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SIDELIGHTS ON GREEK PHILOSOPHERS
WHEN, towards the close of 1897, I, a freshman of St. John’s College, Oxford, first met David
Ross of Balliol in the room of a common friend, I little dreamed how long and how closely we
should be associated in the life and work of another Oxford college and how immeasurably I should
be enriched by his example, his help and his friendship. So I welcome wholeheartedly this opportunity of acknowledging, since I cannot repay, my debt by making a contribution, however slight,
to the tribute of admiration, affection and good wishes embodied in this volume. Much of his
time and ability has been devoted to the study and elucidation of the works of the Greek philosophers,
and I offer him, yAaúx” eis ’AOjvas, some notes, which lay no claim to completeness, on the light
thrown on that study by Greek inscriptions.
We regard the rise and development of philosophy as one of the supreme achievements of the
Greeks, which has permanently and profoundly affected Western civilisation. Did the later
Greeks share this view? Inscriptions offer some evidence which merits consideration. The author
of the Parian Chronicle,: who is for us, owing to the mutilation of the stone, anonymous, compiled
a chronological table of the outstanding personalities and events in Greek history down to 264-3 B.c.
The extant record is fairly complete from 1581-80 to 355-4 B.c. and again from 336-5 to 299-8, and
if we examine the period after 1000 B.c. we are struck by the predominance of Greek tyrants and
foreign potentates in the sphere of political and military history and of poets (prose authors are
ignored) in the realm of culture; Terpander of Lesbos (A34) is the sole representative of music and
PBaHr TMOND.
Callippus, the astronomer (B6), of natural science, while sculptors, painters and architects are
passed over in silence. Philosophy appears only in the persons of Socrates, Anaxagoras and
Aristotle ;* a brief reference to two of these, []oav de kar” Edpımiönv Lwxparys te kai *Avafayópas, is
tacked on as an afterthought to the record (A60) of Euripides’ first victory in 442-1 B.c., and the
death of ‘Socrates the philosopher’ at the age of 70 is reported (A66) under the date 400-399,3
while in a paragraph (Brr) relating to events in Asia Minor and Egypt in 321-20 B.c. occurs the
phrase Kai ’ApıororeAns 6 coguoris eredevrnoev.i A fragment of another chronological table,s
\SX
rd
drawn up in A.D. 15-16, survives in Rome and gives rather more recognition to philosophy; S[olon],
Anacharsis, the Seven Sages and Aesop are mentioned in Ba, 4 and 5, By tells of Pythagoras’s capture
by Cambyses in Egypt® in 524-3, and Bro runs: dé’ od Zwxparns 6 Prdaodos [xai ‘Hpa]xAeros 6
"Epéoros Kai *Avata[yópas] kai ITappevidns kai Zmvwv, ërn—, where the year is unfortunately lost.
Nor is it without significance that the owner of a villa in Colonia Agrippinensis (Köln) in the Imperial
period, wishing to adorn it with mosaic portraits of leading representatives of Greek thought and
letters, placed 4ioyévns, the cynic, depicted in his tub, in the centre, with Lwxpdrns, [KA]eóBovdos,
[X]eA[wr], ZogoxAfs and two others, possibly Plato and Aristotle, around him.7
We may begin our brief survey with that curious blend of religion, mysticism and philosophy
which has come down to us under the name of Orphism. Ten Orphic poems, engraved on thin
sheets of gold, have been found in graves at Petelia (JG XIV 638) and Thurii (ibid. 641-2) in
Southern Italy, near Rome, and at Eleutherna in Western Crete (7 Cret II xii 31, three copies of
the same poem). These have been long known and often edited,® but recent years have brought
to light two further relevant documents. The first is another inscriptions of the same nature,
similar to, yet at a number of points differing from, that of Petelia, discovered, along with human
ashes, in an elaborately ornamented bronze urn at Pharsalus in Thessaly; the editor assigns both
urn and inscription to about the middle of the fourth century 8.c., so that it must rank as the earliest
member of the series. The second is an extraordinary alabaster bowl:* of uncertain provenance,
1 IG XII (5) 444 and Suppl. p. 110, F. Jacoby, Das
Marmor Parium (Berlin, 1904), F Gr Hist, no. 239.
2 In the mutilated
paragraph A7g, relating
to
355-4 B.c., the letters ZODOZ were read by Selden and
may refer to a philosopher; we should expect some reference to Plato, but I know no event in Plato’s life dated
in that year which wauld call for notice.
3 The word here used, éredsúrnoev, is that used
throughout the record (except for ámédave in Big) to
denote death, whether natural or violent; there is no
suggestion that Socrates died as a martyr.
4 Cf. Jacoby’s comment ad loc. (F Gr Hist IIC, p. 701).
5 IG XIV 1297, Jacoby, F Gr Hist, no. 252.
$ For this incident see lamblichus, Vit Pythag IV 19.
7IG XIV 2567, K. Schefold, Bildnisse der antiken
Dichter, 154 f., 214.
5 J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 573 ff. (with a critical appendix by G. Murray,
660 ff.), D. Comparetti, Lamine tte orfiche (Florence, 1910),
A. Olivieri, Lamellae aureae orphicae (Bonn, 1915), O. Kern,
Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin, 1922), 104 ff., W. K. C.
Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion (London, 1935), 171 ff,
K. Freeman, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, ı6f., and
Ancilla, 5 f. (Oxford, 1946, 1948), H. Diels, Fragmente der
Vorsokratikeré (Berlin, 1951) I 15 ff., nos. 17-20.
See also
O. Kern, Orpheus (Berlin, 1920), K. Ziegler, RE XVIII
1200 ff., and M. P. Nilsson, Geschichte d. griech. Religion,
I 642 ff., II 407 ff.
9 N. M. Verdélis, AE 1950-1, 98 ff.; cf. J. and L.
Robert, REG LXV 152 f. (Bull 1952, 70), A. R{ostagni],
Riv Fil LX XX 282,
10 H. Lamer, Ph W LI (1931) 653 ff., R. Delbrueck
and W. Vollgraff, 7HS LIV 129 ff.
