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Listed 37 sub titles with search on: Biographies  for wider area of: "CANAKKALE Province TURKEY" .


Biographies (37)

Astronomers

Cleosratus of Tenedus, 6th cent. BC

BOZCAADA (Island) TURKEY
   (Kleostratos). An astronomer of Tenedos, who is said to have introduced the familiar Zodiac signs. He flourished about the year B.C. 500.

Generals

Eumenes the Cardian, 4th c. B.C.

KARDIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
General of Alexander the Great.

Eumenes of Cardia, secretary to Alexander the Great, and after his death one of the most distinguished generals among his successors. The accounts of his origin vary considerably, some representing his father as a poor man, who was obliged to subsist by his own labour, others as one of the most distinguished citizens of his native place. (Plut. Eum. 1; Corn. Nep. Eum. 1; Aelian, V. H. xii. 43.) The latter statements are upon all accounts the most probable : it is certain, at least, that he received a good education, and having attracted the attention of Philip of Macedon on occasion of his visiting Cardia, was taken by that king to his court, and employed as his private secretary. In this capacity he soon rose to a high place in his confidence, and after his death continued to discharge the same office under Alexander, whom lie accompanied throughout his expedition in Asia, and who seems to have treated him at all times with the most marked confidence and distinction, of which he gave a striking proof about two years before his death, by giving him in marriage Artonis, a Persian princess, the daughter of Artabazus, at the same time that he himself married Stateira, the daughter of Dareius. (Arrian, Anab. vii. 4.) A still stronger evidence of the favour which Eumenes enjoyed with Alexander is, that he was able to maintain his ground against the influence of Hephaestion, with whom he was continually at enmity. (Arrian, Anab. vii. 13, 14; Plut. Eum. 2.) Nor were his services confined to those of his office as secretary: he was more than once employed by Alexander in military commands, and was ultimately appointed by him to the post of hipparch on leader of one of the chief divisions of cavalry. (Arrian, Anab. v. 24; Plut. Eum. 1; Corn. Nep. Eum. 13.)
  In the discussions and tumults which ensued on the death of Alexander, Eumenees at first, aware of the jealousy with which as a Greek he was regarded by the Macedoniian leaders, refrained from taking any part; but when matters came to an open rupture, he was mainly instrumental in bringing about a reconciliation between the two parties. In the division of the satrapies which followed, Eumenes obtained the government of Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus : but as these provinces had never yet been conquered, and were still in the hands of Ariarathes, Antigonus and Leonnatus were appointed to reduce them for him. Antigonus, however, disdained compliance, and Leonnatus was quickly called off to Greece by his ambitious projects. In these he endeavoured to persuade Eumenes, who had accompanied him into Phrygia, to join; but the latter, instead of doing so, abruptly quitted him, and hastening to Perdiccas, revealed to him the designs of Leonnatus. By this proof of his fidelity, he secured the favour of the regent, who henceforward reposed his chief confidence in him. As an immediate reward, Perdiccas proceeded in person to subdue for him the promised satrapies, defeated and put to death Ariarathes, and established Eumenes in the full possession of his government, B. C. 322. (Plut. Eum. 3; Diod., xviii. 3, 16; Arrian, ap. Phot.; Corn. Nep. Eum. 2.) Here, however, he did not long remain, but accompanied the regent and the royal family into Cilicia. In the following spring, when Perdiccas determined to proceed in person against Ptolemy, he committed to Eumenes the chief command in Asia Minor, and ordered him to repair at once to the Hellespont, to make head against Antipater and Craterus. Eumenes took advantage of the interval before their arrival to raise a numerous and excellent body of cavalry out of Paphilagonia, to which he was indebted for many of his subsequent victories. Meanwhile, a new enemy arose against him in Neoptolemus, governor of Armenia, who had been placed under his command by Perdiccas, but then revolted from him, and entered into correspondence with Antipater and Craterus. Eumenes, however, defeated him before the arrival of his confederates, and then turned to meet Craterus, who was advancing against him, and to whom Neoptolemus had made his escape after his own defeat. The battle that ensued was decisive; for although the Macedonian phalanx suffered but little, Craterus himself fell, and Neoptolemus was slain by Eumenes with his own hand, after a deadly struggle in the presence of the two armies. (Plut. Eum. 4-7; Diod. xviii. 29-32; Arrian, ap. Phot.; Corn. Nep. Eum. 3, 4; Justin, xiii. 6, 8.) This took place in the summer of 321 B. C.
  But while Eumenes was thus triumphant in Asia, Perdiccas had met with repeated disasters in Egypt, and had finally fallen a victim to the discontent of his troops, just before the news arrived of the victory of Eumenes and the death of Craterus. It came too late : the tide was now turned, and the intelligence excited the greatest indignation among the Macedonian soldiers, who had been particularly attached to Craterus, and who hated Eumenes as a foreigner, for such they considered him. A general assembly of the army was held, in which Eumenes, Attalus, and Alcetas, the remaining leaders of the party of Perdiccas, were condemned to death. The conduct of the war against them was assigned to Antigonus; but he did not take the field until the following summer (B. C. 320). Eumenes had wintered at Celaenae in Phrygia, and strengthened himself by all means in his power, but he was unable to make head against Antigonus, who defeated him in the plains of Orcynium in Cappadocia; and finding himself unable to effect his retreat into Armenia, as he had designed to do, he adopted the resolution of disbanding the rest of his army, and throwing himself, with only 700 troops, into the small but impregnable fortress of Nora, on the confines of Lycaonia and Cappadocia. (Plut. Eum. 8-10; Diod. xviii. 