his parent. His mechanical genius, however, soon caused him to emerge from obscurity, and he became known as the inventor of several very ingenious contrivances for raising water, etc. The invention of clepsydrae, or water clocks, is also ascribed to him. (Cf. Vitruvius, ix. 9.) He wrote a book on hydraulic machines, which is now lost.
Ctesibica Machina. An hydraulic engine named after its inventor, Ctesibius of
Alexandria. In the language of modern hydraulics it is a double-action forcing
pump. Vitruvius, in his description (x. 10.7), speaks of it as designed to raise
water, while Ctesibius's pupil, Hero (Pneumat. p. 180), describes, under the name
of siphon, a machine identical in principle, but of improved construction, and
says that it was used as a fireengine (eis tous empresmous). Indeed, the same
principle has been employed in modern fire-engines. The remains of such a siphon
were discovered at Castrum Novum, near Civita Vecchia, in 1795, having probably
served to supply the public baths with water.
The following cut (in URL below) illustrates the construction of Ctesibius's
invention as described by Vitruvius. Two cylinders (modioli), B B, are connected
by pipes with a receiver (catinus), A, which is closed by a cowl (paenula), D.
In each cylinder a piston (embolus masculus), C, is worked by means of its rod
(regula). In the bottom of each cylinder, and at the opening of each pipe into
the receiver, is a movable lid or valve (assis), which only opens upwards. The
bottoms of the cylinders are inserted into a reservoir, or connected with it by
pipes. When one of the pistons is raised, a vacuum is produced in the cylinder,
and the atmospheric pressure forces a stream of water past the raised valve into
the cylinder. When this stream ceases, the valve falls; and if the piston is forced
down, the water is driven out of the cylinder into the pipe, and past the valve
into the receiver, and retained there by the closing of the valve. If the two
pistons are worked alternately, so that one descends as the other rises, a continuous
stream of water is forced out of the top of the paenula.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Horologium (horologion) was the name of the various instruments by means of which
the ancients measured the time of the day and night. The earliest and simplest
horologia of which mention is made, were called polos and gnomon. Herodotus (ii.
109) ascribes their invention to the Babylonians, and Prof. Sayce says, This is
perfectly correct; Favorinus (ap. Diog. Laert. ii. 1, 3; compare Suidas, s. v.
Inomon and Anaximandros) to Anaximander, but this means only that he was the first
to set one up in Greece, at Sparta; and Pliny, probably by an oversight (H. N.
ii.187), to his disciple Anaximenes. Herodotus mentions the polos and gnomon as
two distinct instruments. Both, however, divided the day into twelve equal parts,
and were a kind of sun-dial. The gnomon, which was also called stoicheion was
the more simple of the two, and probably the more ancient. It consisted of a staff
or pillar standing perpendicular, in a place exposed to the sun (skiatheron),
so that the length of its shadow might be easily ascertained. The shadow of the
gnomon was measured by feet, which were probably marked on the place where the
shadow fell (Hesych. s. v. Heptapous skia and dodekapodos: Pollux, i. 72). The
gnomon is almost without exception mentioned in connexion with the deipnon or
the bath; and the time for the former was towards sunset, or at the time when
the shadow of the gnomon measured 10 or 12 feet (Aristoph. Eccles. 652, with the
Schol.; Pollux, l. c.; Menander, ap. Athen. vi. p. 243; Hesych. s. v. Dekapoun
Stoicheion). The longest shadow of the gnomon, at sunrise and sunset, was 12 feet:
it is only in jest that Eubulus, ap. Athen. i. p. 8 (fr. 118 Meineke), represents
it as double the length, where it is consulted by a very big man. The time for
bathing was when the gnomon threw a shadow of 6 feet (Lucian, Cronos, c. 17; Somn.
s. Gall. c. 9). In later times the name gnomon was applied to any kind of sun-dial,
and especially to its finger, which threw the shadow, and thus pointed to the
hour. Even the clepsydra is sometimes called gnomon (Athen. ii. p. 42).
The gnomon was evidently a very imperfect instrument, and it was impossible
to divide the day into twelve equal spaces by it. This may be the reason that
we find it only used for such purposes as are mentioned above. The polos or heliotropion,
on the other hand, seems to have been a more perfect kind of sun-dial; but it
appears, nevertheless, not to have been much used, as it is but seldom mentioned
(Aristoph. ap. Polluc. ix. 46). It consisted of a basin (lekanis), in the middle
of which the perpendicular staff or finger (gnomon) was erected, and in it the
twelve parts of the day were marked by lines (Alciphron, Epist. iii. 4; Lucian,
Lexiph. c. 4).
Another kind of horologium was the clepsydra (klepsudra). It derived
its name from (kleptein and hudor, as in its original and simple form it consisted
of a vessel with several little openings (trupemata) at the bottom, through which
the water contained in it escaped, as it were, by stealth. This instrument seems
at first to have been used only for the purpose of measuring the time during which
persons were allowed to speak in the courts of justice at Athens. The time of
its invention or introduction is not known; but in the age of Aristophanes (see
Acharn. 692; Vesp. 93 and 857) it appears to have been in common use. Its form
and construction may be seen very clearly from a passage of Aristotle (Problem.
xvi. 8). The clepsydra was a hollow globe, probably somewhat flat at the top part,
where it had a short neck (aulos), like that of a bottle, through which the water
was poured into it. This opening might be closed by a lid or stopper (poma), to
prevent the water running out at the bottom. The clepsydra which Aristotle had
in view was probably not of glass or of any transparent material, but of bronze
or brass, so that it could not be seen in the clepsydra itself what quantity of
water had escaped. As the time for speaking in the Athenian courts was thus measured
by water, the orators frequently use the term hudor instead of the time allowed
to them (en toi emoi hudati, Demosth. de Coron. p. 274,139; ean enchorei to hudor,
c. Leoch. p. 1094,45). Aeschines (c. Ctesiph.197), when describing the order in
which the several parties were allowed to speak, says that the first water was
given to the accuser, the second to the accused, and the third to the judges.
An especial officer (ho eph hudor) was appointed in the courts for the purpose
of watching the clepsydra, and stopping it when any documents were read, whereby
the speaker was interrupted; and it is to this officer that Demosthenes calls
out: su de epilabe to hudor (c. Steph. i. p. 1103;8; cf. c. Conon. p. 1268,36,
with Sandys' note). The time, and consequently the quantity of water allowed to
a speaker depended upon the importance of the case; and we are informed that in
a graphe parapresbeias the water allowed to each party amounted to eleven amphorae
(Aeschin. de Fals. Leg.126), whereas in trials concerning the right of inheritance
only one amphora was allowed (Demosth. c. Macart. p. 1052,8) Those actions in
which the time was thus measured to the speakers are called by Pollux (viii. 113)
dikai pros hudor: others are termed dikai aneu hudatos, and in these the speakers
were not tied down to a certain space of time. The only instance of this kind
of actions of which we know, is the graphe kakoseos (Harpocrat. s. v. kakosis).
The clepsydra used in the courts of justice however was, properly
speaking, no horologium; but smaller ones, made of glass, and of the same simple
structure, were undoubtedly used very early in families for the purposes of ordinary
life, and for dividing the day into twelve equal parts. In these glass clepsydrae
the division into twelve parts must have been visible, either on the glass globe
itself, or in the basin into which the water flowed. These instruments, however,
did not show the time quite correctly all the year round: first, because the water
ran out of the clepsydra sometimes quicker and sometimes slower, according to
the different temperature of the water (Athen. ii. p. 42; Plut. Quaest. Natur.
c. 7); and secondly, because the length of the hours varied in the different seasons
of the year. To remove the second of these defects the inside of the clepsydra
was covered with a coat of wax during the shorter days, and when they became longer
the wax was gradually taken away again (Aen. Tact. c. 22,10). Plato is said to
have used a nukterinon horologion in the shape of a large clepsydra, which indicated
the hours of the night, and seems to have been of a complicated structure (Athen.
iv. p. 174). This instance shows that at an early period improvements
were made on the old and simple clepsydra. But all these improvements were excelled
by the ingenious invention of Ctesibius, a celebrated mathematician of Alexandria
(about 135 B.C.). It is called horologion hudraulikon, and is described
by Vitruvius (ix. 9; compare Athen. l. c.), and more fully by Galen (v. p. 82
K.): cf. Marquardt, Privatalt. ii. 377 ff. Water was made to drop upon wheels
which were thereby turned. The regular movement of these wheels was communicated
to a small statue, which, gradually rising, pointed with a little stick to the
hours marked on a pillar which was attached to the mechanism. It indicated the
hours regularly throughout the year, but still required to be often attended to
and regulated. This complicated crepsydra seems never to have come into general
use, and was probably only found in the houses of very wealthy persons. The sun-dial
or gnomon, and a simpler kind of clepsydra, on the other hand, were much used
down to a very late period. The twelve parts of the day were not designated by
the name ora until the time of the Alexandrian astronomers, and even then the
old and vague divisions, described in the article DIES were preferred in the affairs
of common life. At the time of the geographer Hipparchus, however (about 150 B.C.),
it seems to have been very common to reckon by hours. (Comp. Becker-Goll, Charikles,
vol. i. p. 321 ff.)
There is still existing, though in ruins, a horological building,
which is one of the most interesting monuments at Athens. It is the structure
formerly called the Tower of the Winds, but now known as the Horological Monument
of Andronicus Cyrrhestes. It is expressly called horologium by Varro (R. R. iii.
5,17). This building is fully described by Vitruvius (i. 6,4), and the following
woodcuts show its elevation and ground-plan, as restored by Stuart. The structure
is octagonal; with its faces to the points of the compass. On the N.E. and N.W.
sides are distyle Corinthian porticoes, giving access to the interior; and to
the south wall is affixed a sort of turret, forming three quarters of a circle,
to contain the cistern which supplied water to the clepsydra in the interior.
On the summit of the building was a bronze figure of a Triton, holding a wand
in his hand; and this figure turned on a pivot, so that the wand always pointed
above that side of the building which faced the wind then blowing. The directions
of the several faces were indicated by figures of the eight winds on the frieze
of the entablature. On the plain wall below the entablature of each face, lines
are still visible, which, with the gnomons that stood out above them, formed a
series of sun-dials. In the centre of the interior of the building was a clepsydra,
the remains of which are still visible, and are shown on the plan, where the dark
lines represent the channels for the water, which was supplied from the turret
on the south, and escaped by the hole in the centre. Three other Athenian horologia
are extant, one in the monument of Thrasyllus, another that of Phaedrus in the
British Museum (C. I. G n. 522), a third in the Theatre of Dionysus, besides others
from different parts of Greece.