Cf. M. P. Nilsson,
op. cit. II ¿11 ff,
Page 2
View in PDF(opens in a new window)WHEN, towards the close of 1897, I, a freshman of St. John’s College, Oxford, first met David
Ross of Balliol in the room of a common friend, I little dreamed how long and how closely we
should be associated in the life and work of another Oxford college and how immeasurably I should
be enriched by his example, his help and his friendship. So I welcome wholeheartedly this opportunity of acknowledging, since I cannot repay, my debt by making a contribution, however slight,
to the tribute of admiration, affection and good wishes embodied in this volume. Much of his
time and ability has been devoted to the study and elucidation of the works of the Greek philosophers,
and I offer him, yAadk’ eis * Aômvas, some notes, which lay no claim to completeness, on the light
thrown on that study by Greek inscriptions.
We regard the rise and development of philosophy as one of the supreme achievements of the
Greeks, which has permanently and profoundly affected Western civilisation.
Did the later
Greeks share this view?
Inscriptions offer some evidence which merits consideration.
The author
of the Parian Chronicle,! who is for us, owing to the mutilation of the stone, anonymous, compiled
a chronological table of the outstanding personalities and events in Greek history down to 264-3 B.c.
The extant record is fairly complete from 1581-80 to 355-4 B.c. and again from 336-5 to 299-8, and
if we examine the period after 1000 B.c. we are struck by the predominance of Greek tyrants and
foreign potentates in the sphere of political and military history and of poets (prose authors are
ignored) in the realm of culture; Terpander of Lesbos (A34) is the sole representative of music and
Callippus, the astronomer (B6), of natural science, while sculptors, painters and architects are
passed over in silence.
Philosophy appears only in the persons of Socrates, Anaxagoras and
Aristotle ;? a brief reference to two of these, [j]oav $e kar” Edpiriônv Zwrparns te kai * Ava£ayôpas, is
tacked on as an afterthought to the record (A60) of Euripides’ first victory in 442-1 B.c., and the
death of “Socrates the philosopher’ at the age of 70 is reported (A66) under the date 400-399,3
while in a paragraph (B11) relating to events in Asia Minor and Egypt in 321-20 B.c. occurs the
phrase kat "ApıororeAns 6 oodiorÿs Ereleurmoev.4
A fragment of another chronological table,s
drawn up in A.D. 15-16, survives in Rome and gives rather more recognition to philosophy; S[olon],
Anacharsis, the Seven Sages and Aesop are mentioned in Ba, 4 and 5, B7 tells of Pythagoras’s capture
by Cambyses in Egypt® in 524-3, and Bio runs: dd’ 0d Zwrparns 6 diAdcodos [Kat “Hpd]xkerros 6
"Epéoios kai "Avafalyöpas] kai ITappevidns kai Zivwv, éry—, where the year is unfortunately lost.
Nor is it without significance that the owner of a villa in Colonia Agrippinensis (Köln) in the Imperial
period, wishing to adorn it with mosaic portraits of leading representatives of Greek thought and
letters, placed Aioyéyns, the cynic, depicted in his tub, in the centre, with Swxparns, [KA]eoßovXos,
[X JeiA|wv], ZopoxAñs and two others, possibly Plato and Aristotle, around him.7
We may begin our brief survey with that curious blend of religion, mysticism and philosophy
which has come down to us under the name of Orphism.
Ten Orphic poems, engraved on thin
sheets of gold, have been found in graves at Petelia (JG XIV 638) and Thurii (ibid. 641-2) in
Southern Italy, near Rome, and at Eleutherna in Western Crete (I Cret II xii 31, three copies of
the same poem).
These have been long known and often edited,’ but recent years have brought
to light two further relevant documents.
The first is another inscriptions of the same nature,
similar to, yet at a number of points differing from, that of Petelia, discovered, along with human
ashes, in an elaborately ornamented bronze urn at Pharsalus in Thessaly; the editor assigns both
urn and inscription to about the middle of the fourth century B.c., so that it must rank as the earliest
member of the series.
The second is an extraordinary alabaster bowl" of uncertain provenance,
1 JG XII (5) 444 and Suppl. p. 110, F. Jacoby, Das
Marmor Parium (Berlin, 1904), F Gr Hist, no. 230.
2 In
the mutilated
paragraph A7g,
relating
to
355-4 B.C., the letters ZOGOZ were read by Selden and
may refer to a philosopher; we should expect some refer-
-
ence to Plato, but I know no event in Plato’s life dated
in that year which would call for notice.
3 The word here used, éredevrnoev, is that used
throughout the record (except for am&dave in Big) to
denote death, whether natural or violent; there is no
suggestion that Socrates died as a martyr.
4 Cf. Jacoby’s comment ad loc. (F Gr Hist IIC, p. 701).
5 IG XIV 1297, Jacoby, F Gr Hist, no. 252.
$ For this incident see Iamblichus, Vit Pythag IV 19.
7 IG XIV 2567, K. Schefold, Bildnisse der antiken
Dichter, 154 f., 214.
8 J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 573 ff. (with a critical appendix by G. Murray,
660 ff.), D. Comparetti, Lamine tte orfiche (Florence, 1910),
A. Olivieri, Lamellae aureae orphicae (Bonn, 1915), O. Kern,
Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin, 1922), 104 ff., W. K. C.
Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion (London, 1935), 171 ff.,
K. Freeman, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers,
16 f., and
Ancılla, 5 f. (Oxford, 1946, 1948), H. Diels, Fragmente der
Vorsokratiker® (Berlin, 1951) I 15 ff., nos. 17-20.
See also
O. Kern, Orpheus (Berlin, 1920), K. Ziegler, RE XVIII
| 1200 ff., and M. P. Nilsson, Geschichte d. griech. Religion,
I 642 ff., II 407 ff.
9 N. M. Verdélis, AE 1950-1, 98 ff.; cf. J. and L.
Robert, REG LXV 152 f. (Bull 1952, 70), A. R[ostagni],
Riv Fil LX XX 282.
10 H. Lamer, Ph W LI (1931) 653 ff., R. Delbrueck
and W. Vollgraff, 7HS LIV 129 ff.
Cf. M. P. Nilsson,
op. cit. II 411 f.
Page 3
View in PDF(opens in a new window)SIDELIGHTS
now in Geneva, the interior of which is decorated by sixteen nude figures, male and female, grouped
around a central dragon, and the exterior by four Erotes and an inscribed band containing four
quotations of unmistakably Orphic character; the bowl, almost certainly authentic, is dated by
its editors between the third and the sixth century A.D., and so attests the survival of the Orphic
faith to a surprisingly late period.
Of the early philosophers inscriptions give us some glimpses.