37, 40, 41; Corn. Nep. Eum. 5.) Here he was closely blockaded by the forces of Antigonus; but, confident in the strength of his post, refused all offers of capitulation, and awaited the result of external changes. It was not long before these took place: the death of Antipater caused a complete alteration in the relations of the different leaders; and Antigonus, who was anxious to obtain the assistance of Eumenes, made him the most plausible offers, of which the latter only availed himself so far as enabled him to quit his mountain fortress, in which he had now held out nearly a year, and withdraw to Cappadocia. Here he was busy in levying troops and gathering his friends together, when he received letters from Polysperchon and Olympias, entreating his support, and granting him, in the name of the king, the supreme command throughout Asia. Eumenes was, whether from interest or from real attachment, always disposed to espouse the cause of the royal family of Macedonia, and gladly embraced the offer: he eluded the pursuit of Menander, who marched against him by order of Antigonus, and arrived in Cilicia, where he found the select body of Macedonian veterans called the Argyraspids, under Antigenes and Teutamus. These, as well as the royal treasures deposited at Quinda, had been placed at his disposal by Polysperchon and Olympias: but though welcomed at first with apparent enthusiasm, Eumenes was well aware of the jealousy with which he was regarded, and even sought to avoid the appearance of commanding the other generals by the singular expedient of erecting a tent in which the throne, the crown and sceptre of Alexander were preserved, and where all councils of war were held, as if in the presence of the deceased monarch. (Plut. Eum. 11-13; Diod. xviii. 42, 53, 58-61; Polyaen. iv. 8.2; Justin. xiv. 2.) By these and other means Eumenes succeeded in conciliating the troops under his command, so that they rejected all the attempts made by Ptolemy and Antigonus to corrupt their fidelity. At the same time he made extensive levies of mercenaries, and having assembled in all a numerous army, he advanced into Phoenicia, with the view of reducing the maritime towns, and sending a fleet from thence to the assistance of Polysperchon This plan was, however, frustrated by the arrival of the fleet of Antigonus, and the advance of that general himself with a greatly superior force. Eumenes in consequence retired into the interior of Asia, and took up his winterquarters in Babylonia. (Diod. xviii. 61-63, 73.)
  In the spring of 317 he descended the left bank of the Tigris, and having foiled all the endeavours of Saleucus to prevent his passing that river, advanced into Susiana, where he was joined by Peucestes at the head of all the forces of Media, Persia, and the other provinces of Upper Asia. Still he did not choose to await here the advance of Antigonus; and leaving a strong garrison to guard the royal treasures at Susa, he took post with his army behind the Pasitigris. Antigonus, who had followed him out of Babylonia, and effected his junction with Seleucus and Pithon, now marched against him; but having met with a check at the river Copratas, withdrew by a cross march through a difficult country into Media, while Eumenes took up his quarters at Persepolis. He had many difficulties to contend with, not only from the enemy, but from the discontent of his own troops, the relaxation of their discipline when they were allowed to remain in the luxurious provinces of Persia, and above all from the continual jealousies and intrigues of the generals and satraps under his command. But whenever they were in circumstances of difficulty or in presence of the enemy, all were at once ready to acknowledge his superiority, and leave him the uncontrolled direction of everything. The two armies first met on the confines of Gabiene, when a pitched battle ensued, with no decided advantage to either side; after which Antigonus withdrew to Gadamarga in Media, while Eumenes established his winter-quarters in Gabiene. Here Antigonus attempted to surprise him by a sudden march in the depth of the winter; but he was too wary to be taken unprepared: he contrived by a stratagem to delay the march of his adversary until til had time to collect his scattered forces, and again bring matters to the issue of a pitched battle. Neither party obtained a complete victory, and Eumenes would have renewed the combat the next day; but the baggage of the Macedonian troops had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the Argyraspids, furious at their loss, agreed to purchase its restoration from Antigonus by delivering up their general into his hands. Tile latter is said to have been at first disposed to spare the life of his captive, which he was strongly urged to do by Nearchus and the young Demetrius; but all his other officers were of the contrary opinion, and Eumenes was put to death a few days after he had fallen into the hands of the enemy. (Plut. Eum. 13-19; Diod. xix. 12-15, 17-34, 37-44; Corn. Nep. Eum. 7-12; Justin. xiv. 3, 4; Polyaen. iv. 8.3, 4.) These events took place in the winter of 317 to 316 B. C. (1)
  Eumenes was only forty-five years old at the time of his death. (Corn. Nep. Eum. 13.) Of his consummate ability, both as a general and a statesman, no doubt can be entertained; and it is probable that he would have attained a far more important position among the successors of Alexander, had it not been for the accidental disadvantage of his birth. But as a Greek of Cardia, and not a native Macedonian, he was constantly looked upon with dislike, and even with contempt, both by his opponents and companions in arms, at the very time that they were compelled to bow beneath his genius. This prejudice was throughout the greatest obstacle with which he had to contend, and it may be regarded as the highest proof of his ability that he overcame it even to the extent to which he was able. It must be borne in mind also, if we praise him for his fidelity to the royal house of Macedonia, that this same disadvantage, by rendering it impossible for him to aspire to any independent authority, made it as much his interest as his duty to uphold the legitimate occupants of the throne of Alexander. He is described by Plutarch (Eum. 11) as a man of polished manners and appearance, with the air of a courtier rather than a warrior; and his oratory was more subtle and plausible than energetic. Craft and caution seem indeed to have been the prevailing points in his character; though he was able also to exhibit, when called for, the utmost energy and activity.
(1) In the relation of these events, the chronology of Droysen has been followed. Mr. Clinton (who places the death of Eumenes early in 315 B. C.) appears to have been misled by attaching too much importance to the archonships, as mentioned by Diodorus.