The first horologium with which the Romans became acquainted was a
sun-dial (solarium, or horologium sciothericum), and was, according to some writers,
brought to Rome by Papirius Cursor twelve years before the war with Pyrrhus, and
placed before the temple of Quirinus (Plin H. N. vii.213); Varro (cf. Censorinus,
de Die Nat. 23) stated that it was brought to Rome from Catina in Sicily, at the
time of the first Punic war, by the Consul M. Valerius Messala, and erected on
a column behind the Rostra. But this solarium being made for a different latitude
did not show the time at Rome correctly. Ninety-nine years afterwards, the Censor
Q. Marcius Philippus erected by the side of the old solarium a new one, which
was more carefully regulated according to the latitude of Rome. But as sun-dials,
however perfect they might be, were useless when the sky was cloudy, P. Scipio
Nasica, in his censorship, 159 B.C., established a public clepsydra, which indicated
the hours both of day and night. This clepsydra was in after-times generally called
solarium (Cic. de Nat. Deor. ii. 3. 4, 87; Plin. H. N. vii.215; Censorin. de Die
Nat. c. 23). The word hora for hour was introduced at Rome at the time when the
Romans became acquainted with the Greek horologia, and was in this signification
well known at the time of Plautus (Pseudol. 1307). After the time of Scipio Nasica
several horologia, chiefly solaria, seem to have been erected in various public
places at Rome. In a fragment of the Boeotia ascribed by Ribbeck to Aquilius,
but by others to Plautus (cf. Ritschl, Parerg. 83 ff., 123 ff.), we have jam oppletum
oppidumst solariis. Cf. Ribbeck, Frag. Com. p. 33. A magnificent horologium was
erected by Augustus in the Campus Martius. It was a gnomon in the shape of an
obelisk; but Pliny (H. N. xxxvi.73) complains that in the course of time it had
become incorrect. Another horologium stood in the Circus Flaminius (Vitruv. ix.
9, 1). Sometimes solaria were attached to the front side of temples and basilicas
(Varro, L. L. vi. 4; Gruter, Inscript. vi. 6). The old solarium which had been
erected behind the Rostra seems to have existed on that spot till a very late
period, and it would seem that the place was called ad Solarium, so that Cicero
uses this expression as synonymous with Rostra or Forum (pro Quint. 18, 59; ad
Herenn. iv. 10, 14). Horologia of various descriptions seem also to have been
commonly kept by private individuals (Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 1. 8, 3; Dig. 33, 7, 12,
23); and at the time of the emperors, the wealthy Romans used to keep slaves whose
special duty it was to announce the hours of the day to their masters. (Juven.
x. 216, with Mayor's note; Mart. viii. 67; Petron. 26.)
From the number of solaria which have been discovered in modern times
in Italy (thirteen having been discovered in the neighbourhood of Rome alone),
we must infer that they were very generally used among the ancients. The following
woodcut represents one of the simplest horologia which have been discovered; it
seems to bear great similarity to that, the invention of which Vitruvius ascribes
to Berosus. It was discovered in 1741, on the hill of Tusculum, and is described
by Zuzzeri, in a work entitled D'una antica villa scoperta sul dosso del Tusculo,
e d'un antico orologio a sole, Venezia, 1746, and by G. H. Martini, in his Abhandlung
von den Sonnenuhren der Alten, Leipzig, 1777, p. 49, &c.
The breadth as well as the height (A O and P A) are somewhat more
than 8 inches; and the length (A B) a little more than 16 inches. The surface
(A O R B) is horizontal. S P Q T is the basis of the solarium, which, originally,
was probably erected upon a pillar. Its side, A S T B, inclines somewhat towards
the basis. This inclination was called enklima, or inclinatio solarii and enclima
succisum (Vitruv. l. c.), and shows the latitude or polar altitude of the place
for which the solarium was made. The angle of the enclima is about 40° 43?, which
coincides with the latitude of Tusculum. In the body of the solarium is the almost
spherical excavation, H K D M I F N, which forms a double hemicyclium (hemicyclium
excavatum ex quadrato, Vitruv.). Within this excavation the eleven hour-lines
are marked which pass through three semicircles, H L N, K E F, and D M J. The
middle one, K E F, represents the equator, the two others the tropic lines of
winter and summer. The curve representing the summer tropic is somewhat more than
a semicircle, the other two curves somewhat smaller. The ten middle parts or hours
in each of the three curves are all equal to one another; but the two extreme
ones, though equal to each other, are by one-fourth smaller than the rest. In
the middle, G, of the curve D K H N I J, there is a little square hole, in which
the gnomon or pointer must have been fixed, and a trace of it is still visible
in the lead by means of which it was fixed. It must have stood in a perpendicular
position upon the surface A B R O, and at a certain distance from the surface
it must have turned in a right angle above the spheric excavation, so that its
end (C) extended as far as the middle of the equator, as it is restored in the
above woodcut. Another solarium is described in G. H. Martini's Antiquorum Monumentorum
Sylloge, p. 93 f. (Lips. 1783); cf. Overbeck's Pompeii, p. 411.
Clepsydrae were used by the Romans in their camps, chiefly for the
purpose of measuring accurately the four vigiliae into which the night was divided
(Caes. de Bell. Gall. v. 13; Veget. de Re Milit. iii. 8; Aen. Tact. c. 22).
The custom of using clepsydrae as a check upon the speakers in the
courts of justice at Rome is said to have been introduced by a law of Cn. Pompeius,
in his third consulship (Tac. de clar. Orat. 38), who adds, before that time the
speakers had been under no restrictions, but spoke as long as they deemed proper.
But there is some inaccuracy here, as Cicero in B.C. 70 (in Verr. i. 9, 25) speaks
of his legitimae horae; in B.C. 63 (pro Rab. Perd. 2, 6) his defence is limited
to half an hour, and in B.C. 59 (pro Flacc. 33, 82) six hours are allotted. At
Rome, as at Athens, the time allowed to the speakers depended upon the importance
of the case. Pliny (Epist. ii. 11) states that on one important occasion he spoke
for nearly five hours, ten large clepsydrae having been granted to him by the
judices, but the case was so important that four others were added. (Compare Plin.
Epist. vi. 2; Martial, vi. 35, viii. 7.) The law of Pompeius only limited the
time during which the accuser was allowed to speak to two hours, while the accused
was allowed three hours in the case of prosecutions de vi. (Ascon. in Milon. p.
37, ed. Orelli.) It is clear from the case of Pliny and others that this restriction
was not observed on all occasions. In a case mentioned by Pliny (Epist. iv. 9),
according to law (e lege) the accuser had six hours, while the accused had nine.
An especial officer was at Rome as well as at Athens appointed to stop the clepsydra
during the time when documents were read. (Apul. Apolog. i. and ii.; compare Ernesti,
de Solariis, in his Opuscul. Philolog. et Grit. pp. 21-31; Wopcke, Disquisitiones
arch. math. circa Solaria veterum, Berol. 1842; Becker-Goll, Gallus, ii p. 407
ff.; and especially Marquardt, Privatl. 370 ff.)
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Hydraulus (hudraulos). A water-organ. According to Athenaeus, it was the invention
of Ctesibius of Alexandria, who evidently took the idea of his organ from the
syrinx or Pandean pipes, a musical instrument of the highest antiquity among the
Greeks. His object being to employ a row of pipes of great size, and capable of
emitting the most powerful as well as the softest sounds, he contrived the means
of adapting keys with levers (ankoniskoi), and with perforated sliders (pomata)
to open and shut the mouths of the pipes (glossokoma), a supply of wind being
obtained, without intermission, by bellows, in which the pressure of water performed
the same part which is fulfilled in the modern organ by a weight (Hero , Spirit.
228). On this account the instrument invented by Ctesibius was called the water-organ
(hudraulis, hudraulikon organon, Heron, Spirit.; hydraulica machina, Vitruv. x.
13; hydraulus, Pliny , Pliny H. N.ix. 24; Cic. Tusc.iii. 18. 43). It is described
in an epigram by the emperor Julian (Brunck, Anal.ii. 403=Anth. Pal. ix. 365),
who mentions the swift fingers of the performer, but not the water-bellows; and
more clearly in the lines of Claudian (De Manl. Theod. Cons. 316-319). We have
here the keys, the innumerable pipes of metal, the lever as large as a beam which
sets the water in motion. Its pipes were partly of bronze (chalkeie aroura, Julian
; seges aena, Claudian), and partly of reed (donakes, Julian ). The number of
its stops, and consequently of its rows of pipes, varied from one to eight, so
that Tertullian (De Anima, 14) describes it with reason as an exceedingly complicated
instrument. We are still in the dark as to the exact part played by the water,
which, besides, must have rendered the instrument much less portable. As invented
by Ctesibius, the organ was doubtless hydraulic: but the epigram of Julian omits
all mention of the water, and probably, in later times, the mechanism was simplified
and the bellows blown directly by the pedal, as in the modern harmonium.
The organ was well adapted to gratify the Roman people in the splendid
entertainments provided for them by the emperors and other opulent persons. Nero
was very curious about organs, both in regard to their musical effect and their
mechanism ( Suet. Ner.41Suet. Ner., 54). A contorniate coin of this emperor in
the British Museum (see illustration in the URL below) shows a small organ with
a sprig of laurel on one side and a man standing on the other. The general form
of the organ is also clearly exhibited in a poem by Publilius Porphyrius Optatianus,
describing the instrument, and composed of verses so constructed as to show both
the lower part which contained the bellows, the wind-chest which lay upon it,
and over this the row of twenty-six pipes. These are represented by twenty-six
lines, which increase in length each by one letter, until the last line is twice
as long as the first (Wernsdorf, Poetae Lat. Min. vol. ii. pp. 394-413). There
can be little doubt that hudraules, hydraula or hydraules, denotes the organist
( Suet. Ner.54; Sat.36). See Musica.
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PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Eupompidas, son of Daimachus, one of the commanders in Plataea during its siege by the Lacedaemonians, B. C. 429-8. He with Theaenetus, a prophet, in the winter following this second year, devised the celebrated plan for passing the lines of circumvallation, which, originally intended for the whole number of the besieged, was in the end successfully executed by 212 of them, under the guidance of the same two leaders. (Thuc. iii. 20-23.)
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Flute-player, his melodies, his processional hymn for Delos, his statue at Thebes. 4th century BC.
A celebrated Theban flute-player : Pereus Project - Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary
ANTIKYRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A Malian, who in B.C. 480, when Leonidas was defending the pass of Thermopylae, guided a body of Persians over the mountain path, and thus enabled them to fall on the rear of the Greeks.
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
The most important figure is now Aristeides, Thebanus. The facts which Pliny gives point to two masters of this name, of whom the one is the father (formerly read as Aristiaeus), the other the son, of Nicomachus. The statements in Pliny concerning these two Aristeidae are so hopelessly confused that it is impossible to distinguish between them with any certainty. If the grandfather can be identified with the pupil of Polycleitus, we may take about B.C. 330 as a convenient date for him, and about B.C. 280 for that of his grandson. It is possible that the epithet Thebanus is intended to distinguish the older Aristeides; but, even here Pliny is confused, for he sometimes calls one and the same person Thebanus and contemporary with Apelles. The same confusion is probably traceable in his estimate of style: is omnium primus animum pinxit et sensus hominis expressit, quae vocant Graeci ethe, item perturbationis (pathe). Perhaps we should assign to the elder the quality of ethos, to the younger that of pathos and of being durior paulo in coloribus; and according to these qualities we may assign some of the pictures. The Dionysus was probably painted by the older and more famous of the two; its great estimation is shown by the fact that Attalus is said to have paid 100 talents for it, and Mummius afterwards sent it to Rome: also the picture of a sacked town, which Alexander acquired at the looting of Thebes, and of which one episode represented a dying mother, with her infant still suckling her breast. To the younger may be assigned the Battle with Persians, the Leontion Epicuri and the anapauomene (see Arch. Zeit. 1883, p. 41).