Diogenes of OenoandaTM prefaces
his account of the elements (oroıyeta), éé ap||[[xñs plev dbeornkora | [kai dv]ra &p0apra, yevvdr|[ra
de] ra mpaypata (fr. V i 3 ff.), by a summary of the Erepwv dotar, which deserves quotation:
“Hpardeıros | [pev] odv 6 *Epéoios wip eil[vaı o]roıxeiov eîmev, Oa|[Añs Ô]è 6 MeiAjoros údwp, | [Aioyevns
de 6] AroMw|uarns Kat "Avafınevns | dépa, ’EureôokAñs 6° 6 ’Alkpayou [xlai wip Kai depa | Kat
Udwp Kal yîv, “Ava||faydpas $” 6 KAabopévios | ras 6poropepetas ékäo|rou mpdypatos, ot è’ amo | Tis
oroäs ÜAnv kai Belov. Anuörpıros de 6 *A||Bômpeirns eine pév àréluous duces Kadds ye mo@v
«TA. (fr. Vi 10-ii 12). He goes on to arraign the philosophers here named, où ¢iAo[vei]|xw pos
adrods ra[0e.] || ypwpevor, nv 8° aA[nde]lav owbrva: Gédo[vres] (fr. V ili 3 ff.), beginning with
Heraclitus thus :12 kaxós, ‘Hpa[rAeı]||re, mip efvar oroıxei[ov Aéllyes. odre yap dpbaprov | Eorıv,
éme Pberpop[evov] | ip@puev adro, oùre Öv[va]|raı yevvav ra mpayu[ara] (fr. V iii. 9 ff.). Here unfortunately the fragment ends and we lack the refutations of the remaining ödfaı save for a passage
pointing out a serious error in Democritus, ras || arduous póvas kar” alAndeıav eimwv Umapxeıv | ev Tots
odor, Ta Oe Aourra | [vlomiorei dravra (fr. VI ii 4 ff).
The name Oafÿs occurs in a sixth-, or even a seventh-, century dedication of a marble lion,
now in the British Museum, which stood beside the Sacred Way leading to the temple of Apollo
at Branchidae,!3 but as his father’s name is Python he cannot be the celebrated philosopher, who
was son of Examyes, as we learn from Diogenes Laertius and from a headless Roman herm inscribed
OaXfs | "Efapvov | MiAjoros (IG XIV 1163); another herm, found at Brundisium, bore the legend
OaAns MeAiotos. | ’Evyva, mapa 6° ara (ibid. 673).
A seated statue from Branchidae bears a
boustrophedon dedication of the children of Anaximander, son of Mandromachus,'4 but again the
patronymic forbids identification with the philosopher, son of Praxiades.
But it has been plausibly
suggested'5 that an archaic statue inscribed [’Av]aéipavdpo, unearthed in the Milesian Bovdevrnpiov,
may be dedicated by the philosopher, and the view that a Hellenistic relief in Rome inscribed
["Alvagiuavópostó portrays the Milesian is confirmed by the discovery of a similar relief, now in
Budapest, inscribed EÿSo£os.
Of the other philosophers named by Diogenes in the passage quoted
above,'7 Empedocles recurs in fr. XX XV
ii and Democritus in fr. XX XIII ii, ili, while Anaxagoras
appears in the Parian (A60) and the Roman Chronicle (IG XIV 1297 ii 31).
Pythagoras, whose many-sided genius deeply influenced Greek life and thought, is named
only once in the extant portion of Diogenes’ inscription,'8 but his capture by Cambyses is recorded,
as we have seen, in the Roman Chronicle and we find references to some of his followers, as Sex. Cl.
Aurelianus of Smyrna /Ivdayopıos, on whom the Delphians conferred roArreia (Fouilles, III (1) 203),
and to his doctrines, as in the epitaph:9 of an otherwise unknown Pythagoras of Philadelphia in
Lydia, which begins
Où yevopav Zapios [K]eîvos 6 [Ivdayopas,
aA édunv copin Taro Aaxwv ôvo| pa],
[rov] mévov{ov} évkpeivas aiperov [Ev Bıorw],
and is accompanied by the sign Y, symbolising the two paths between which man must make his
choice (FEA XI 129), or in the late epigram?° in honour of Laetus, probably a Neoplatonist,
which ends
et kata IluBayopnv buyn peraBaive és ¿Mov,
ev oot, Aatre, IIAdrwv Ci mal dawopevos.
M. Guarducci recently sought?! to trace Pythagorean influence in three epigrams of the second
11 Diogenes
Oenoandensis,
ed.
I.
William,
Leipzig,
12 I see no reference to Diogenes of Oenoanda in G. S.
Kirk, Heraclitus: the Cosmic Fragments (Cambridge, 1954).
For a herm at Rome inscribed *Hpáxdetros | BAvowvos
| Epéoioc see IG XIV 1159; for his date, ibid., 1297 ii. 30;
for the legend ‘HpdkAeitog ”Edeoiov on an Ephesian
bronze coin issued under Philip I (a.p. 244-9), BMC
Coins: Ionia, 98, H. Diels, Fragmente®, I, p. 144, IL, p. 3.
13 SIG 3a, DGE 723, IBM 930.
14 SIG 3b, IBM 931.
15 SIG 3c; of. C. Fredrich, Milet, I(2)
112, no. 8, W.
Darsow, 7d I LXIX 101 ff.
16 IG XIV
sculptor’s
no. 1408, K. Schefold, Bildnisse der antiken Dichter, 156
17 Diogenes also
1907.
1231
(where
signature);
cf.
the name is regarded as a
Helbig,
Führer,
II
175 f.,
deals with Xenophanes
(fr.
f.
XXI),
Diagoras of Melos, who [év] 77 rapa || [Eöönuo tic] d6&n¢
[árrodeícei]
dvri[xpuc eine un eivjac Oel[oëc] (fr. XII 1
9 ff.), and Protagoras of Abdera, who tf uév Ovvdpuel try
aùtiv
ifvevre Ataydpa || ÔdEar,
taic Aéfeow
dé | Etépars
éxpñoato, wg | TO Aciav iTauòv adtijc | fagevionuevos. Edn]|ce yap un eidévat, el Bel oí eiow (fr.
XII ii 3 ff.).
18 Fr. XXXIV IIvday[öpas où] | uôvos uaiv[erau . . . .
19 J. Keil and A. von Premerstein, Bericht über eine
Reise in Lydien (Wien. Denkschr. LIII 2) 34, no. 55; cf. A.
Brinkmann, Rh Mus LXVI 616 ff.
20 IG II: 3816; cf. J. H. Oliver, Hesperia, Suppl. VIII
257 f., who compares Anth. Pal. VII 75.