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


   Eumenes. Of Cardia, served as private secretary to Philip and Alexander; and on the death of the latter (B.C. 323) obtained the government of Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. Eumenes allied himself with Perdiccas, and carried on war for him in Asia Minor against Antipater and Craterus. On the death of Perdiccas in Egypt, Antigonus employed the whole force of the Macedonian army to crush Eumenes. Notwithstanding the numerical inferiority of his forces, Eumenes maintained his ground against his enemies for some years, till he was surrendered by the soldiery to Antigonus, by whom he was put to death, 316. He was a great general and statesman, and had he been a native Macedonian would probably have occupied a more important position among the successors of Alexander.

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


Historians

Hieronymus

   Hieronymus, (Hieronomos). Of Cardia, accompanied Alexander the Great to Asia, and after the death of that monarch (B.C. 323) served under his countryman Eumenes. He afterwards fought under Antigonus, his son Demetrius, and grandson Antigonus Gonatas. He survived Pyrrhus, and died at the advanced age of 104. Hieronymus wrote a history of the events from the death of Alexander to that of Pyrrhus, if not later.

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


Hieronymus, (Hieronumos), of Cardia, an historian who is frequently cited as one of the chief authorities for the history of the times immediately following the death of Alexander. He had himself taken an active part in the events of that period. Whether he had accompanied his fellow-citizen Eumenes during the campaigns of Alexander we have no distinct testimony, but after the death of that prince, we find him not only attached to the service of his countryman, but already enjoying a high place in his confidence. It seems probable also from the terms in which he is alluded to as describing the magnificent bier or funeral car of Alexander, that his admiration was that of an eye-witness, and that he was present at Babylon at the time of its construction. (Athen. v. p. 206; comp. Diod. xviii. 26.) The first express mention of him occurs in B. C. 320, when he was sent by Eumenes, at that time shut up in the castle of Nora, at the head of the deputation which he despatched to Antipater. But before he could return to Eumenes, the death of the regent produced a complete change in the relative position of parties, and Antigonus, now desirous to conciliate Eumenes, charged Hieronymus to be the bearer of friendly offers and protestations to his friend and countryman. (Diod. xviii. 42, 50 ; Plut. Eum. 12.) But though Hieronymus was so far gained over by Antigonus as to undertake this embassy, yet in the struggle that ensued he adhered steadily to the cause of Eumenes, and accompanied that leader until his final captivity. In the last battle in Gabiene (B. C. 316) Hieronymus himself was wounded, and fell a prisoner into the hands of Antigonus, who treated him with the utmost kindness, and to whose service he henceforth attached himself. (Diod. xix. 44.) In B. C. 312, we find him entrusted by that monarch with the charge of collecting bitumen from the Dead Sea, a project which was frustrated by the hostility of the neighbouring Arabs. (Id. xix. 100.) The statement of Josephus (c. Apion. i. 23) that he was at one time appointed by Antigonus to the government of Syria, is in all probability erroneous. After the death of Antigonus, Hieronymus continued to follow the fortunes of his son Demetrius, and he is again mentioned in B. C. 292 as being appointed by the latter governor or harmost of Boeotia, after his first conquest of Thebes. (Plut. Demetr. 39.) Whether he was reinstated in this office when Thebes, after shaking off the yoke for a while, fell again under the power of Demetrius, we are not told, nor have we any information concerning the remaining events of his long life; but it may be inferred, from the hostility towards Lysimachus and Pyrrhus evinced by his writings at a period long subsequent, that he continued unshaken in his attachment to Demetrius and to his son, Antigonus Gonatas, after him. It appears that he survived Pyrrhns, whose death, in B. C. 272, was mentioned in his history (Paus. i. 13.9), and died at the advanced age of 104, having had the unusual advantage of retaining his strength and faculties unimpaired to the last. (Lucian. Macrob. 22.)
  The historical work of Hieronymus is cited under various titles (ho tas ton diadochon historias gegraphos, Diod. xviii. 42; en tei peri ton epigonon pragmateiai, Dionys. i. 6), and these have sometimes been regarded as constituting separate works; but it seems probable, on the whole, that he wrote but one general work, comprising the history from the death of Alexander to that of Pyrrhus, if not later. Whether he gave any detailed account of the wars of Alexander himself is at least doubtful, for the few facts cited from him previous to the death of that monarch are such as might easily have been incidentally mentioned ; and the passage in Suidas (s. v. Hieronumos), which is quoted by Fabricius to prove that he wrote a history of that prince, is manifestly corrupt, Probably we should read ta ep' Alexandroi, instead of ta hup' Alexandrou, as proposed by Fabricius. Nor is there any reason to infer (as has been done by the Abbe Sevin, Mem.. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. xiii.), that his history of Pyrrhus formed a distinct work, though lie is repeatedly cited by Plutarch as an authority in his life of that prince. (Plut. Pyrrh. 17, 21.) It was in this part of his work, also, that he naturally found occasion to touch upon the affairs of Rome, and he is consequently mentioned by Dionysius as one of the first Greek writers who had given any account of the history of that city (Dionys. i. 6). But that Dionysius himself did not follow his authority in regard to the expedition of Pyrrhus to Italy is clear from the passages of Plutarch already cited, in which the statements of the two are contrasted. Hieronymus is enumerated by Dionysius (de comp. 4) among the writers whose defective style rendered it almost impossible to read them through. He is also severely censured by Pausanias for his partiality to Antigonus and Demetrius, and the injustice he displayed in consequence in regard to Pyrrhus and Lysimachus. Towards the latter monarch, indeed, he had an additional cause of enmity, on account of Lysimachus having destroyed his native city of Cardia to make way for the foundation of Lysimacheia. (Paus. i. 9.8, 13.9.) There can be little doubt that the history of Alexander's immediate successors (the diadochoi and epigonoi), which has descended to us, is derived in great part from Hieronymus, but it is impossible to determine to what extent his authority was followed by Diodorus and Plutarch.