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Aristeides of Thebes, was one of the most celebrated Greek painters. His father
was Aristodemus, his teachers were Euxenidas and his brother Nicomachus (Plin.
xxxv. 36.7, 22.) He was a somewhat older contemporary of Apelles (Plin. xxxv.
36.19), and flourished about 360-330 B. C. The point in which he most excelled
is thus described by Pliny: "Is omnium primus animum pinxit et sensus hominum
expressit, quae vocant Graeci hi/qh, item perturbationes", that is, he depicted
the feelings, expressions, and passions which may be observed in common life.
One of his finest pictures was that of a babe approaching the breast of its mother,
who was mortally wounded, and whose fear could be plainly seen lest the child
should suck blood instead of milk. Fuseli has shewn how admirably in this picture
the artist drew the line between pity and disgust. Alexander admired the picture
so much, that he removed it to Pella. Another of his pictures was a suppliant,
whose voice you seemed almost to hear. Several other pictures of his are mentioned
by Pliny, and among them an Iris (ib. 40.41), which, though unfinished, excited
the greatest admiration. As examples of the high price set upon his works, Pliny
(ib. 36.19) tells us, that he painted a picture for Mnason, tyrant of Elatea,
representing a battle with the Persians, and containing a hundred figures, for
each of which Aristeides received ten minae; and that long after his death, Attalus,
king of Pergamns, gave a hundred talents for one of his pictures (Ib. and vii.
39). In another passage (xxxv. 8) Pliny tells us, that when Mummius was selling
the spoils of Greece, Attalus bought a picture of Bacchus by Aristeides for 600,000
sesterces, but that Mummius, having thus discovered the value of the picture,
refused to sell it to Attalus, and took it to Rome, where it was placed in the
temple of Ceres, and was the first foreign painting which was exposed to public
view at Rome. The commentators are in doubt whether these two passages refer to
the same picture (See also Strab. viii.). Aristeides was celebrated for his pictures
of courtezans, and hence he was called pornographos (Athen. xiii.). He was somewhat
harsh in his colouring (Plin. xxxv. 36.19). According to some authorities, the
invention of encaustic painting in wax was ascribed to Aristeides, and its perfection
to Praxiteles; but Pliny observes, that there were extant encaustic pictures of
Polygnotus, Nicanor, and Arcesilaus (xxxv. 39).
Aristeides left two sons, Nicerus and Ariston, to whom he taught his
art.
Another Aristeides is mentioned as his disciple (Plin. xxxv. 36.23).
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Euxenidas, a painter, who instructed the celebrated Aristeides, of Thebes. He flourished about the 95th or 100th Olympiad, B. C. 400 or 380. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 36.7)
A Greek painter, probably of Thebes, about B.C. 360. He was celebrated as an artist
who could paint with equal rapidity and excellence, and was regarded as rivalling
the best painters of his day. A famous painting of his was "The Rape of Persephone"
An artist from Thebes, one of the foremost of the school called Attic-Theban. He was the son and pupil of the painter Aristides, and teacher of Aristides the Younger, his son. It is said that he also taught his brother Ariston, as well as Philoxenos of Eretria and a certain Koroibos.
Mention is made that he used the four basic colours (black, white, red and yellow), as did his contemporary, Apelles. Pliny the Elder praises the artist for the rapidity and facility with which he worked, while Plutarch mentions him, together with Apelles and Zeuxis, with regard to their treatment of the female form.
His following works are mentioned (among others): "The Abduction of Persephone by Pluto", "Apollo and Artemis", "Bacchae Approached by Sileni", "Scylla", "The Mother of the Gods Seated on a Lion", "Odysseus Wearing a Hat", and "Nike Flying up in a Quadriga".
Aristodemus (Aristodemos), a painter, the father and instructor of Nicomachus,
flourished probably in the early part of the fourth century B. C. (Plin. xxxv.
10. s. 36)
Leontion, a Greek painter, contemporary with Aristides of Thebes (about B. C. 340), who painted his portrait. Nothing further is known of him (Plin. xxxv. 10. s. 36.19).
Cebes (Kebes), of Thebes, was a disciple of Philolaus, the Pythagorean, and of
Socrates, with whom he was connected by intimate friendship (Xen. Mem. i. 2.28,
iii. 11.17; Plat. Crit.). He is introduced by Plato as one of the interlocutors
in the Phaedo, and as having been present at the death of Socrates (Phaed.). He
is said on the advice of Socrates to have purchased Phaedo, who had been a slave,
and to have instructed him in philosophy (Gell. ii. 18; Macrob. Sat. i. 11; Lactant.
iii. 24). Diogenes Laertius (ii. 125) and Suidas ascribe to him three works, viz.
Pinax, Hebdome, and Phrunichos, all of which Eudocia erroneously attributes to
Callippus of Athens. The last two of these works are lost, and we do not know
what they treated of, but the Pinax is still extant, and is referred to by several
ancient writers (Lucian, Apolog. 42, Rhet. Praecept. 6; Pollux, iii. 95 ; Tertullian,
De Praescript. 39; Aristaenet. i. 2). This Pinax is a philosophical explanation
of a table on which the whole of human life with its dangers and temptations was
symbolically represented, and which is said to have been dedicated by some one
in the temple of Cronos at Athens or Thebes. The author introduces some youths
contemplating the table, and an old man who steps among them undertakes to explain
its meaning. The whole drift of the little book is to shew, that only the proper
development of our mind and the possession of real virtues can make us truly happy.
Suidas calls this pinax a diegesis ton en Haidou, an explanation which is not
applicable to the work now extant, and some have therefore thought, that the pinax
to which Suidas refers was a different work from the one we possess. This and
other circumstances have led some critics to doubt whether our pinax is the work
of the Theban Cebes, and to ascribe it to a later Cebes of Cyzicus, a Stoic philosopher
of the time of Marcus Aurelius (Athen. iv.). But the pinax which is now extant
is manifestly written in a Socratic spirit and on Socratic principles, so that
at any rate its author is much more likely to have been a Socratic than a Stoic
philosopher. There are, it is true, some few passages (e. g. c. 13) where persons
are mentioned belonging to a later age than that of the Theban Cebes, but there
is little doubt that this and a few similar passages are interpolations by a later
hand, which cannot surprise us in the case of a work of such popularity as the
pinax of Cebes.
For, owing to its ethical character, it was formerly extremely
popular, and the editions and translations of it are very numerous. It has been
translated into all the languages of Europe, and even into Russian, modern
Greek, and Arabic. The first edition of it was in a Latin translation by L. Odaxius,
Bologna, 1497. In this edition, as in nearly all the subsequent ones, it is printed
together with the Enchiridion of Epictetus. The first edition of the Greek text
with a Latin translation is that of Aldus (Venice, without date), who printed
it together with the "Institutiones et alia Opuscula" of C. Lascaris. This was
followed by a great number of other editions, among which we need notice only
those of H. Wolf (Basel, 1560), the Leiden edition (1640, with an Arabic translation
by Elichmann) of Jac. Gronovius (Amsterdam, 1689), J. Schulze (Hamburg, 1694),
T. Hemsterhuis (Amsterdam, 1708, together with some dialogues of Lucian), M. Meibom,
and Adr. Reland (Utrecht, 1711), and Th. Johnson. (London, 1720) The best editions
are those of Schweighauser in his edition of Epictetus, and also separately printed
(Strassburg, 1806), and of A. Coraes in his edition of Epictetus (Paris, 1826).
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365 - 285
Crates the Theban, the "thyrepaniktis", 365-285 BC, cynic philosopher.
Crates (Krates) of Thebes, the son of Ascondus, repaired to Athens, where he became
a scholar of the Cynic Diogenes, and subsequently one of the most distinguished
of the Cynic philosophers. He flourished, according to Diogenes Laertius (vi.
87), in B. C. 328, was still living at Athens in the time of Demetrius Phalereus
(Athen. x.; Diog. Laert. vi. 90), and was at Thebes in B. C. 307, when Demetrius
Phalereus withdrew thither (Plut. Mor.).
Crates was one of the most singular phaenomena of a time which abounded
in all sorts of strange characters. Though heir to a large fortune, he renounced
it all and bestowed it upon his native city, since a philosopher had no need of
money; or, according to another account, he placed it in the hands of a banker,
with the charge, that he should deliver it to his sons, in case they were simpletons,
but that, if they became philosophers, he should distribute it among the poor.
Diogenes Lartius has preserved a number of curious tales about Crates, which prove
that he lived and died as a true Cynic, disregarding all external pleasures, restricting
himself to the most absolute necessaries, and retaining in every situation of
life the most perfect mastery over his desires, complete equanimity of temper,
and a constant flow of good spirits. While exercising this self-controul, he was
equally severe against the vices of others; the female sex in particular was severely
lashed by him; and he received the surname of the "Door-opener",because it was
his practice to visit every house at Athens, and rebuke its inmates. In spite
of the poverty to which he had reduced himself, and not-withstanding his ugly
and deformed figure, he inspired Hipparchia, the daughter of a family of distinction,
with such an ardent affection for him, that she refused many wealthy suitors,
and threatened to commit suicide unless her parents would give their consent to
her union with the philosopher. Of the married life of this philosophic couple
Diogenes LaΓ«rtius relates some very curious facts.
Crates wrote a book of letters on philosophical subjects, the style
of which is compared by Laertius (vi. 98) to Plato's; but these are no longer
extant, for the fourteen letters which were published from a Venetian manuscript
under the name of Crates in the Aldine collection of Greek letters (Venet. 1499),
and the thirty-eight which have been published from the same manuscript by Boissonade
(Notices et Extraits des Manuscr. de la Bibl. du Roi, vol. xi. part ii. Paris,
1827) and which are likewise ascribed to Crates, are, like the greater number
of such letters, the composition of later rhetoricians. Crates was also the author
of tragedies of an earnest philosophical character, which are praised by Laertius,
and likewise of some smaller poems, which seem to have been called Paignia, and
to which the Phakes enkomion quoted by Athenaeus (iv.) perhaps belonged. Plutarch
wrote a detailed biography of Crates, which unfortunately is lost (Diog. Laert.
vi. 85-93, 96-98).
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Hipparchus. A Pythagorean, contemporary with Lysis, the teacher of Epaminondas, about B. C.
380. There is a letter from Lysis to Hipparchus, remonstrating with him for teaching
in public, which was contrary to the injunctions of Pythagoras (Diog. Laert. viii.
42; Lamblich. Vit. Pythag. 17; Synes. Epist. ad Heracl.). Clemens Alexandrinus
tells us, that on the ground of his teaching in public, Hipparchus was expelled
from the society of the Pythagoreans, who erected a monument to him, as if he
had been dead (Strom. v. p. 574; comp. Lycurg. adv. Leocr. 30). Stobaeus (Serm.
cvi.) has preserved a fragment from his book Peri euthumias.
Lysis, (Lusis). An eminent Pythagorean philosopher, who, driven out of Italy in the persecution
of his sect, betook himself to Thebes, and became the teacher of Epaminondas,
by whom he was held in the highest esteem. He died and was buried at Thebes. (Paus.
ix. 13. 1; Aelian. V. H. iii. 17; Diod. Exc. de Virt. et Vit.; Plut. de Gen. Socr.