21 Rend Pont Ac XXIII-IV 209 ff.
Page 4
View in PDF(opens in a new window)MARCUS N. TOD
century A.D. found at Ostia, but her interpretation is called in question by A. Vogliano.? That
Samos continued to pride itself upon being the birthplace of so illustrious a man is shown by a
coin of Trajan’s reign representing a statue of the philosopher and bearing the legend IIvdayopns
Z'auiwv.?3
i Socrates, the first of Athenian philosophers, opened a new chapter in the history of Greek
thought. His arresting personality, his patent sincerity, and the novelty of his method and field of
investigation, combined with his good fortune in having his teaching, or what purported to be his
teaching, expressed by so consummate a literary artist and so devoted a disciple as Plato, secured
him a lasting place among the immortals. He appears, as we have seen, in the Parian and the
Roman Chronicle and on the Köln mosaic. On a mosaic?4 at Syrian Apamea he is shown presiding
over a conclave of six unnamed philosophers, and Hanfmann, who dates it between A.D. 350 and
400, regards it as a proof of the popularity of Socrates among the educated Syrian pagans of that
time. His memory was also kept alive by portrait-herms bearing his name ;?5 one double herm?¢
portrays Socrates and Seneca, their names inscribed in Greek and in Latin letters respectively.
In Diogenes of Oenoanda he appears in a mutilated fragment, which runs thus: tives
av dMo[odgwr] | kai pddiora of nfepi Lw||xpdryv, To S[é fucro]|Aoyetv Kai ra [peréw]||pa
moAunpayuloveiw] | wepırröv paolw eva] (fr. III). Since the main philosophical schools traced
their ancestry to Socrates, Iwxparırös rarely appears as an epithet of a philosopher, because it was
not sufficiently distinctive; we have, however, an Attic epigram of the first or second century A.D.,
which runs
Yiov ’Emorn|uns Da]|idpor re, | Tpwados avdos, |
Zwkparixîs vodins | dorpov öpäıs Zevéxav.?7
Plato is more frequently mentioned, and it is probably a mere chance that his name does not
occur in the extant portions of the Parian and Roman Chronicles, the inscription of Diogenes of
Oenoanda and the Köln mosaic; his statue stood in the “exedra of poets and sages’ at Memphis.?®
The epitaph of Collega Macedo at Pisidian Antioch, dating from the fourth century A.D., speaks
of him as ¢iAdcodov ta IMarwvos kai Zwkparovs Erı alipovpevov?],29 and to this evidence for the
widespread and lasting influence of Plato we may add that of the named herms, busts and statuette
found in or near Rome,3° the third-century Eleusinian memorial of the ¿epópavris Eunice, which
refers to her great-uncle as oodins nyıyropı—rnv re (or rav <d>€) IDa[rwvos] | dpéparo—: KaMaioxpw
epıwvvuw,3! and the fourth-century inscription recording the visit of the Athenian sophist Nicagoras,
6 dadotyos Ty Ayıwrarwv "EAevaivı uvornpiav, to the Egyptian Syringes, 70Moîs dorepov xpövoıs
peta Tov Betov IMarw<vra aro T@v *Abdyvóv, which ends with the prayer ews nutv IMarwv kai
evradda3? suggesting a Plato-cult amounting almost, if not quite, to apotheosis. The metrical
epitaph33 of Aridices of Rhodes refers to the Muses, rov doidiuov ai ce rıßmvois | xepoi IlAarwveiovs
Opébav Um’ arpamırovs, and the title dıAdoodos IIAarwviırds is given to C. Julius Sabinus at Athens,34
to L. Mestrius Autobulus, a descendant of Plutarch, at Chaeronea,35 to Theon at Smyrna,36 to
Secundinus of Tralles at Ephesus,37 to Flavius Maecius Se[cundus?] Dionysodorus at Antinoe,38 and,
in a Latin honorary inscription, to Apuleius at his native Madaura in Numidia.39 Delphi exercised,
not unnaturally, a powerful fascination for these devotees of Plato, and some of them received from
the Delphians citizenship and other privileges; such were Isidore of Thmouis in the Egyptian
Delta,4° the famous L. Calvenus Taurus of Berytus, friend of Plutarch and teacher of Aulus Gellius
and Atticus Herodes, honoured at Delphi about a.p. 163,4 and Bacchius of Paphos, the first teacher
of Marcus Aurelius, Zosimus (also named Sotimus) and Claudius Nicostratus of Athens, and
22 Prolegomena, I
120f.,
Kpnt. Xpov. VII 97 ff.
155f.;
ef.
A.
Barigazzi,
23 H. Diels, Fragmente? I, p. xii = BMCCoins: Ionia, 373
desrois, 1265, CRAI 1922, 282 ff. (who dates the inscription
in A.D. 326), W. Stegemann, RE XVII 218, no. 9,
O. Schissel, Klio, XXI 361 ff.
(cf. 381, 390, 392).
33 F. Hiller von Gaertringen, BCH XXXVI 230 ff.
24 G. M. A. Hanfmann, Harv St LX 205 ff., thinks that
Socrates is represented as teaching a class of six disciples,
but C. Picard, RA XLI (1953) 100 ff., draws attention
to the difficulty of this interpretation.
34 IG II: 3803 (post med. s. II p.).
25 IG XIV 1214-17, A. Hekler, Greek and Roman Portraits, 19 ff.
26 K. Schefold, Bildnisse der antiken
C. Blümel, Rôm. Bildnisse, R106, pl. 71.
35 IG
178 Í.,
160 ff., C. Picard, CRAI
11f.
(with
stemma), J.
H.
Oliver,
Hesperia, Suppl. VIII 251 (with stemma facing p. 248).
32 OGI 721.
For
another
thirdéxtov darò
restoration
36 IGR IV 1449; cf. Schefold, op. cit. (n. 26) 181(3).
Dichter,
29 CR XXXIII 2.
See below, p. 139.
30 IG XIV 1196-1200; cf. A. Hekler, op. cit. 22 f.
3709.
844A.
37 Ephesos, IV(3) 288, no. 40.
38 IBM 1076 = Sammelbuch, 6012.
39 Ann. Ep. 1919, no. 36; so Apuleius describes himself
28 U. Wilcken, ZdJ XXXII
1951, 71 ff., esp. 75 f.
II?
3423 = SIG
évt[eAq| is uncertain (cf. SIG 844B).