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


Charon

LAMPSAKOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Charon, a historian of Lampsacus, is mentioned by Tertullian (de Anim. 46) as prior to Herodotus, and is said by Suidas according to the common reading, to have flourished (genomenos) in the time of Dareius Hystaspis, in the 79th Olympiad (B. C. 464); but, as Dareius died in B. C. 485, it has been proposed to read xth for oth in Suidas, thus placing the date of Charon in 01. 69 or B. C. 504. He lived, however, as late as B. C. 464, for he is referred to by Plutarch (Them. 27) as mentioning the flight of Themistocles to Asia in B. C. 465. We find the following list of his works in Suidas: 1. Aithiothika. 2. Persika. 3. Hellenika. 4. Peri Lampsakou. 5. Libuka. 6. Horoi Lampsakenon, a work quoted by Athenaeus (xi.), where Schweighaeuser proposes to substitute horoi (comp. Diod. i. 26), thus making its subject to be the annals of Lampsacus. 7. Prutaneis e Archontes hoi ton Lakedaimonion, a chronological work. 8. Ktiseis poleon. 9. Kretika. 10. Periplous ho ektos ton Herakleion stelon. The fragments of Charon, together with those of Hecataeus and Xanthus, have been published by Creuzer, Heidelberg, 1806, and by Car. and Th. Muller, Fragm. Histor. Graec. Paris, 1841. Besides the references above given, comp. Plut. de Mul. Virt. s. v. Lampsake; Strab. xiii. p. 583 ; Paus. x. 38; Athen. xii.; Ael. V. H. i 15; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. ii. 2, 479.

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


Mathematicians

Deinostratus

Deinostratus, (Deinostratos), a geometer. He is stated by Proclus to have been the brother of Menaechmus, and a contemporary and follower of Plato. (Comm. in Eucl. c. iv.) The two brothers, according to Proclus, made the w/ole of geometry more perfect (teleoteran) than before. Pappus (lib. iv. prop. 25) has handed down the curve which is called the quadratrix of Deinostratus for squaring the circle, which Nicomedes and others afterwards used. This curve is made by the intersection of a revolving radius of a circle with a line moving perpendicular to the first position of that radius, both moving uniformly, and so that the extremity of the moving perpendicular descends from the circumference to the centre while the revolving radius describes a right angle.

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


Novelists

Philosophers

Cleanthes, 4th/3rd c. B.C.

ASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Cleanthes (Kleanthes), a Greek philosopher, a native of Assos in Asia Minor. He was originally a boxer (Diog. Laert. vii. 168), and while attending at Athens the lectures of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, gained a livelihood at night by carrying water. He was Zeno's disciple for nineteen years, and in B.C. 263 succeeded him as head of the Stoic school. He died in his eightyfirst year by voluntary starvation. A beautiful Hymn to Zeus is the only one of his writings that has come down to us, of which a good edition is that of Pearson (London, 1891). The titles of the others are given by Diogenes Laertius.