8, 13, 14, 16; Diog. Laert. viii. 39; Nepos, Epam. 2; Iamblich. Vit. Pyth. 35.)
There was attributed to him a work on Pythagoras and his doctrines, and a letter
to Hipparchus, of which the latter is undoubtedly spurious; and Diogenes says
that some of the works ascribed to Pythagoras were really written by Lysis.
There is a chronological difficulty respecting him, in as much as
he is stated to have been the disciple of Pythagoras, and also the teacher of
Epaminondas. Dodwell (de Cycl. Vet.) attempted to show the consistency of the
two statements; but Bentley (Answer to Boyle) contends that the ancient writers
confounded two philosophers of this name. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 851.)
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ASKRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
730 - 680
A celebrated Greek poet, supposed to have been born at Ascra
in Boeotia. His father, it seems, had migrated to Ascra in consequence of his
poverty, and resided at the latter place for some time, though without obtaining
the rights of a citizen. Still, however, he left at his death a considerable property
to his two sons, Hesiod, and a younger one named Perses. The brothers divided
the inheritance; but Perses, by means of bribes to the judges, contrived to defraud
his elder brother. Hesiod thereupon migrated to Orchomenus, as Gottling supposes,
and the harsh epithets which he applies to his native village were, in all probability,
prompted by resentment at the wrong which he had suffered from the Ascraean judges.
From a passage in the proem to his Theogony, it has been inferred that Hesiod
was literally a shepherd, and tended his flocks on the side of Helicon. He was
evidently born in an humble station, and was himself engaged in rural pursuits;
and this perfectly accords with the subject of the poem which was unanimously
ascribed to him--namely, the Works and Days (Erga kai Hemerai), which is a collection
of reflections and precepts relating to husbandry and the regulation of a rural
household, interwoven with fables, allegories, etc., forming, as has been said,
"a Boeotian shepherd's-calendar." The only additional fact that can
be gathered from Hesiod's writings is that he went over to the island of Euboea,
on occasion of a poetical contest at Chalcis, which formed part of the funeral
games instituted in honour of Amphidamas; that he obtained a tripod as the prize,
and consecrated it to the Muses of Helicon. This latter passage is suspected by
Wolf; but it seems to have formed a part of the poem from time immemorial; and
it may not be unreasonable to infer its authenticity from the tradition respecting
an imaginary contest between Homer and Hesiod.
The following legendary account is given as to the manner of
Hesiod's death. He is said to have consulted the oracle of Delphi as to his future
destinies, and the Pythia directed him, in reply, to shun the grove of Nemean
Zeus, since there death awaited him. There were at Argos a temple and a brazen
statue of Zeus; and Hesiod, believing this to be the fatal spot, directed his
course to Oenoe, a town of the Locri; but the ambiguity of the oracle had deceived
him, for this place also, by obscure report, was sacred to the same god. He was
here the guest of two brothers. It happened that their sister Clymene was violated
in the night-time by the person who had accompanied Hesiod, and hanged herself
in consequence of the outrage. This man they accordingly slew; and, suspecting
the connivance of Hesiod, killed him also, and threw his body into the sea. The
murder is said to have been detected by the sagacity of Hesiod's dog; though by
some it is related that his corpse was brought to the shore by a company of dolphins,
at the moment that the people were celebrating the festival of Poseidon. The body
of Hesiod was recognized, the houses of the murderers were razed to the foundation,
and the murderers themselves cast into the sea. Another account states them to
have been consumed by lightning; a third, to have been overtaken by a tempest
while escaping to Crete in a fishing-boat, and to have perished in the wreck.
The only works that remain under the name of Hesiod are: (i.)
Erga kai Hemerai ("Works and Days"); (ii.) Theogonia ("Theogony");
(iii.) Aspis Herakleous ("The Shield of Heracles"). The Works and Days
(which, according to Pausanias, the Boeotians regarded as the only genuine production
of Hesiod) is entirely occupied with the events of common life. The poem consists
of advice given by Hesiod to his brother Perses, on subjects relating for the
most part to agriculture and the general conduct of life. The object of the first
portion of the poem is to improve the character and habits of Perses, and to incite
him to a life of labour, as the only source of permanent prosperity. Mythical
narratives, fables, descriptions, and moral apophthegms, partly of a proverbial
kind, are ingeniously chosen and combined, so as to illustrate and enforce the
principal idea, and served as a model for Vergil in his Georgics. In the second
part Hesiod shows Perses the succession in which his labours must follow, if he
determines to lead a life of industry. The poet speaks of the time of life when
a man should marry, and how he should look out for a wife. He recommends all to
bear in mind that the immortal gods watch over the actions of men; in all intercourse
with others to keep the tongue from idle and provoking words, and to preserve
a certain purity and care in the commonest occurrences of every-day life. At the
same time, he gives many curious precepts, which resemble sacerdotal rules, with
respect to the decorum to be observed in acts of worship, and which, moreover,
have much in common with the symbolic rules of the Pythagoreans, that ascribed
a spiritual import to many acts of ordinary life. Of a very similar nature is
the last part of the poem, which treats of the days on which it is expedient or
inexpedient to do this or that business.
The Theogony (Theogonia) consists of an account of the origin
of the world, including the birth of the gods, and makes use of numerous personifications.
Even as early as the time of Pausanias it was doubted whether Hesiod was actually
the author of this poem, though its genuineness is expressly asserted by Herodotus,
and all the internal evidence is in favour of this view. According to Hermann,
it is a species of melange, formed by the union of several poems on the same subject,
and which has been effected by the same copyists or grammarians. The Theogony
is interesting as being the most ancient monument that we have of the Greek mythology.
When we consider it as a poem, we find no composition of ancient times so stamped
with a rude simplicity of character. It is without luminous order of arrangement,
abounds with dry details, and only occasionally rises to any particular elevation
of fancy. It exhibits that crude irregularity and that mixture of meanness and
grandeur which characterize a strong but uncultivated genius. The censure of Quintilian
that "Hesiod rarely soars, and a great part of him is occupied in mere names,"
is undoubtedly merited. The sentence just quoted, however, refers plainly to the
Theogony alone, while the following seems exclusively applicable to the Works
and Days: "Yet he is distinguished by useful sentences of morality, and an
admirable sweetness of diction and expression, and he deserves the palm in the
middle style of writing." The passage relating to the battle of the gods,
however, can not surely be classed among the specimens of the middle style. This
passage, together with the combat of Zeus and Typhoeus, astonishes the reader
by sudden bursts of enthusiasm, for which the prolix and nerveless narrative of
the general poem has little prepared him. Mahaffy speaks of it as having "a
splendid crash and thunder about it," and even as "far superior in conception,
though inferior in execution, to the battle of the gods in the Iliad." Milton
has borrowed some suggestions from these descriptions; and the arming of the Messiah
for battle in Paradise Lost is obviously imitated from the magnificent picture
of Zeus summoning all the terrors of his omnipotence for the extirpation of the
Titans.
We have also, under the name of Hesiod, a fragment of 480 lines
from a poem entitled the Heroogonia or the genealogy and history of the demigods.
To this poem some unknown rhapsodist has attached a piece on the combat between
Heracles and Cycnus, containing a description of the hero's shield. It is from
this part that the fragment in question bears the title of the Shield of Heracles
(Aspis Herakleous). Modern crities think that to the Heroogony of Hesiod belonged
two works which are cited by the ancients--the one under the title of Catalogue
of Women (Ka<*>alogos Gunaikon), a sort of Greek Debrett, giving t<*> history
of those mortal women who had become the mothers of demigods, and the other under
the title of the Megalai Eoiai, so named because the history of each woman or
heroine mentioned therein commenced with the words e hoie ("or such as").
There are scholia on Hesiod by Proclus, John Tzetzes, Moschopulus, and John Protospatharius;
but the commentary by Aristophanes of Byzantium is lost.
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
Hesiodus (Hesiodos), one of the earliest Greek poets, respecting whose personal
history we possess little more authentic information than respecting that of Homer,
together with whom lie is frequently mentioned by the ancients. The names of these
two poets, in fact, form as it were the two poles of the early epic poetry of
the Greeks; and as Homer represents the poetry, or school of poetry, belonging
chiefly to Ionia in Asia
Minor, so Hesiod is the representative of a school of bards, which was developed
somewhat later at the foot of Mount
Helicon in Boeotia, and
spread over Phocis and Euboea.
The only points of resemblance between the two poets, or their respective schools,
consist in their forms of versification and their dialect, but in all other respects
they move in totally distinct spheres; for the Homeric takes for its subjects
the restless activity of the heroic age, while the Hesiodic turns its attention
to the quiet pursuits of ordinary life, to the origin of the world, the gods and
heroes. The latter thus gave to its productions an ethical and religious character;
and this circumstance alone suggests an advance in the intellectual state of the
ancient Greeks upon that which we have depicted in the Homeric poems, though we
do not mean to assert that the elements of the Hesiodic poetry are of a later
date than the age of Homer, for they may, on the contrary, be as ancient as the
Greek nation itself. But we must, at any rate, infer that the Hesiodic poetry,
such as it has come down to us, is of later growth than the Homeric; an opinion
which is confirmed also by the language and expressions of the two schools, and
by a variety of collateral circumstances, among which we may mention the range
of knowledge being much more extensive in the poems which bear the name of Hesiod
than in those attributed to Homer. Herodotus (ii. 53) and others regarded Homer
and Hesiod as contemporaries, and some even assigned to him an earlier date than
Homer (Gell. iii. 11, xvii. 21; Suid. s.v. Hesiodos; Tzetz. Chil. xii. 163, 198,
xiii. 650); but the general opinion of the ancients was that Homer was the elder
of the two, a belief which was entertained by Philochorus, Xenophanes, Eratosthenes,
Apollodorus, and many others.
If we inquire after the exact age of Hesiod, we are informed by Herodotus
(l. c.) that he lived four hundred years before his time, that is, about B. C.
850. Velleius Paterculus (i. 7) considers that between Homer and Hesiod there
was an interval of a hundred and twenty years, and most modern critics assume
that Hesiod lived about a century later than Homer, which is pretty much in accordance
with the statement of some ancient writers who place him about the eleventh Olympiad,
i. e. about B. C. 735. Respecting the life of the poet we derive some information
from one of the poems ascribed to him, viz. the Erga kai hemerai. We learn from
that poem (648), that he was born in the village of Ascra
in Boeotia, whither his father
had emigrated from the Aeolian
Cuma in Asia
Minor. Ephorus (Fragm. p. 268, ed. Marx) and Suidas state that both Homer
and Hesiod were natives of Cuma,
and even represent them as kinsmen, --a statement which probably arose from the
belief that Hesiod was born before his father's emigration to Ascra; but if this
were true, Hesiod could not have said that he never crossed the sea, except from
Aulis to Euboea
(Op. et Dies, 648.) Ascra,
moreover, is mentioned as his birthplace in the epitaph on Hesiod (Paus. ix. 38.9),
and by Proclus in his life of Hesiod. The poet describes himself (Theog. 23) as
tending a flock on the side of Mount
Helicon, and from this, as well as from the fact of his calling himself an
atimetos (Op. et Dies, 636), we must infer that he belonged to a humble station,
and was engaged in rural pursuits. But subsequently his circumstances seem to
have been bettered, and after the death of his father, he was involved in a dispute
with his brother Perses about his small patrimony, which was decided in favour
of Perses (Op. et Dies, 219, 261, 637). He then seems to have emigrated to Orchomenos,
where he spent the remainder of his life. (Pind. ap. Proclum, genos Hesiodou,
p. xliv. in Gottling's edit. of Hesiod.) At Orchomenos
he is also said to have been buried, and his tomb was shown there in later times.