27 IG II? 3795.
3 IG
VII
century philosopher in the same family,
ITAovrdpyov, see IG VII 3425, where the
Cf. J. Baillet, Inscr. gr. et lat. des tombeaux
as
philosophum
Platonicum
Madaurensem
(Liber
epi
épunveiac, IV).
40 Fouilles, III (2) 116, where Isidore is regarded as
probably one of the earliest masters of Neoplatonism.
4 His name appears as KaAßrvo in the Delphian
document (SIG 8684), as Calvisius in Aulus Gellius,
XVIII 10. 3; cf. PIR: II p. 79, no. 339.
Page 5
View in PDF(opens in a new window)SIDELIGHTS
ON GREEK
PHILOSOPHERS
135
M. Sextius Cornelianus of Mallus, enfranchised a little earlier,42 while Gaius, son of Xenon and
adoptive father of Bacchius, who previously received similar honours,43 though described simply
as huocopos, was almost certainly also a Platonist.
The words IMarwwvkòs diAdcodos are also cut
in a tabula ansata on a rock at Termessus in Pisidia,44 but no name accompanies them and their
purpose is uncertain.
The excavation of the site of the Platonic Academy by P. Z. Aristophron
brought to light a tantalising fragment45 bearing the familiar names Xapp[ides], | "Apior[ov],|
’A&i[oxos], | Kpirov, in fifth-century script.
On a herm, probably of Socrates or Plato, is engraved
the concluding prayer from the Phaedrus, 279B, C, & die Ilav . . . dMos n 6 owbpwv,46 and on
the shaft of a herm of Plato are two brief quotations47 from his works, airia élouélvw> Beos|
avairıos (Republic, 617E) and ¿uyy de mäca | aßavaros (Phaedrus, 245C).
In a well-known passage
(III 4) Diogenes Laertius asserts that Plato was a nickname given to one whose true name was
Aristocles, but J. A. Notopoulos has collected forty-six epigraphical examples of IlAdrwv,+8 which
show that this was a normal personal name, especially common in Attica.
The encyclopaedic range of Aristotle’s studies and teaching may explain, at least in part, why
the author of the Parian Chronicle terms him 6 ooguorys (Bri) rather than 6 ¢iAdcodos.
The title
puosobpos was probably omitted from the decree49 of the Delphic Amphictyony which commended
Aristotle and Callisthenes for their services in compiling a list of [Jv@tovixas and ordered its publication.
Whether he figured in the Köln mosaic we cannot say, nor does he seem to have had a place
in the exedra of poets and sages at Memphis, but his memory was kept alive at Rome by named
portrait-herms,5° while a headless herm at Athens, not earlier than the time of Hadrian, is inscribed
[Yi]ov Nixop[a]| you, codin[s] | emiioropa | raons,
orn||oev * AÂé£av|ôpos Betov | > AprororéA[ qv].5*
Diogenes of Oenoanda states that Aristotle and oí rov adrov ”Apuo|ro[r]éde Eußaivov|res repimarov
oùdev | émoryróv pacw elvas | Pet yap aiei ra mpaynallra kai dv ofürnra | THs pevoews THY NpelTépav expedyew avti|Anuyuw (fr. IV i 13-11 8), and proceeds to refute this view.
Lycon of Alexandria
Troas, who followed Theophrastus and Strato in the headship of the Peripatetic School at Athens,
which he held from c. 270 until his death c. 226 B.c., received from the Delphic Amphictyons
a series of honours and privileges on the ground of his eùvoia Kai fidoriia towards Apollo, his
sanctuary and the Amphictyonic xowov, but his philosophy is not mentioned.52
His name recurs
at Athens as a donor of 200 dr. to a fund eis ryv ow[rnplav TAS m6]|Acws kai tv pudaxnv THs [xWpas53
in the archonship of Diomedon,54 and there the word dıAdoo(dos) is added in place of a demotic
or ethnic.
Another member of the School, Serenus, was among the many educated Greeks who
visited the Egyptian Syringes,55 while of yet another, the otherwise unknown56 Epicrates of Heraclea,
we have a pleasing picture in a Samian decree57 of c. 200 B.c., which grants him full citizenship
because mAelova xpovov | [mapemöelönunkev nubv Ev tet mode | [Kai dia THs] adrod maidelas mo)
|
[rov]s véous edepyermkev, xapileo|[0a. Bo]vAduevos Kai ¿Star roîs amavTd|[or tT]@v ovoxoAaldvrwv
cauróe Kai | [row] TAL Our, peradidods abHovws || [rs] Kal’ avrov madetas rois Bouloué|[vois]
peréyew TO moAır@v, Tots re|[un| Svvapevors TÓ[v] S[y]uordv redetv | [Tov] erkeinevov bd’ aurod piodov
42 SIG 868B; for the date see G. Daux, Chronologie
delphique, 94, for Nicostratus, K. Praechter, Hermes,
LVII 481 ff.
43 SIG 868C ; for the date see Daux, loc. cit.
For Gaius,
who may have known Tacitus, see K. Praechter, RE
Suppl. III 535 ff., W. Theiler, Phyllobolia für P. von der
Mühll, 70 ff., A. Momigliano, 7RS XXXVI 226.
44 TAM III 882 (IGR III 459 combines this with TAM
Ill 744).
IG II: 12767a, an Attic epigram probably of
the second century A.D., reads in 1. 7 —oua IAdtwvog,
which Kirchner, following Peek, restores as xriloua
IIAatwvog.
I am not sure that of the 700 words ending
in -oua collected by Kretschmer-Locker (Rückl. Wörterb.
56 ff.) «tioua is the only one which will suit the context.
45 AA 1934, 137 ff., JHS LV 180.
46 IG XIV 1215.
47 IG XIV
1196
(the
MS.
text
reads
édouévov and
omits dé).
48 CI Phil XXXIV 144; cf. REG LXIII 179.
49 SIG 275; cf. F Gr Hist, no. 124T23, with Jacoby’s
comment.
These honours were subsequently cancelled
for political reasons (Aelian, V.H. XIV 1).
5° IG XIV 1137, 1138 and perhaps 1139.
5 IG II: 4261.
JG II? 4262, an Athenian epigram,
which used to be read coding éòv nyntipa| <o>tihoev
Adégavdpo<s> kAewòv Grao: Gedy (or Oe<d>v) and referred
to Aristotle, is now correctly read with ’AA&&avöpov and
Oéwv.
Of this
philosopher
and
his
grateful
disciple
Theon we know nothing further.