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


Cleanthes (Kleanthes), a Stoic, born at Assos in Troas about B. C. 300, though the exact date is unknown. He was the son of Phanias, and entered life as a boxer, but had only four drachmas of his own when he felt himself impelled to the study of philosophy. He first placed himself under Crates, and then under Zeno, whose faithful disciple he continued for nineteen years. In order to support himself and pay Zeno the necessary fee for his instructions, he worked all night at drawing water from gardens, and in consequence received the nickname of Phreantles. As he spent the whole day in philosophical pursuits, he had no visible means of support, and was therefore summoned before the Areiopagus to account for his way of living. The judges were so delighted by the evidence of industry which he produced, that they voted him ten minae, though Zeno would not permit him to accept them. By his fellow-pupils he was considered slow and stupid, and received from them the title of the Ass, in which appellation he said that he rejoiced, as it implied that his back was strong enough to bear whateverZeno put upon it. Several other anecdotes preserved of him shew that he was one of those enthusiastic votaries of philosophy who naturally appeared from time to time in an age when there was no deep and earnest religion to satisfy the thinking part of mankind. We are not therefore surprised to hear of his declaring that for the sake of philosophy he would dig and undergo all possible labour, of his taking notes from Zeno's lectures on bones and pieces of earthenware when he was too poor to buy paper, and of the quaint penitence with which he reviled himself for his small progress in philosophy, by calling himself an old man "possessed indeed of grey hairs, but not of a mind". For this vigour and zeal in the pursuit, he was styled a second Hercules; and when Zeno died, B. C. 263, Cleanthes succeeded him in his school. This event was fortunate for the preservation of the Stoical doctrines, for though Cleanthes was not endowed with the sagacity necessary to rectify and develop his master's system, yet his stern morality and his devotion to Zeno induced him to keep it free from all foreign corruptions. His poverty was relieved by a present of 3000 minas from Antigonus, and he died at the age of eighty. The story of his death is characteristic. His physician recommended to him a two days' abstinence from food to cure an ulcer in his mouth, and at the end of the second day, he said that, as he had now advanced so far on the road to death, it would be a pity to have the trouble over again, and he therefore still refused all nourishment, and died of starvation.
  The names of the numerous treatises of Cleanthes preserved by Laertius (vii. 175) present the usual catalogue of moral and philosophical subjects: peri areton, peri hedones, peri theon, &c. A hymn of his to Zeus is still extant, and contains some striking sentiments. His doctrines were almost exactly those of Zeno. There was a slight variation between his opinion and the more usual Stoical view respecting the immortality of the soul. Cleanthes taught that all souls are immortal, but that the intensity of existence after death would vary according to the strength or weakness of the particular soul, thereby leaving to the wicked some apprehension of future punishment; whereas Chrysippus considered that only the souls of the wise and good were to survive death (Plut. Place. Phil. iv. 7). Again, with regard to the ethical principle of the Stoics, to " live in unison with nature", it is said that Zeno only enunciated the vague direction, homologoumenos zein, which Cleanthes explained by the addition of tei phusei (Stob. Ecl. ii. p. 132). By this he meant the universal nature of things, whereas Chrysippus understood by the nature which we are to follow, the particular nature of man, as well as universal nature (Diog. Laert. vii. 89). This opinion of Cleanthes was of a Cynical character, and held up as a model of an animal state of existence, unimproved by the progress of civilization. Accordingly we hear that his moral theory was even stricter than that of ordinary Stoicism, denying that pleasure was agreeable to nature, or in any way good. The direction to follow universal nature also led to fatalist conclusions, of which we find traces in the lines agou de m o Zeu, kai su g he Pepromene, hopoi poth' humin eimi diatetagmenos, k. t. l.

This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Strato

LAMPSAKOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
340 - 270
Greek peripatetic philosopher who succeded Theophrastus to the management of Peripatus in Athens. He is also called 'physicist' because he dealt with fhysical philosophy.

Metrodorus

Anaximenes (585 - 524 BC)

Anaximenes of Lampsacus (fl. 585-524 BC). Astronomer, Physicist
Life
Philosopher and astronomer, Anaximenes is traditionally regarded as the third of the great Milesian philosophers, after Thales and Anaximander. Very little is known about him, beyond the fact that his father was called Eurystratus and that he was a friend and student of Anaximander.
Work
His treatise is said to have been written in a simple and austere Ionian dialect, but even its title has been lost. Aetius tells us that Anaximenes argued that the human soul, which is "air", animates man in the same way that air surrounds and sustains the world. Anaximenes, in other words, held that "air" was the principle of all living things, and that it was constantly and eternally in motion. Air condensed to become cloud, water, earth, or rarefied to become fire, of which the sun was made. While in this theory Anaximenes was close to the thinking of Anaximander, he differed from him with regard to the shape of the earth, for Anaximander, like Thales, conceived of the earth - and all the other celestial bodies - as a gigantic disc. The earth, he thought, was like a cork, floating on the surface of the air. (These theories proved extremely useful in the development of aerodynamics). Anaximenes was the first to realise that the moon took its light from the sun, and thus was able to explain the eclipses of the sun and the moon. He also gave accurate explanations of the formation of clouds, rain, hail and snow.

This text is based on the Greek book "Ancient Greek Scientists", Athens, 1995 and is cited Sep 2005 from The Technology Museum of Thessaloniki URL below.