This is all that can be said, with any degree of certainty, about the life of
Hesiod. Proclus, Tzetzes, and others relate a variety of anecdotes and marvellous
tales about his life and death, but very little value can be attached to them,
though they may have been derived from comparatively early sources. We have to
lament the loss of some ancient works on the life of Hesiod, especially those
written by Plutarch and Cleomenes, for they would undoubtedly have enlightened
us upon many points respecting which we are now completely in the dark. We must,
however, observe that many of the stories related about Hesiod refer to his whole
school of poetry (but not to the poet personally), and arose from the relation
in which the Boeotian or Hesiodic school stood to the Homeric or Ionic school.
In this light we consider, e. g. the traditions that Stesichorus was a son of
Hesiod, and that Hesiod had a poetical contest with Homer, which is said to have
taken place at Chalcis during
the funeral solemnities of king Amphidamas, or, according to others, at Aulis
or Delos (Proclus, l. c.
p. xliii. and ad Op. et Dies, 648; Plut. Conv. Sept. Sap. 10). The story of this
contest gave rise to a composition still extant under the title of Agon Homerou
kai Hesiodou, the work of a grammarian who lived towards the end of the first
century of our era, in which the two poets are represented as engaged in the contest
and answering each other in their verses. The work is printed in Gottling's edition
of Hesiod, p. 242--254, and in Westermann's Vitarum Scriptores Graeci, p. 33,
&c. Its author knows the whole family history of Hesiod, the names of his father
and mother, as well as of his ancestors, and traces his descent to Orpheus, Linus,
and Apollo himself. These legends, though they are mere fictions, show the connection
which the ancients conceived to exist between the poetry of Hesiod (especially
the Theogony) and the ancient schools of priests and bards, which had their seats
in Thrace and Pieria,
and thence spread into Boeotia,
where they probably formed the elements out of which the Hesiodic poetry was developed.
Some of the fables pretending to be the personal history of Hesiod are of such
a nature as to throw considerable doubt upon the personal existence of the poet
altogether; and athough we do not deny that there may have been in the Boeotian
school a poet of the name of Hesiod whose eminence caused him to be regarded as
the representative, and a number of works to be attributed to him, still we would,
in speaking of Hesiod, be rather understood to mean the whole school than any
particular individual. Thus an ancient epigram mentions that Hesiod was twice
a youth and was twice buried (Proclus; Suidas; Proverb. Vat. iv. 3); and there
was a tradition that, by the command of an oracle, the bones of Hesiod were removed
from Naupactus to Orchomenos,
for the purpose of averting an epidemic (Paus. ix. 38. § 3). These traditions
show that Hesiod was looked upon and worshipped in Boeotia
(and also in Phocis) as an
ancient hero, and, like many other heroes, he was said to have been unjustly killed
in the grove of the Nemean
Zeus (Plut. Conviv. Sept. Sap. 19; Certamen Hom. et Hes. p. 251, ed. Gottling;
comp. Panus. ix. 31.3). All that we can say, under these circumstances, is that
a poet or hero of the name of Hesiod was regarded by the ancients as the head
and representative of that school of poetry which was based on the Thracian
or Pierian bards, and was
developed in Boeotia as distinct
from the Homeric or Ionic
school.
The differences between the two schools of poetry are plain and obvious,
and were recognised in ancient times no less than at present, as may be seen from
the Agon Homerou kai Hesiodou (p. 248, ed. Gottling). In their mode of delivery
the poets of the two schools likewise differed; for while the Homeric poems were
recited under the accompaniment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited without
any musical instrument, the reciter holding in his hand only a laurel branch or
staff (rhabdos, skeptron, Hesiod, Theog. 30; Paus. ix. 30, x. 7.2; Pind.Isthm.
iii. 55, with Dissen's note; Callimach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia,
Phocis, and Euboea
were the principal parts of Greece where the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot
be surprised at finding that the Delphic
oracle is a great subject of veneration with this school, and that there exists
a strong resemblance between the hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses
of Hesiod; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod (Op. et Dies, 283), which is also mentioned
by Herodotus (vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is said to have
possessed the gift of prophecy, and to have acquired it in Acarnania.
A great many allegorical expressions, such as we frequently find in the oracular
language, are common also in the poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as
certain grammatical forms in the language of Hesiod, constitute another point
of difference between the Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect in
which the poems of both schools are composed is, on the whole, the same,--that
is, the Ionic-epic, which had become established as the language of epic poetry
through the influence of Homer.
The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a great variety of
works; that is, all those which in form and substance answered to the spirit of
the Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common origin. We shall subjoin
a list of them, beginning with those which are still extant.
1. Erga or Erga kai hemerai, commonly called Opera et Dies. In the time of Pausanias
(ix. 31.3), this was the only poem which the people about Mount
Helicon considered to be a genuine production of Hesiod, with the exception
of the first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been prefixed by a later
hand. There are also several other parts of this poem which seem to be later interpolations;
but, on the whole, it bears the impress of a genuine production of very high antiquity,
though in its present form it may consist only of disjointed portions of the original.
It is written in the most homely and simple style, with scarcely any poetical
imagery or ornament, and must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen of didactic
poetry. It contains ethical, political, and economical precepts, the last of which
constitute the greater part of the work, consisting of rules about choosing a
wife, the education of children, agriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem
on these subjects was not of course held in much esteem by the powerful and ruling
classes in Greece at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes contemptuously call
Hesiod the poet of helots, in contrast with Homer, the delight of the warrior
(Plut. Apophth. Lac. Cleom. 1). The conclusion of the poem, from v. 750 to 828
is a sort of calendar, and was probably appended to it in later times, and the
addition kai hemerai in the title of the poem seems to have been added in consequence
of this appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called Erga. It would further
seem that three distinct poems have been inserted in it; viz.
1. The fable of Prometheus and Pandora (47--105);
2. On the ages of the world, which are designated by the names of
metals (109--201); and,
3. A description of winter (504--558).
The first two of these poems are not so much out of keeping with the whole as
the third, which is manifestly the most recent production of all, and most foreign
to the spirit of Hesiod. That which remains, after the deduction of these probable
interpolations, consists of a collection of maxims, proverbs, and wise sayings,
containing a considerable amount of practical wisdom; and some of these gnomai
or hupothekai may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat. c. Nicocl. p.
23, ed. Steph.; Lucian, Dial. de Hes. 1, 8.) Now, admitting that the Erga originally
consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is difficult to understand how
the author could derive from his production a reputation like that enjoyed by
Hesiod, especially if we remember that at Thespiae,
to which the village of Ascra
was subject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman (Heraclid. Pont. 42).
In order to account for this phenomenon, it must be supposed that Hesiod was a
poet of the people and peasantry rather than of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards,
when the warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and peaceful pursuits began
to be held in higher esteem, the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity,
and was looked upon as a sage; nay, the very contrast with the Homeric poetry
may have contributed to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, notwithstanding
its want of unity and the incoherence of its parts, gives to us an attractive
picture of the simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their manners and
their domestic relations. (Comp. Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine,
quod inscrib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo.; F. L. Hug, Hesiodi Erga megala,
Freiburg, 1835 ; Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diebus, 1838, 4to ; Lehrs, Quaest. Epic.
p. 180, &c.; G. Hermann, in the Jahrbucher fur Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 117, &c.)
2. Theogonia. This poem was, as we remarked above, not considered by Hesiod's
countrymen to be a genuine production of the poet. It presents, indeed, great
differences from the preceding one: its very subject is apparently foreign to
the homely author of the Erga; but the Alexandrian grammarians, especially Zenodotus
and Aristarchus, appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness (Schol. Venet.
ad Il. xviii. 39), though their opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else
than that the poem contained nothing that was opposed to the character of the
Hesiodic school; and thus much we may therefore take for granted, that the Theogony
is not the production of the same poet as the Erga, and that it probably belongs
to a later date. In order to understand why the ancients, nevertheless, regarded
the Theogony as an Hesiodic work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's
parentage, and the marvellous events of his life. It was on
mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the Thracian
muses, that he was believed to have been born and bred, and his descent was traced
to Apollo; the idea of his having composed a work on the genealogies of the gods
and heroes cannot therefore have appeared to the ancients as very surprising.
That the author of the Theogony was a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities
of the language. The Theogony gives an account of the origin of the world and
the birth of the gods, explaining the whole order of nature in a series of genealogies,
for every part of physical as well as moral nature there appears personified in
the character of a distinct being. The whole concludes with an account of some
of the most illustrious heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of connection
with the Homeric epics. The whole poem may be divided into three parts:
1. The cosmogony, which widely differs from the simple Homeric notion
(Il. xiv. 200), and afterwards served as the groundwork for the various physical
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked upon the Theogony of Hesiod
as containing in an allegorical form all the physical wisdom that they were able
to propound, though Hesiod himself was believed not to have been aware of the
profound philosophical and theological wisdom he was uttering. The cosmogony extends
from v. 116 to 452.
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, from 453 to 962;
and 3. the last portion, which is in fact a heroogony, being an account of the
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had drawn the immortals from Olympus.
This part is very brief, extending only fron v. 963 to 1021, and forms the transition
to the Eoeae, of which we shall speak presently.
If we ask for the sources from which Hesiod drew his information respecting the
origin of the world and the gods, the answer cannot be much more than a conjecture,
for there is no direct information on the point. Herodotus asserts that Homer
and Hesiod made the theogony of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in particular,
this probably means that Hesiod collected and combined into a system the various
local legends, especially of northern Greece, such as they had been handed down
by priests and bards. The assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take into
consideration the fact, that in the earliest Greek theology the gods do not appear
in any definite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropomorphise all of them,
the ancient elementary gods as well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus.
Now both the system of the gods and the forms under which he conceived them afterwards
became firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this way, the assertion
of Herodotus is perfectly correct. Whether the form in which the Theogony has
come down to us is the original and genuine one, and whether it is complete or
only a fragment, is a question which has been much discussed in modern times.
There can be little doubt but that in the course of time the poets of the Hesiodic
school and the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, which produced many
of the inequalities both in the substance and form of the poem which we now perceive;
many parts also may have been lost. Hermann has endeavored to show that there
exist no less than seven different introductions to the Theogony, and that consequently
there existed as many different recensions and editions of it. But as our present
form itself belongs to a very early date, it would be useless to attempt to determine
what part of it formed the original kernel, and what is to be considered as later
addition or interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, Brief uber Hom. und Hes.,
Heidelberg, 1817, 8vo.; F. K. L. Sickler, (Cadmus I. Erklurung der Theogonie des
Hesiod, Hildburghausen, 181, 4to. ; J. D. Guigniant, De la Theogonie d'Hesiod,
Paris, 1335, 8vo.; J. C. Mutzell, De Emendatione Theogoniae Hesiodi, Lips. 1833,
8vo.; A. Soetbeer, Versuch die Urform der Hesiod. Theogonie nachzuweisen, Berlin,
1837, 8vo.; O. F. Gruppe, Ueber die Theog, des Hesiod, ihr Verderbniss und ihre
ursprungliche Beschaffenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8vo. The last two works are useless
and futile attempts; comp. Th. Kock, De pristina Theogoniae Hesiodeae Forma, pars.
i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo.)