Is he perhaps to be
identified with the xa0nynt)v *A[Aé£]avôpor | Mápwvos
DaAnpea (IG II: 3793) and/or with the teacher honoured
by the herm inscribed Oeiov *AAXé|Eavdpor | tov öucvv|-
pov dAoet || uéoomi 6 | yropuôs | w Eatnoe tov | dddoxador
(IG II? 3819), for whom see Raubitschek, Hesperia,
XVIII 99 f.?
5 Fouilles, III (3) 167 (dated by Daux and Salaë
249-39 B.c.) = SIG 461 (dated by Pomtow 254-44 B.c.).
Cf. W. B. Dinsmoor, Archons of Athens, 141 f. (who dates
it 242~1 B.c.), R. Flacelière, Les Aitoliens à Delphes, 260,
Diog. Laert. V 68.
53 IG 112 791d 29 = SIG 491.70.
Cf. Kirchner, Imag.
Inscr. Att. go.
54 The date of Diomedon’s archonship has been much
disputed.
Kirchner and Kolbe assigned it to 232-1 B.C.,
Dinsmoor (Archons of Athens, 31, 55) to 247-6 and later
(Athenian Archon List, 21) to 246-5, Pritchett and Meritt
(Chronology of Hellenistic Athens, xxii) to 247-6.
55 CIG 4814c (Add. p. 1213); others include the
philosophers Lampon and Philastrius (C/G 4785, 4817).
56 Unless he is the Epicrates who was an executor of
the scholarch Strato (Diog. Laert. V 62).
57 SEG I 368.
Page 6
View in PDF(opens in a new window)MARCUS
mpoîka | [oyo]}d£wv.
TOD
N.
Part of the base of a statue of Critolaus has recently been unearthed at
Olympia (BCH LXXIX 247).
The Zeno named in the Roman Chronicle together with Socrates, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras
and Parmenides is presumably Zeno of Elea. His more famous namesake, Zeno of Citium, was the
founder of the Stoic School, and his appearance is familiar to us thanks to a bronze bust from
Herculaneum and at least two named portrait-herms from Rome.58 Two of his successors, entitled
6 SidSoxos Tv árro Zivwvos Adywv, occur in inscriptions of the second century A.D., that in honour
of the Athenian Aurelius Heraclides and the epitaph of Julius Zosimianus.59 Several Stoics are
specifically described as such in inscriptions—Sarapion (below, p. 139), Theoxenus, son of Achilles,
of Patrae, who died at Athens in the second or third century A.p.,6° T. Avianius Bassus Polyaenus
of Hadriani in Bithynia, Lucius Peticius Propas of Corinth, commemorated at Olympia by his
mother,ó an Athenian, whose name is lost, buried at Carystus,63 and Ti. Claudius Alexander and
C. Tutilius Hostilianus of Cortona.64 Several Stoic doctrines are stated and criticised from the
Epicurean standpoint by Diogenes of Oenoanda (fr. VII, XXXVI; cf. V 11).
That fervent evangelist of the Epicurean faith, having reached life’s eventide ([émi dv]opaîs
en | [tod B]iov xadeorn|[xóre]s Sid ro yñpas) and feeling the imminence of death, determined
Bo|ndew Sn rois ed|lovvkpiross. Seeing that of meior[olı || kaddrep Ev Aouò | 7 mepi Tov
Tpayuarav | HevOodoëËta voood|oı kowós, and that the infection was rapidly spreading, and being
eager [kal] tots ped” i|us écouévois Bon|Ojoa—káxeivo: ydp | cow muérepor Kat ei | [un] yeyovaoi
nw, decided 7% oroû Tavlrn Karaypnoduevos | [é]v kow ra Tihs owrnlpias mpobe[ivar papual|xa
(fr. II ii-vi). Epicurean views are defended in his letter to Antipater epi areıpias koouwv (fr. XVIII
iii; cf. XIX) and in his disputatio ethica (fr. XX XIII iii), and he collects a number of Epicurus’s
maxims (fr. XLII-LXI), some of which can be restored by the aid of the forty küpıaı d6€01°5 recorded
by Diogenes Laertius (X 139-54) while others are new. In Rome a double herméé survives
portraying Epicurus and Metrodorus, his ardent disciple,67 and other members of the School
include C. Julius Amynias, rov kaloëuevov ’Ioorparn, of Samos,68 Eucratidas of Rhodes, who died —
at Brundisium,69 Philocrates of Sidon, of whom we read in his epitaph, inscribed at Boeotian
Orchomenus in the second century B.c.
|
yap aro mpáras pepednpévos hs *EmtKovpou
ddypacw edfvverois, [w]s [O ]épes, aAukias,7°
the 7po@rrns Philidas of Didyma,7° and a podmds at Aegiale on Amorgos. Among the various
bodies which expressed their admiration for the Rhodiapolite doctor-philosopher Heraclitus (see
below, p. 138) are *A@nvaiow kai [7] | iepwrarn *Apeorrayerróv BovAn Kal oi | "Abjvnow 'Ermikovpeıoı
diArAdcodor Kal 7) LEpa Bvpedikn aúvodos.72
Of special interest is a bilingual dossier73 of A.D. 121
relating to the headship of the Epicurean School at Athens; this consists of (1) the date, written in
Latin below five Greek letters, the sole survivors of a document or formula now lost (ll. 1, 2);
(2) a letter a Plotina Augusta, Trajan’s widow, addressed to the Emperor Hadrian (ll. 3-11); (3) a
Latin letter from Hadrian to Popillius Theotimus, head of the School (ll. 12--15), and (4) a Greek
letter from Plotina sent räcoı tots dilois.
At Theotimus’s request the Dowager Empress asked
Hadrian to relax for him and all his successors the restriction whereby [n]on licet nist ex civibus Romanis
adsumi diad[o]chum (1. 5), so making it possible to appoint, by a will drawn up in Greek, the best
person available, whether Roman or peregreilnae condicionis (11. 7 f.).
The Emperor gave his consent
in a letter to Theotimus, and he also, no doubt, communicated his decision to Plotina, who forthwith wrote in Greek to the whole body of Epicureans at Athens, emphasising the benefit so secured,
the gratitude due rau ws àAn0@s edepyérm kai maons r[a]idetas Koounrhe dvi Kal kara roûro ce[Ba]opuw |rarwı adrokpärop (ll. 21f), and the added responsibility resting on the holder of the
kabmyenovia Tod awripos (1. 35; owrnp is apparently used of Epicurus) to select a successor on the
basis not of personal favouritism, but of moral izepoy7 (Il. 27, 37).