Anaximenes of Lampsacus, son of Aristocles, and pupil of Zoilus and Diogenes the Cynic. He was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, whom he is said to have instructed, and whom he accompanied on his Asiatic expedition (Suidas, s. v.;comp. Diog. Laert. v. 10; Diod. xv. 76). A pretty anecdote is related by Pausanias (vi. 18.2) and Suidas, about the manner in which he saved his native town from the wrath of Alexander for having espoused the cause of the Persians. His grateful fellow-citizens rewarded him with a statue at Olympia. Anaximenes wrote three historical works:
1. A history of Philip of Macedonia, which consisted at least of eight books (Harpocrat. s. v. Kabule, Halonnesos; Eustratius. ad Aristot. Eth. iii. 8).
2. A history of Alexander the Great (Diog. Laert. ii. 3; Harpocrat. s. v. Alkimachos, who quotes the 2nd book of it).
3. A history of Greece, which Pausanias (vi. 18.2) calls ta en Hellesin archaia, which, however, is more commonly called protai historiai or prote historia. (Athen. vi.; Diod. xv. 89).It comprised in twelve books the history of Greece from the earliest mythical ages down to the battle of Mantineia and the death of Epaminondas.
  He was a very skilful rhetorician, and wrote a work calumniating the three great cities of Greece, Sparta, Athens, and Thebes, which he published under the name of Theopompus, his personal enemy, and in which he imitated the style of the latter so perfectly, that every one thought it to be really his work. This production Anaximenes sent to those cities, and thus created exasperation against his enemy in all Greece (Paus. vi. 8.3, Suid.). The histories of Anaximenes, of which only very few fragments are now extant, are censured by Plutarch (Praec. Pol. 6) for the numerous prolix and rhetorical speeches he introduced in them (Comp. Dionys. Hal. De Isaco, 19; De adm. ri dic. Demosth. 8). The fact that we possess so little of his histories, slews that the ancients did not think highly of them, and that they were more of a rhetorical than an historical character. He enjoyed some reputation as a teacher of rhetoric and as an orator, both in the assembly of the people and in the courts of justice (Dionys. Hal.; Paus.), and also wrote speeches for others, such as the one which Euthias delivered against Phryne (Athen. xiii.; comp. Harpocr. s. v. Euthias).
  There have been critics, such as Casaubon (ad Diog. Laert. ii. 3), who thought that the rhetorician and the historian Anaximenes were two distinct persons; but their identity has been proved by very satisfactory arguments. What renders him a person of the highest importance in the history of Greek literature, is the following fact, which has been firmly established by the critical investigations of our own age. He is the only rhetorician previous to the time of Aristotle whose scientific treatise on rhetoric is now extant. This is the so-called Rhetorike pros Alexandron, which is usually printed among the works of Aristotle, to whom, however, it cannot belong, as all crities agree. The opinion that it is a work of Anaximenes was first expressed by P. Victorius in his preface to Aristotle's Rhetoric, and has been firmly established as a fact by Spengel in his Sunagoge technon, "Sive Artium Scriptores ab initiis usque ad editos Aristotelis de rhetorica libros", Stuttgard, 1828.This Rhetoric is preceded by a letter which is manifestly of later origin, and was probably intended as an introduction to the study of the Rhetoric of Aristotle. The work itself is much interpolated, but it is at any rate clear that Anaximenes extended his subject beyond the limits adopted by his predecessors, with whose works he was well acquainted. He divides eloquence into forensic and deliberative, but also suggests that a third kind, the epideictic, should be separated from them. As regards the plan and construction of the work, it is evident that its author was not a philosopher : the whole is a series of practical suggestions how this or that subject should be treated under various circumstances, as far as argumentation, expression, and the arrangement of the parts of a speech are concerned.

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


Colotes

Colotes (Kolotes), of Lampsacus, a hearer of Epicurus, and one of the most famous of his disciples, wrote a work to prove, "That it was impossible even to live according to the doctrines of the other philosophers" (hoti kata ta ton allon philosophon dogmata oude zen estin). It was dedicated to king Ptolemy, probably Philopator. In refutation of it Plutarch wrote two works, a dialogue, to prove, "That it is impossible even to live pleasantly according to Epicurus", and a work entitled "Against Colotes" (Plut. Opera.). The two works stand in the editions in this order, which should be reversed. It may be collected from Plutarch, that Colotes was clever, but vain, dogmatical, and intolerant. He made violent attacks upon Socrates, and other great philosophers. He was a great favourite with Epicurus, who used, by way of endearment, to call him Kolotaras and Kolotarios. It is also related by Plutarch, that Colotes, after hearing Epicurus discourse on the nature of things, fell on his knees before him, and besought him to give him instruction. He held, that it is unworthy of the truthfulness of a philosopher to use fables in his teaching, a notion which Cicero opposes (De Repub. vi. 7). Some fragments of another work of Colotes, against the Lysis of Plato, have been recently discovered at Herculaneum.

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


Hippocrates

Hippocrates. One of the executors of the will of the philosopher Straton of Lampsacus. (Diog. Laert. v. 62.) He was probably a philosopher, but is otherwise altogether unknown.

Cleomedes, 1st century AD

LYSIMACHIA (Ancient city) TURKEY

Coriscus (Korskos), is mentioned, with Erastus, as a disciple of Plato, by Diogenes (iii. 31, s. 46), who also states, that Plato wrote a letter to Erastus and Coriscus. (iii. 36, s. 61) They were both natives of Scepsis in the Troas. (Diog. l. c.; Strab. xiii.)