3. Eoiai or eoiai megalai, also called katalopsoi gunaikon. The name eoiai was
derived, according to the ancient grammarians, from the fact that the heroines
who, by their connection with the immortal gods, had become the mothers of the
most illustrious heroes, were introduced in the poem by the expression e hoie.
The poem itself, which is lost, is said to have consisted of four books, the last
of which was by far the longest, and was hence called eoiai megalai, whereas the
titles katalogoi or eoiai belonged to the whole body of poetry, containing accounts
of the women who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus become the mothers
of the heroes in the various parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families derived
their origin. The two last verses of the Theogony formed the beginning of the
eoiai, which, from its nature, might justly be regarded as a continuation of the
Theogony, being as a heroogony (heroogonia) the natural sequel to the Theogony.
The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus contained the genealogies or pedigrees
of the most illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or Catalogi was the
work of one and the same poet was a disputed point among the ancients themselves.
From a statement of the scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears
that it consisted of several works, which were afterwards put together; and while
Apollonius Rhodius and Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol. ad Hes.
Theog. 142), Aristopllanes and Aristarchus were doubtful (Anonym. Gram. in Gottling's
ed. of Hes. p. 92; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xxiv. 30 ; Suid. and Apollon. s. v. machlosune).
The anonymous Greek grammarian just referred to states that the first fifty-six
verses of the Hesiodic poem Aspis Herakleous (Scutum Herculis) belonged to the
fourth book of the Eoeae, and it is generally supposed that this poem, or perhaps
fragment of a poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The Aspis Herakleous, which
is still extant, consists of three distinct parts; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient portion; the second from 57 to
140, which must be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the third from 141
to 317 contains the real description of the shield of Heracles, which is introduced
in the account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus. When therefore Apollonius
Rhodius and others considered the Asris to be a genuine Hesiodic production, it
still remains doubtful whether they meant the whole poem as it now stands, or
only some particular portion of it. The description of the shield of Heracles
is an imitation of the Homeric description of the shield of Achilles, but is done
with less skill and ability. It should be remarked, that some modern critics are
inclined to lock upon the Aspis as an independent poem, and wholly unconnected
with the Eoeae, though they admit that it may contain various interpolations by
later hands. The fragments of the Eoeae are collected in Lehmann, De Hesiodi Carminibus
perditis, pars i. Berlin, 1828, in Gottling's edition of Hesiod, p. 209, &c.,
and in Hermann's Opuscula, vi. 1, p. 255, &c. We possess the titles of several
Hesiodic poems, viz. Keukos gamoi, Theseos eis Haiden katabasis, and Epithalamios
Peleos kai [p. 443] Thetidos, but all these poems seem to have been only portions
of the Eoeae. (Athen. ii. p. 49 ; Plut. Sympos. viii. 8; Paus. ix. 31. § 5; Schol.
ad Hes. Theog. 142; comp. C. Ch. Heyler, Ueber Hesiods Schild des Hercules, Worms,
1787, 8vo. ; F. Schlichtegroll, Ueber den Schild des Heracles nach Hesiod, Gotha,
1788, 8vo.; G. Hermann, Opusc. vi. 2, p. 204, &c.; Marckscheffel, De Cutalogo
et Eoeis Carminibus Hesiodeis, Vratislav. 1838, 8vo., and the same author's Hesiodi,
Eumeli, Cinaethonis, &c., Fragmenta colley. emend. dispos., Lips. 1840, 8vo.)
4. Aigimios, an epic poem, consisting of several books or rhapsodies on the story
of Aegimius, the famous ancestral hero of the Dorians, and the mythical history
of the Dorians in general. Some of the ancients attributed this poem to Cercops
of Miletus (Apollod. ii.
1,3; Diog. Laert. ii. 46). The fragments of the Aegimius are collected in Gottling's
edit. of Hesiod, p. 205, &c.
5. Melampodia, an epic poem, consisting of at least three books. Some of the ancients
denied that this was an Hesiodic poem (Paus. ix. 31.4). It contained the stories
about the seer Melampus, and was thus of a similar character to the poems which
celebrated the glory of the heroic families of the Greeks. Some writers consider
the Melampodia to have been only a portion of the Eoeae, but there is no evidence
for it, and others regard it as identical with the epe mantika, an Hesiodic work
mentioned by Pausanias (l. c. ; comp. Athen. ii. p. 47, xi. p. 498, xiii. p. 609
; Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. p. 751). The fragments of the Melampodia are collected
in Gottling's edit. of Hesiod, p. 228, &c.
6. Exegesis epi terasin is mentioned as an Hesiodic work by Pausanias, and distinguished
by him from another entitled epe mantika; but it is not improbable that both were
identical with, or portions of, an astronomical work ascribed to Hesiod, under
the title of astrike biblos or astrologia (Athen. xi. p. 491; Plut. dee Pyth.
Orac. 18; Plin. H. N. xviii. 25). See the fragments in Gottling's edit. of Hesiod,
p. 207.
7. Cheironos hupothekai seems to have been an imitation of the Erga. The few fragments
still extant are given by Gottling, l. c. p. 230, &c.
Strabo (vii. p. 436) speaks of a ges Periodos as the work of Hesiod,
but from another passage (vii. p. 434) we see that he means a compilation made
by Eratosthenes from the works of Hesiod. Respecting a poem called Peri ldaion
Daktulon, which was likewise ascribed to Hesiod, see Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 1156.
The poems of Hesiod, especially the Theogony, were looked up to by
the Greeks from very early times as a great authority in theological and philosophical
matters, and philosophers of nearly every school attempted, by various modes of
interpretation, to bring about a harmony between the statements of Hesiod and
their own theories. The scholars of Alexandria
and other cities, such as Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, Crates of Mallus,
Apollonius Rhodius, Seleucus of Alexandria,
Plutarch, and others, devoted themselves with great zeal to the criticism and
explanation of the poems of Hesiod; but all their works on this poet are lost,
with the exception of sonic isolated remarks contained in the scholia on Hesiod
still extant. These scholia are the productions of a much later age, though their
anthors made use of the works of the earlier grammarians. The scholia of the Neo
Platonist Proclus (though only in an abridged form, of Joannes Tzetzes, and Moschopulus,
on the Erga and introductions on the life of Hesiod, are still extant; the scholia
on the Theogony are a compilation fiom earlier and later commentators. The most
complete edition of the scholia on Hesiod is that in the third volume of Gaisford's
Poetae Graeci Minores.
The Greek text of the Hesiodic poems was first printed at Milan in
1493, fol., together with Isocrates and some of the idyls of Theocritus. The next
edition is that in the collection of gnomic and bucolic poems published by Aldus
Manutius, Venice, 1495. The first separate edition is that of Junta, Florence,
1515, and again 1540, 8vo. The first edition that contains the Greek scholia is
that of Trincavellus, Venice, 1537, 4to., and more complete at Cologne, 1542,
8vo., and Frankfurt, 1591, 8vo. The most important among the subsequent editions
are those of Dan. Heinsius (Amsterdam, 1667, 8vo., with lectiones Hesiodeae, and
notes by Scaliger and Gujetus; it was reprinted by Leclerc in 1701, 8vo), of Th.
Robinson (Oxford, 1737, 4to., reprinted at Leipzig 1746, 8vo.), of Ch. F. Loesner
(Leipzig, 1778, 8vo., contains all that his predecessors had accumulated, together
with some new remarks), of Th. Gaisford (in vol. i. of his Poet. Gr. Min., where
some new MSS. are collated), and of C. Gottling (Gotha and Erfurt, 1831, 8vo.,
2d edit. 1843, with good critical and explanatory notes). The Erga were edited
also by Brunck in his Poetae Gnomici and other collections; the Theogony was edited
separately by F. A. Wolf (Halle, 1783), and by D. J. van Lennep (Amsterdam, 1843,
8vo., with a very useful commentary). There are also two good editions of the
Aspis', the by C. Fr. Heinrich (Breslau, 1802, 8vo., with introduction, scholia,
and commentary), and by C. F. Ranke (Quedlinburg, 1840, 8vo.).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Editor's Information: The e-texts of the works by Hesiod are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
Corinna (Korinna), a poetess of Thebes (fl. B.C. 490), or, according to others, of Tanagra, distinguished for her skill in lyric verse, and remarkable for her personal attractions. She was the rival of Pindar, while the latter was still a young man; and, according to Aelian, she gained the victory over him no less than five times. Pausanias, in his travels, saw at Tanagra a picture, in which Corinna was represented as binding her head with a fillet of victory, which she had gained in a contest with Pindar. He supposes that she was less indebted for this victory to the excellence of her poetry than to her Boeotian dialect, which was more familiar to the ears of the judges at the games, and also to her extraordinary beauty. Corinna afterwards assisted the young poet with her advice. It is related of her that she recommended him to ornament his poems with mythical narrations; but that when he had composed a hymn, in the first six verses of which (still extant) almost the whole of the Theban mythology was introduced, she smiled and said, "We should sow with the hand, not with the whole sack". She was surnamed "the Fly" (Muia), as Erinna had been styled 'the Bee." The poems of Corinna were all in the Boeotian or Aeolic dialect. Too little of her poetry, however, has been preserved to allow of our forming a safe judgment of her style of composition. The extant fragments refer mostly to mythological subjects, particularly to heroines of the Boeotian legends. These remains are given by Bergk in his Poetae Lyrici Graeci (4th ed. 1878).
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Corinna (Korinna), a Greek poetess, a native of Tanagra in Boeotia. According to some
accounts (Eudocia), she was the daughter of Achelodorus and Procratia. On account
of her long residence in Thebes, she was sometimes called a Theban. She flourished
about the beginning of the fifth century B. C., and was a contemporary of Pindar,
whom she is said to have instructed (Plut. de Glor. Athen. iv.), and with whom
she strove for a prize at the public games at Thebes. According to Aelian (V.
H. xiii. 25), she gained the victory over him five times. Pausanias (ix. 22.3)
does not speak of more than one victory, and mentions a picture which he saw at
Tanagra, in which she was represented binding her hair with a fillet in token
of her victory, which he attributes as much to her beauty and to the circumstance
that she wrote in the Aeolic dialect, as to her poetical talents. At a later period,
when Pindar's fame was more securely established, she blamed her contemporary,
Myrtis, for entering into a similar contest with him (Apollon. Dyscol. in Wolf,
Corinnae Carm.). The Aeolic dialect employed by Corinna had many Boeotian peculiarities
(Eustath. ad Od.). She appears to have intended her poems chiefly for Boeotian
ears; hence the numerous local references connected with Boeotia to be found in
them (Paus. ix. 20.1; Steph. Byz. s. v. Thespeia). They were collected in five
books, and were chiefly of a lyrical kind, comprising choral songs, lyrical nomes,
parthenia, epigrams, and erotic and heroic poems. The last. however, seem to have
been written in a lyrical form. Among them awe find mentioned one entitled Iolaus,
and one the Seven against Thebes. Only a few unimportant fragments have been preserved.