58 IG XIV 710, 1156-8 (1158 is perhaps spurious) ;
cf. Schefold, op. cit. 108, 209.
59 IG II? 3801 (cf. 3989), 11551.
60 IG II? 10046a.
6 BCH XXXIII 409 f., no. 409.
62 IvOl 453.
63 IG XII (9) 40; possibly this belongs to Attica.
64 CIL VI 9784, 9785 (= Dessau, ILS 7779).
Neither
CIL VI (5) 2135* nor JG XIV 281* is authentic.
For
the “Stoikerinschrift”, JG II:
1938, see Kirchner’s
comments,
65 Cf. C. Bailey, Epicurus, 94 ff., 344 ff.
66 IG XIV 1150; ef. A. Hekler, Greek and Roman Portraits, 100.
This dossier throws an interesting
67 Diog. Laert. X 18, 22 f.
68 IGR IV 997.
69 IG XIV 674 = CILIX 48 = SIG 1227 = IGRI
466.
70 IG VII 3226.
702 Le Bas-Wadd. 239.
7 IG XII (7) 418 (cf. Suppl. p. 145) = JGR IV 908.
7
TAM II 910 (= IGR III 733) 9 ff.
73 IG II? 1099 = SIG 834 (ll. 16-38 only) = Dessau,
ILS 7784 (ll. 1-17 only).
Cf. P. Graindor, Athènes sous
Hadrien, 203 ff., A. Steinwenter, ts. Savignyst. LI 404 ff.,
Kirchner, Jmag. Inscr. Att.2 130.
For another Imperial
letter of c. 125 relating to the Epicurean School UG II:
1097 + SEG III 226) see J. H. Oliver, TAPA LXIX
Page 7
View in PDF(opens in a new window)light on Plotina and Hadrian, as well as on the organisation of the School74 and on the control
exercised by the Imperial government.
Of other philosophical schools I have little to note. Diogenes the Cynic occupies, as we have
seen (above, p. 132), the centre of the Köln mosaic, a portrait-herm in Rome bears his name,75 and
two dicta of Avoyévns 6 Kuvkos giAdcogos are written as a school exercise on an Egyptian ostrakon
of the fourth or fifth century A.D.7é A visit to the Theban Syringes and the statue of Memnon is
recorded in a couplet by Odpdmos kuvırds,77 and a stone inscribed kuvwxóv, found on the north
slope of the Acropolis,78 may belong to a meeting-place of the Cynics in the first or second century A.D.
A metrical epitaph from Ali-aga, near Cyme, commemorates the Pyrrhonian (IIvppwviaoras)
philosopher and poet Menecles, rav arapaxov ev Bporois Oevoas 666v,79 while another, from Suessa
Aurunca, describes one who migrated from Macedonia to Italy as
TOV maons ape| THs ciò ova dara | Didurrrrov,
npeoßvv Elao|vinséumépapov oodins.8°
One sage, Ortyx of Parium,
és avra | Adyois dmolrdoou, claims that he is nullius addictus turare in
verba magistri; his curious epitaph begins eut pev er | ITapiov "Opru[é]|oopos adro|didakros.8!
An interesting glimpse of the part played by philosophy in the education of the Athenian
youth is afforded by a group of decrees passed by the Council and Demos in honour of the preceding
year’s class of epheboi, together with the koounrns and the Gôdokalo (or madevrat) responsible
for their training. Thus we readé that the epheboi of 123-2 B.c. were honoured because they
duly performed their religious and other duties and devoted themselves to ra dao Tod ômuou
mpooTerayneva pabyuara, mpocerapr|é | proa» de Kai LnvodoTwL oxoALás Jovrels ev Tle Ta IIroAeuaiwı
kal ||ev Avkeiwı, öuoiws de Kat tots Mois [PiAo|addors draoi|v] Tots TE ev Avkeiwı Kal ev "Axadnp[ tas
du’ dAov Tob è avro All. 19 f.) > and that their Kooummns was praised because 7po|evon0n de kat tis
rrajidetas adró[v] Ev drraow | kai owppoodvas, Tots [didolod gos avrods [T]aparaditwv [Kat o]xoAalwv
dmaow Tois|- - 9 6Aov Tob] Eviavrod - | duoiws de Kai T|ns Ev Tots] ypappacw [aë]rôv d[derlas ebpov|rioe
oxoAalwv Zuvoölorwi. - - - (Il. 62 ff.). This suggests a comprehensive programme of philosophical
lectures, and the Zenodotus here named may well be the pupil of the famous Stoic Diogenes of
Babylon, who wrote a metrical epitaph of Zeno.83 A similar decree84 of 101.B.c. is less detailed,
merely stating that the epheboi eoxöAacav di’ 6Aov tot evlıavroö] || rots dAocddors perà maons evratias,
and this phrase recurs in decrees85 of c. 95 B.c. and some years later, while about 80 B.c. it is further
shortened
®¢ to [rapleôpevoyres tats T[Gv diroloddwv oyoalts. Some extension of the curriculum is
later indicated by the phrases Tats TE TOV hidoccddwy Kal PNTÓPWV Kal YpauuaTtıkav [oxoAaîs Kal Tats ÜTO
TOV AouTTDvV del yen] |vopevars AKPOAGEOLV mapatvyxavovres,®7 and mapeöpevovres T]ats TOV [do |oodwv
Kal p[yróp|wv kai ypamparicov oxodaîs],88 and z|[pocedpevovres rais TAV dirooddwv Kal ypauuari]kdv
oyodats kai ev T|[aís del yivouévus akpodoecw].89 This evidence, though less detailed than we
could wish, proves that for at least a century attendance at courses of philosophical lectures was an
important element in the training prescribed by the duos, BovAöuevos told]s er r@v ral[i|èwr
perafaivovras eis Tovs avdpas ayabovs yiveodaı THs marpidos Siad[6]|yovs.9° The fascination exercised
by philosophy 1s illustrated by the case of the Pergamene who mapayevopevos Dewpös eis Ta
[TTavabyvara | mapeönunoev émi? TAleiw, Ths Kata pirocopiav maidetas [éxôuevos | ws Tod po mdvrwv
api]orov emurndeyuaros,% and after returning home influenced King Attalus I in favour of the
Athenians; the words rüv Evavöpov oxoAao|r@vin l. 13 suggest that he came under the spell of
Evander, who succeeded Lacydes as head of the Academic School. 92
74 In the Latin letters the School is termed secta Epicuri
(11. 4, 9) or Epicurea (1. 13), in the Greek, oxoAn (1. 36);
the phrase chorus Epicureus appears in CIL X 2971 =
Dessau, ILS 7781.