Coriscus & Erastus

Erastus, (Erastos), of Scepsis in Troas, is mentioned along with Coriscus, a native of the same place, among the disciples of Plato (Diog. Laert. iii. 46); and the sixth among the letters attributed to Plato is addressed to those two Scepsians. Strabo (xiii.) classes both men among the Socratic philosophers. (Ast, Platon's Leben u. Schrift.; C. F. Hermann, Gesch. u. System d. Plat. Philos. i.)

Lycon

TROY (Ancient city) TURKEY
Lycon, of Troas, a distinguished Peripatetic philosopher, who was the son of Astyanax, and the disciple of Straton, whom he succeeded as the head of the Peripatetic school, in the 127th Olympiad, B. C. 272; and he held that post for more than forty-four years. He resided at Pergamus, under the patronage of Attalus and Eumenes, from whom Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia in vain sought to entice him (the old reading in the text of Laertius was Antiochus). On several occasions his counsel was of great service to the Athenians. He was celebrated for his eloquence (comp. Cic. de Fin. v. 5), and for his skill in educating boys. He paid great attention to the body as well as to the mind, and, constantly practising athletic exercises, wants exceedingly healthy and robust. Nevertheles, lie died of gout at the age of 74. He was a bitter rival of Hieronymus the peripatetic.
  Among the writings of Lycon was probably a work on Characters (similar to the work of Theophrastus), a fragment of which is preserved by Rutilius Lupus (de Fig. ii. 7), though the title of the book is not mentioned by any ancient writer. It appears from Cicero (Tusc. Disp. iii. 32) and Clement of Alexandria (Strom. ii.), that he wrote on the boundaries of good and evil (De Finibus). A work of his on the nature of animals is quoted by Appuleius (Apol.). In his will, as preserved by Diogenes Laertius, there is a reference to his writings, but no mention of their titles.
  Diogenes states, that on account of his sweet eloquence, his name was often written Glukon. The fact appears to be that the guttural was originally a part of the word. (Diog. Laert. v. 65-74 ; Ruhnken, ad Rutil. Lup. l. c., Opusc. vol. i. p. 393; Jonsius, Script. Hist. Philos. vol. iv. p. 340; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 851, ol. iii. p. 498.)

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


Poets

Corinnus

Corinnus (Korinnos), was, according to Suidas (s. v.), an epic poet, a native of Ilium, who lived before Homer, in the time of the Trojan war, and wrote an Iliad, from which Homer borrowed the argument of his poem. He also, according to the same authority, sang the war of Dardanus with the Paphlagonians. He is likewise said to have been a pupil of Palamedes, and to have written in the Doric characters invented by the latter. (Suidas, s. v. ; Eudocia)

Tyrants

Hermias

ASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Hermias (or Hermeias). A Mysian eunuch, tyrant of Assos, and the friend and patron of Aristotle, who married his adopted daughter Pythias. In B.C. 344 Hermias was seized by Mentor, the Greek general of the king of Persia, and by him sent to the Persian court, where he was put to death.

Hermeias or Hermias. Tyrant or dynast of the cities of Atarneus and Assos, in Mysia, celebrated as the friend and patron of Aristotle. He is said to have been an eunuch, and to have begun life as a slave, but whether he obtained his liberty or not, he appears to have early risen to a confidential position with Eubulus, the ruler of Atarneus and Assos. If, however, Strabo's statement, that he repaired to Athens, and there attended the lectures of both Plato and Aristotle, be correct, we cannot doubt that he had at that time obtained his freedom, though he remained attached to the service of Eubulus, who had raised himself from the situation of a banker to the undisputed government of the two cities already mentioned. In this position Eubulus maintained himself till his death, in defiance, it would appear, of the authority of Persia (see Arist. Pol. ii. 4), and on that event Hermias seems to have succeeded to his authority without opposition. The exact period of his accession is unknown, and we know not how long he had held the sovereign power when he invited Aristotle and Xenocrates to his little court, about the year B. C. 347. The long sojourn of Aristotle with him, and the warm attachment which that philosopher formed towards him, are strong arguments in favour of the character of Hermias: yet the relations between them did not escape the most injurious suspicions, for which there was doubtless as little reason as for the obloquy with which Aristotle was loaded when, after the death of Hermias, he married Pythias, the niece, or, according to other accounts, the adopted daughter of his friend and benefactor (Strab. xiii.; Pseud. Ammon. vit. Aristot.; Aristocles ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. xv. 2; Diog. Laert. v. 3).
  Of other occurrences under the rule of Hermias we know nothing; but he appears to have maintained himself in the undisputed sovereignty of his little state, and in avowed independence of Persia, until the year 345, when the Greek general, Mentor, who was sent down by the Persian king to take the command in Asia Minor, decoyed him, by a promise of safe conduct, to a personal interview, at which, in defiance of his pledge, he seized and detained him as a prisoner. After making use of his signet to enforce the submission of the governors left in the cities subject to his rule, Mentor sent him as a captive to the court of Artaxerxes, where he was soon after put to death (Diod. xvi. 52; Strab. xiii.; Diog. Laert. v. 6).
  Aristotle testified his reverence for the memory of his friend, not only by erecting a statue to him at Delphi, but by celebrating his praises in an ode or hymn, addressed to Virtue, which has fortunately been preserved to the present day (Athen. xv.; Diog. Laert. v. 6, 7.) Concerning the relations of the philosopher with Hermias, and the injurious imputations to which they gave rise, see the article Aristotle at Stageira.