Statues were erected to Corinna in different parts of Greece, and
she was ranked as the first and most distinguished of the nine lyrical Muses.
She was surnamed Muia (the Fly). We have mention of a younger Corinna of Thebes,
also sur named Myia, who is probably the same with the contemporary of Pindar.
And so also is probably a Myia or Corinna of Thespiae who is mentioned (Suidas,
s.v. Korinna).
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
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Antigenidas, a Theban, the son of Satyrus or Dionysius, was a celebrated flute-player, and also a poet. He lived in the time of Alexander the Great (Suidas and Harpocrat. s. v.; Plut. de Alex. fort., a., de Music.; Cic. Brut. 50). His two daughters, Melo and Satyra, who followed the profession of their father, are mentioned in an epigram in the Greek Anthology (v. 206).
Archebulus (Archeboulos), of Thebes, a lyric poet, who appears to have lived about the year B. C. 280, as Euphorion is said to have been instructed by him in poetry. (Said. s.v. Euphorion.) A particular kind of verse which was frequently used by other lyric poets, was called after him (Hephaest. Enchir. 27). Not a fragment of his poetry is now extant.
Hegemon, an epic poet, who celebrated in verse the exploits of the Thebans under Epaminondas in the campaign of Leuctra. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Alexandreia.) Aelian quotes Hegemon en tois Dardanikois metrois.
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Bees plaster honey on mouth of youthful, vanquished by Corinna, receives share of first-fruits offered to Apollo at Delphi, his iron chair at Delphi, dedicates images of Ammon and Hermes, dedicates sanctuary of Mother Dindymene, praises Athenians and is honoured by them, dream before his death, his tomb, statue at Athens, ruins of his house, his hymn in honour of Ammon, his song about Aphaea, his posthumous hymn on Proserpine, his poem on Sacadas, Pindar on children of Aloeus, on Alpheus and Artemis, on the Altis, on Antiope the Amazon, on founders of sanctuary of Ephesian Artemis, on Fortune, on Glaucus the sea demon, on Iamus, on Lynceus, on the Navel (omphalos) at Delphi, on selfishness in trouble, on Silenus, on golden songstresses, on Theseus and Pirithous, on loves of Zeus and Thebe, on the kibisis, quoted ("Custom is the lord of all").
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 18/7/2001: 782 for Pindar, 39 for Pindarus, 1000 for Pind., 3 for Pindaros.
CHERONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A. Gabinius, fought at Chaeroneia in the army of Sulla as military tribune, and in the beginning of B. C. 81, was despatched by Sulla to Asia with instructions to Murena to end the war with Mithridates. He was a moderate and honourable man. (Plut. Sull. 16, 17; Appian, Mithr. 66; Cic. pro Leg. Manil. 3.)
L. Hortensius, legate of Sulla in the first Mithridatic war. He distinguished himself at Chaeroneia in the year B. C. 86 (Memnon, Fr. 32, 34, Orelli; Plut. Sull. 15, 17, 19; Dion Cass. Fr. 125.)
Diogenes, a son of Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, who fell in the battle of Chaeroneia, which his father lost against Sulla. (Appian, Mithrid. 49.)
PLATEES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Aeimnestus (Aeimnestos), a Spartan, who killed Mardonius in the battle of Plataea, B. C. 479, and afterwards fell himself in the Messenian war. (Herod. ix. 64.) The Spartan who killed Mardonius, Plutarch (Arist. 19) calls Arimnestus (Arimnestos).
VIOTIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Masistius or Macistius (Masistios, Makistios), a Persian, of fine and commanding presence, was leader of the cavalry in the army which Xerxes left behind in Greece under Mardonius. When the Persian force, having entered Boeotia, was drawn up on the right bank of the Asopus, with the Greeks opposite them along the skirts of Cithaeron, Mardonius, having waited impatiently and to no purpose for the enemy to descend and fight him in the plain, sent Masistius and the cavalry against them. In the combat which ensued, the horse of Masistius, being wounded in the side with an arrow, reared and threw him. The Athenians rushed upon him immediately, but he was cased in complete armour, which for a time protected him, till at last he was slain by the thrust of a spear in his eye through the visor of his helmet. The Persians tried desperately, but in vain, to rescue his body, which was afterwards placed in a cart and led along the Grecian lines, while the men gazed on it with admiration. His countrymen mourned for him as the most illustrious man in the army next to Mardonius. They shaved their own heads, as well as their horses and their beasts of burden, and they raised a wailing, which, according to Herodotus, was heard over the whole of Boeotia. (Herod. ix. 20-25; Plut. Arist. 14.) This Masistius seems to have been a different person from the son of Siromitres, who commanded the Alarodians and Saspeirians in the army of Xerxes. (Herod. vii. 79.) The breastplate of Masistius was dedicated, as a trophy, in the temple of Athena Polias at Athens. (Paus. i. 27.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alcon, a statuary mentioned by Pliny. (H. N. xxxiv. 14. s. 40.) He was the author of a statue of Hercules at Thebes, made of iron, as symbolical of the god's endurance of labour.
Aristogeiton, a statuary, a native of Thebes. In conjunction with Hypatodorus,
he was the maker of some statues of the heroes of Argive and Theban tradition,
which the Argives had made to commemorate a victory gained by themselves and the
Athenians over the Lacedaemonians at Oenoe in Argolis, and dedicated in the temple
of Apollo at Delphi (Paus. x. 10.3). The names of these two artists occur together
likewise on the pedestal of a statue found at Delphi, which had been erected in
honour of a citizen ot Orchomenus, who had been a victor probably in the Pythian
games. We learn from this inscription that they were both Thebans. Pliny says
(xxxiv. 8. s. 19), that Hypatodorus lived about O1. 102. The above-mentioned inscription
was doubtless earlier than Ol. 104, when Orchomenos was destroyed by the Thebans.
The battle mentioned by Pausanias was probably some skirmish in the
war which followed the treaty between the Athenians and Argives, which was brought
about by Alcibiades, B. C. 420. It appears therefore that Aristogeiton and Hypatodorus
lived in the latter part of the fifth and the early part of the fourth centuries
B. C. Boeckh attempts to shew that Aristogeiton was the son of Hypatodorus, but
his arguments are not very convincing.
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
Aristomedes, a statuary, a native of Thebes, and a contemporary of Pindar. In conjunction with his fellow-townsman Socrates, he made a statue of Cybele, which was dedicated by Pindar in the temple of that goddess, near Thebes. (Paus. ix. 25.3)
Ascarus (Askaros), a Theban statuary, who made a statue of Zeus, dedicated by the Thessalians at Olympia. (Paus. v. 24. Β§ 1.) Thiersch (Epochen der bild. Kunst, p. 160, &c. Anm.) endeavors to shew that he was a pupil of Ageladas of Sicyon.
Aristonidas, a statuary, one of whose productions is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. 14. s. 40) as extant at Thebes in his time. It was a statue of Athamas, in which bronze and iron had been mixed together, that the rust of the latter, showing through the brightness of the bronze, might have the appearance of a blush, and so might indicate the remorse of Athamas.
Callistonicus (Kallistonikos), a Theban statuary mentioned by Pausanias (ix. 16.1), made a statue of Tycho carrying the god Plutus. The face and the hands of the statue were executed bv the Athenian Xenophon.
Hypatodorus, (Hupatodoros), a statuary of Thebes (Boekh, Corp. Inscript. No. 25), who flourished, with Polycles I., Cephisodotus I., and Leochares, in the 102d Olympiad, B. C. 372. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19.) He made, with Aristogeiton, the statues of the Argive chieftains who fought with Polyneices against Thebes. (Paus. x. 10.2) He also made the great statue of Athena at Aliphera in Arcadia (Paus. viii. 26.4), which is also mentioned by Polybius (iv. 78.5), who calls it the work of Hecatodorus and Sostratus, and describes it as ton megalomepestaton kai technikotaton epgon. onyx has been found at Aliphera engraved with an Athena, which Muller thinks may have been taken after this statue. (Archaol. d. Kunst, § 370, n. 4.)
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
CHERONIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Plutarchus, (Ploutarchos). A Greek writer of biographies and
miscellaneous works, who was born at Chaeronea, in Boeotia, about A.D. 50. He
came of a distinguished and wealthy family, and enjoyed a careful education. His
philosophical training he received at Athens, especially in the school of the
Peripatetic Ammonius (of Lamptrae in Attica), who is identified with Ammonius
the Egyptian. After this he made several journeys, and stayed a considerable time
in Rome, where he gave public lectures on philosophy, was in friendly intercourse
with persons of distinction, and conducted the education of the future emperor
Hadrian. From Trajan he received consular rank, and by Hadrian he was in his old
age named procurator of Greece. He died about 120 in his native town, in which
he held the office of archon and of priest of the Pythian Apollo.
His fame as an author is founded principally upon his Parallel
Lives (Bioi Paralleloi). These he probably prepared in Rome under the reign of
Trajan, but completed and published late in life at Chaeronea. The biographies
are divided into connected pairs, each pair (which makes a biblion) placing a
Greek and a Roman in juxtaposition, and generally ending with a comparative view
of the two; of these we still possess forty-six: Theseus and Romulus; Lycurgus
and Numa; Solon and Valerius Publicola; Themistocles and Camillus; Pericles and
Fabius Maximus; Alcibiades and Coriolanus; Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus; Pelopidas
and Marcellus; Aristides and the elder Cato; Philopoemen and Flamininus; Pyrrhus
and Marius; Lysander and Sulla; Cimon and Lucullus; Nicias and Crassus; Eumenes
and Sertorius; Agesilaus and Pompeius; Alexander and Caesar; Phocion and the younger
Cato; Agis and Cleomenes and the two Gracchi; Demosthenes and Cicero; Demetrius
Poliorcetes and Antonius; Dion and Brutus. To these are added the four specially
elaborated lives of Artaxerxes Mnemon, Aratus, Galba, and Otho; a number of other
biographies are lost. The sequels which follow most of the lives give a sort of
balanced judgment (sunkrisis) of the two men compared.