This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Hecataeus

KARDIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Hecataeus, (Hekataios), tyrant of Cardia, is first mentioned as one of the friends of Alexander the Great, and was selected by that monarch immediately after his accession (B. C. 336) to undertake the perilous duty of putting down the threatened revolt of Attalus in Asia. He crossed over to that continent with a considerable force, with which he joined the army of Parmenion; but after consulting with that general, he deemed it inexpedient to attempt his object by open force, and caused Attalus to be secretly assassinated. (Diod. xvii. 2, 5; comp. Curt. vii. 1.3.) As we find no mention of Hecataeus during the operations of Alexander in Asia, it must be presumed that for some reason or another he did not accompany him in this expedition. (See, however, Curt. vii. 1.38.) Nor do we know ally thing of the steps by which he raised himself to the sovereignty of his native city; but it appears that he must have done so long before the death of Alexander, as we are told that his fellow-citizen, Eumenes, frequently employed his influence with the king, though ineffectually, to induce him to expel Hecataeus, and restore freedom to Cardia. (Plut. Eum. 3.) He seems to have enjoyed a high place in the confidence of Antipater, as he was chosen by him as his deputy to Leonnatus, to invoke the assistance of the latter in the Lamian war (B. C. 323). Leonnatus sought on this occasion to effect a reconciliation between Hecataeus and Eumenes, but without success; and the latter, mistrusting the projects of Leonnatus, secretly withdrew to join Perdiccas. The name of Hecataeus is not again mentioned. (Diod. xviii. 14; Plut. Eum. 3.)

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


Aeantides & Archedice

LAMPSAKOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Aeantides. The tyrant of Lampsacus, to whom Hippias gave his daughter Archedice in marriage. (Thuc. vi. 59)

Archedice

Archedice (Archedike), daughter of Hippias the Peisistratid, and given in marriage by him after the death of Hipparchus to Acantides, son of Hippoclus, the tyrant of Lampsacus. She is famous for the epitaph given in Thucydides, and ascribed by Aristotle to Simonides, which told that, with father, husband, and sons in sovereign power, still she retained her meekness. (Thuc. vi. 59; Arist. Rhet. i. 9.)

Hippoclus

Hippoclus, (Hippoklos), tyrant of Lampsacus, to whose son, Aeantides, Hippias gave his daughter Archedice in marriage, induced thereto, says Thucydides, by consideration of his influence at the Persian court. (Thuc. vi. 59.) He is clearly the same who is named as tyrant of Lampsacus in the list of those, who were left at the passage of the Danube during the Scythian expedition of Dareius. (Herod. iv. 138.)

Writers

Hegesianax

ALEXANDRIA TROAS (Ancient city) TURKEY
   A Greek writer, a native of Alexandria-Troas, and contemporary with Antiochus the Great, by whom he was patronized. He was the author of an historical work and indulged also in poetic composition, having written a poem entitled ta Troika, "Trojan Affairs." Some ascribed to him the Cyprian Epic. He was likewise a writer of tragedies; and, according to Athenaeus, from whom these particulars are obtained, was also a tragic actor, having improved and strengthened his voice, which was naturally weak, by abstaining for eighteen years from eating figs.

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


Hegesianax, an historian of Alexandria, is said by Athenaeus to have been the real author of the work called Troica, which went under the name of Cephalon, or Cephalion (Athen. ix.; comp. Strab. xiii.) Plutarch also (Par. Min. 23) mentions an historian of the name of Hegesianax or Hesianax, and refers to the third book of a work of his, called Libyca ; and again there was a poet, named Agesianax, of whom Plutarch (de Fac. in Orb. Lun. 2, 3) has preserved some verses of much merit, descriptive of the moon. Vossius thinks it doubtful whether these two should be identified with one another, or either or both of them with the Alexandrian. Lastly, Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Troias) makes mention of Hegesianax of Troas, a grammarian, and the author of a treatise on the style of Democritus, and of another on poetic expressions ; and Vossius supposes him to have been the same with the author of the Troica, who may have been a citizen, though not a native of Alexandria. This conjecture appears to be borne out by the language of Athenaeus (iv. p. 155, b. Hegesianakta ton Alexandrea apo Troados), from whom we also learn that the Hegesianax in question was contemporary with Antiochus the Great, and stood high in favour at his court. In this case, is there any reason against our identifying him with the historical person mentioned above ? In another passage (iii. p. 80, d.), Athenaeus tells us, on the authority of Demetrius of Scepsis, that Hegesianax being at first a poor man, followed the profession of an actor, and for eighteen years abstained from figs lest he should spoil his voice. (Comp. Voss. de Hist. Graec., ed. Westermann.)

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


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