Plutarch's object was not to write history, but out of more
or less important single traits to form distinct sketches of character. The sketches
show, indeed, a certain uniformity, inasmuch as Plutarch has a propensity to portray
the persons represented either as models of virtue in general, or as slaves of
some passion in particular; but the lives are throughout attractive, owing to
the liveliness and warmth of the portraiture, the moral earnestness with which
they are penetrated, and the enthusiasm which they display for everything noble
and great. For these reasons they have always had a wide circle of readers. More
than this, their historical value is not to be meanly estimated, in spite of the
lack of criticism in the use of the authorities and the manifold inaccuracies
and mistakes, which, in the Roman lives, were in part the result of a defective
knowledge of the Latin language. There are a large number of valuable pieces of
information in which they fill up numerous gaps in the historical narratives that
have been handed down to us. Besides this work eightythree writings of various
kinds (some of them only fragments and epitomes of larger treatises) are preserved
under the name of Plutarch. These are improperly classed together under the title
Moralia (ethical writings); for this designation is only applicable to a part
of them. The form of these works is as diverse as their tenor and scope: some
are treatises and reports of discourses; a large number is composed in the form
of Platonic or Aristotelian dialogues; others again are learned collections and
notices put together without any special plan of arrangement. A considerable portion
of them are of disputable authenticity or have been proved to be spurious. About
half are of philosophical and ethical tenor, and have for the most part a popular
and practical tendency, some of them being of great value for the history of philosophy,
such as the work on the opinions of the philosophers (De Placitis Philosophorum)
in five books. Others belong to the domain of religion and worship, such as the
works On Isis and Osiris, On the Oracles of the Pythian Priestess, and On the
Decay of the Oracles; others to that of the natural sciences, while others again
are treatises on history and antiquities, or on the history of literature, such
as the Greek and Roman Questions and the Lives of the Ten Orators. This last is
undoubtedly spurious. One of the most instructive and entertaining of all his
works is the Table-talk (Quaestiones Conviviales) in nine books, which deal inter
alia with a series of questions of history, archaeology, mythology, and physics.
But even with these works his literary productiveness was not exhausted; for,
besides these, twenty-four lost writings are known to us by their titles and by
fragments. In his language he aims at attaining the pure Attic style, without,
however, being able altogether to avoid the deviations from that standard which
were generally prevalent in his time.
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
Plutarch of Chaeronea : influential Greek philosopher and author, well
known for his biographies and his moral treatises.
It is not overstated to say that, together with Augustine of Hippo
and Aristotle of Stagira,
Plutarch of Chaeronea is the most influential ancient philosopher. He may lack
the the profundity of Augustine, the most influential philosopher in the early
Middle Ages, and the acumen of Aristotle, considered the master of all intellectuals
of the late Middle Ages, but the Sage of Chaeronea is an excellent writer and
from the Renaissance to the present day, his moral treatises have found a larger
audience than any other ancient philosopher. In his own age, he was immensely
popular because he was able to explain philosophical discussions to non-philosophical
readers, Greek and Roman alike. The fact that he was priest in Delphi
will no doubt have improved his popularity.
Life
Plutarch was probably born in 46 in the Boeotian town Chaeronea. His
parents were wealthy people, and after 67, their son was able to study philosophy,
rhetorics, and mathematics at the platonic Academy of Athens.
However, Plutarch never became a platonic puritan, but always remained open to
influences from other philosophical schools, such as the Stoa and the school of
Aristotle. It is likely that the young man was present when the emperor Nero,
who visited Greece at this time, declared the Greek towns to be free and autonomous.
Because Plutarch was a rich man, he became one of the leading citizens
of Chaeronea and he is known to have represented his town on several occasions.
For example, he visited the governor of Achaea, and traveled to Alexandria and
Rome (several times). Again, this proves that he was a rich man.
Among his friends was Lucius Mestrius Florus, a consul during the
reign of Vespasian, and Plutarch's guide during his visit to Bedriacum, where
two important battles had been fought in 69, the year of the four emperors. Mestrius
also secured the Roman citizenship for Plutarch, whose official name now became
Mestrius Plutarchus. At the end of his life, he was honored with the procuratorship
of Achaea, an important office
that he probably held only in name. His involvement in the Roman world, although
from a carefully maintained distance, explains why he shows so much interest in
the history of Rome.
In the 90's, Plutarch, who had seen much of the world, settled in
his home town. When asked to explain his return to the province, he said that
Chaeronea was in decline and that it would be even smaller if he did not settle
there. For some time, he was mayor.
In his treatise Should Old Men Take Part in Politics?, Plutarch tells
us that he occupied an office in the holy city Delphi,
and he is known to have become one of the two permanent priests, responsible for
the interpretation of the inspired utterances of the Pythia, the prophetess of
Delphi. In these years, a library was built near the sanctuary, and it is tempting
to assume that Plutarch was behind this initiative.
In the two first decades of the second century, he studied and wrote
many books. According to an incomplete third-century catalogue, there were between
200 and 300 titles. These books brought him international fame, and the home of
the famous author became a private school for young philosophers. He was often
visited by Greeks and Romans, although not necessarily to study philosophy. The
emperor Trajan may have been one of the visitors (winter 113/114?), and it may
have been on this occasion that Trajan honored Plutarch with the ornaments of
a consul, an important award. From now on, Plutarch was allowed to wear a golden
ring and a white toga with a border made of purple.
Plutarch died after his procuratorship, which was in 119, and before
125. The year 122 is just guesswork. The Delphians and Chaeroneans ordered statues
to be erected for their famous citizen.
In the Consolation to his wife, Plutarch mentions four sons and we know
that at least two survived childhood. It has often been remarked that in his many
publications, Plutarch shows that he was devoted to his parents, grandfather,
brothers, his wife Timoxena, and to their children, but this is of course an impression
that every author wants to convey.
The Moralia
Plutarch's oeuvre can be divided into two parts: the biographies (below)
and the remainder, which is usually called the Moralia or Moral Writings. This
second group is a varied collection of literary criticism, declamations, ethical
essays, advice, polemics, political writing, conversation and consolation. Although
there is much variation among these treatises, it is clear that its author aimed
at the moral education of his readers (e.g. in works with titles like Checking
Anger, The Art of Listening, How to Know Whether One Progresses to Virtue).
Plutarch's central theme seems to have been his idea that there was
a dualistic opposition between the good an evil principles in the world. Later
philosophers of the neoplatonistic school disagreed with this idea, and this explains
why several of Plutarch's more serious philosophical publications are now lost.
What we have left, is generally lighter work, together with his attacks on the
Stoa and Epicurism.
They are interesting texts, because they show a very pragmatic philosopher,
whose aim it is to make people more virtuous and therefore happier. In fact, several
works have a striking resemblance to modern "do it yourself"-books of social psychology.
Treatises like the Advice to Bride and Groom may strike us as conservative and
anti-feminist, but in Antiquity, the advises may indeed have been helpful.
The biographies
Plutarch's biographies are in fact moral treatises too. He describes
the careers of a Greek and a Roman, and compares them. For example, in the Life
of Theseus/Life of Romulus, he describes the lives of the founders of Athens
and Rome, and in a brief
epilogue penetrates into their respective characters. Another example is the comparison
of Themistocles and Camillus, an Athenian and a Roman who were both sent into
exile. The result is not only an entertaining biography, but also a better understanding
of a morally exemplary person, which the reader can use for his own moral improvement.
A good example of Plutarch's method is his Life of Alexander/Life
of Julius Caesar, in which he gives a very short summary of his biographical ideal.
"It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious
deeds there is not always an indication of virtue of vice, indeed a small thing
like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles
where thousands die."
[tr. E.L. Bowie]
This is a good description of what Plutarch has to offer. He will
not give an in-depth comparative analysis of the causes of the fall of the Achaemenid
empire and the Roman Republic, but offers anecdotes with a moral pointe. We should
read his Life of Alexander as a collection of short stories, in which virtues
and vices are shown. The most important theme (one might say: Plutarch's vision
on Alexander's significance in world history) is that he brought civilization
to the barbarians and made them human; Alexander is, so to speak, a practical
philosopher, who improves mankind in a rather unusual but effective way. This
theme is more explicitly worked out in a writing called The Fortune and Virtue
of Alexander.
Because Plutarch's moral judgment is more important than his historical
judgment, he sometimes makes odd errors (e.g., praising Pompey's trustworthy character
and tactful behavior), but he is not a bad historian. To return to Alexander:
most authors of books on the Macedonian king took their material from either the
so-called 'vulgate' tradition (which follows a biographer called Cleitarchus)
or from the 'good' tradition (which follows Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals).
Plutarch, on the other hand, tells his own, moral story and takes elements from
both traditions.
If the reader of this article has the impression that Plutarch is
a boring moralist, he is mistaken. His sincere interest in his subjects as human
beings makes the Lives very readable and explains why they have found so many
readers - both ancient and modern. The ultimate compliment to Plutarch was paid
by a twelfth-century official of the Byzantine church, John Mauropos, who prayed
that on the Day of Judgment, when all non-Christians would be sent to hell, God
would save the soul of the Sage of Chaeronea.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
The Website of the International Plutarch Society
The e-texts of the works by Plutarch are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
Plutarch, historian, around A.D. 46-120, born at Chaeronea, Boeotia,
in Greece during the Roman
Empire. Plutarch travelled widely in the Mediterranean world until he returned
to Boeotia, becoming a priest
at the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
His most important historical work is the Parallel Lives, in which
he arranges 46 biographies of leading Greeks and leading Romans in tandem to illuminate
their shared moral virtues or failings. This moralizing approach to history makes
it difficult to rely on Plutarch for certain kinds of details, though his dates
are not usually troublesome.
After having been trained in philosophy at Athens
he travelled and stayed some time at Rome,
where he lectured on philosophy and undertook the education of Hadrian. Trajan
bestowed consular rank upon him, and Hadrian appointed him procurator of Greece.
He died in his native town, where he was archon and priest of the Pythian Apollo.
In the Consolation to his Wife on the loss of his young daughter, he tells us
that they had brought up four sons besides, one of whom was called by the name
of Plutarch's brother, Lamprias. We learn incidentally from this treatise that
the writer had been initiated in the secret mysteries of Dionysus, which held
that the soul was imperishable.
He seems to have been an independent thinker rather than an adherent
of any particular school of philosophy. His vast acquaintance with the literature
of his time is everywhere apparent. The celebrity of Plutarch, or at least his
popularity, is mainly founded on his forty-six Parallel Lives. He is thought to
have written this work in his later years after his return to Chaeronea. His knowledge
of Latin and of Roman history he must have partly derived from some years' residence
in Rome, and parts of Italy,
though he says he was too much engaged in lecturing (doubtless in Greek, on philosophy)
to turn his attention much to Roman literature during that period.
Plutarch's design in writing the Parallel Lives appears to have been
the publication, in successive books, of authentic biographies in pairs, taking
together a Greek and a Roman. It may therefore fairly be inferred that Plutarch's
original idea was simply to set a Greek warrior, statesman, orator or legislator
side by side with some noted Roman celebrated for the same qualities, or working
under similar conditions. Nearly all the lives are in pairs. The Lives are works
of great learning and research, long lists of authorities are given, and they
must for this very reason, as well as from their considerable length, have taken
many years in compilation. It is true that many of the lives, especially of Romans,
do not show such an extent of research. But Plutarch must have had access to a
great store of books, and his diligence as an historian cannot be questioned,
if his accuracy is in some points impeached. From the historian's point of view
the weakness of the biographies is that their interest is primarily ethical. The
author's sympathy with Doric characters and institutions is very evident; he delights
to record the exploits, the maxims and virtues of Spartan kings and generals.
This feeling is the key to his apparently unfair and virulent attack on Herodotus,
who, as an Ionian, seemed to him to have exaggerated the prowess and the foresight
of the Athenian leaders.
The voluminous and varied writings of Plutarch exclusive of the Lives
are known under the common term Opera moralia. These consist of above sixty essays,
some of them long and many of them rather difficult, some too of very doubtful
genuineness. Their literary value is greatly enhanced by the large number of citations
from lost Greek poems, especially verses of the dramatists, among whom Euripides
holds by far the first place.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Malaspina Great Books URL below, which contains image.
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