75 IG XIV 1148; cf. Schefold, Bildnisse der antiken
Dichter, 155.
76 Sammelbuch, 5730.
77 CIG 4807h = Kaibel, Epigr. 1017.
78 IG II? 5184.
79 IGR IV 1740; cf. BCH XII 368 f., no. 17.
80 IG XIV 888 = IGRI
407.
st IGRIV 176; cf. AM IX 61 f., no. 4.
82 JG II: 1006.
Cf. B. D. Meritt, Hesperia, XVII 23 ff.,
no. 11 (adding a new fragment to Il. 89-116), M. T.
Mitsos, AE 1950-1, 45, no. 25 (adding JG II: 2485),
F. Jacoby, JHS LXIV 66.
83 Diog. Laert. VII 30, Anth. Pal. VII 117.
84 IG II: 1028 (=SIG 717) 34f.
85 IG II? 1029. 21 (dated in 94 8.c. by JG, in 95 by
Dinsmoor, Archons of Athens, 290, and in 96 by Notopoulos, Hesperia, XVIII 6, 11), 1030. 31.
86 IG II? 1039. 47, dated in 80 B.c. by Dinsmoor,
op. cit. 290 f., and Notopoulos, op. cit. 24f.
Cf. KR.
Laqueur, Epigr. Unters. 11, Kirchner, Imag. Inscr. Att.? 112.
87 IG II? 1042c 7 f. (cf. ab 19 f.), datedin 40 B.c.
88 IG 11? 1043. 42 f. (cf. 19 f.), datedin 38 (Kirchner)
or 37 (Dinsmoor); cf. Meritt, Hesperia, XV 219, Kirchner,
Imag. Inscr. Att. 116.
89 IG II? 1040, 26 ff., dated in 21 8.c. by Notopoulos,
op. cit. 12, in 18 B.c. by Dinsmoor, op. cit. 286.
9° IG II? 1006. 53 f.
In 1. 84 the kosmetesis praised
becausey Terenas ager
tolis ua0nu[a]o[vw
adrt]av
(cf.
102
9 IG II? 886. 8 ff., dated in 200-197 by Kirchner, in
192 by Dinsmoor, Athenian Archon List, 183 ff., and by
Pritchett and Meritt, Chronology of Hellenistic Athens, XXVI,
111. I distrust éri mA ei in l. 9, and should prefer to
restore ¿rg mAleiw or Emeönunoev ypôvor TAleíw (cf.
SEG I 368. 5, 13).
92 For the date see Kirchner’s comment on JG II: 849,
Dinsmoor, Archons of Athens, 48 f., 254.
In IG II? 12764
we have the metrical epitaph of Telecles of Phocaea,
Evander’s colleague, who diedin 167-6 B.c.
Page 8
View in PDF(opens in a new window)MARCUS N. TOD
In advanced education also philosophers took an important part, though their popularity
tended to wane as that of sophists and rhetors increased.93 In the remarkable document discovered
at Pergamum in 1934 and edited with a masterly commentary by R. Herzog,% comprising an edict
issued by Vespasian on December 27, A.D. 74, granting immunity from billeting and taxation,
together with other privileges, to îarpoi, moidevrat and iarpadeirraı, followed by a rescript of
Domitian denouncing [avaritiam medicorum atque] praeceptorum in instructing slaves |aug]endae mercedis
gratia, philosophers are not expressly named, while the Edict of Diocletian, which in A.D. 301
prescribed the maximum payments chargeable for all commodities sold and all services rendered,
the chapter de mercedibus operariorum,95 while including the item prop ro. cofuorÿ Úrrep Exaorov
pabyrod unvıata (Snvdpia) ov’, does not specifically mention philosophers. ‘They did, however, play
a leading role in some at least of the Movoeta—Academies, or Institutes for Advanced Study—
which existed in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.96 ‘The most famous of these was that at
Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I Soter and favoured by Hadrian; its members, divided into
sections or classes, one of which consisted of philosophers, enjoyed the privileges of arélaa and
oirmois. Thus an inscription of Antinoe, probably of the third century A.p., honours Dionysodorus,
r@v [ev rar] | Movoeian orrovuelvwv areA@v] | IIMarwvırov diAë[oobov],97 and a certain Fronto, r@v ev
Tú | Movoeiov [sic] oeırovluevwv dirooddwv | rav ’A[Alegar[S]pia||[v@v, appears in an inscription
of Saryschlar in Lydia.98 Elsewhere also the phrases rúv ev r&
Movoeiw || [cecrov|pévwv areAdv
dirocéduwv,99 Tob amò Movoeiov [puooépolv,'° and [$ılAooodov amo Movceiov' probably refer to
the Alexandrian Academy.
But J. H. Oliver has shown!“ that the titles rov éxi rod Movoto[v],
borne by Cassianus, also called Synesius, on a third-century base at Athens (/G II» 3712), and 7@®v
amò Movoeiov diAdcodov, given to T. Pompeius Dionysius (IG II? 3810), refer to the Athenian
Movcetov, the University of Athens organised under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius; ‘the philosophers
amo (tod) Movoeiov are”, he claims, ‘the incumbents of the philosophical chairs at Athens’. So also
J. Keil has proved'!% that an honorary inscription at Ephesus set up about the middle of the second
century A.D. by of epi To Movoetov rrawevral and a reference in a grave-inscription to of ev *Edéow
ano tod Movoetov iarpoi point to the existence in that city of a Movoetov in which raôeurai and
doctors formed two sections; whether philosophers were included in the former class or constituted
a separate section we do not know.
The close association of philosophy and medicine is illustrated by numerous examples, literary
and epigraphical.104 Empedocles was noted both as doctor and as philosopher; Socrates’ mother
Phaenarete was a midwife, a fact which left clear traces in his teaching and his terminology, and
Aristotle’s father Nicomachus was a Stagirite doctor, who traced his ancestry back to the Messenian
healing god Nicomachus, son of Machaon and grandson of Asclepius.
Galen of Pergamum underwent a philosophical training before devoting himself to medical study and practice, and maintained
throughout his life a keen interest in philosophy; one of his minor works is entitled “Or: 6 áproros
tarpos Kat hÂocobos, and another!°s summarises his many contributions to philosophical literature.
In Rome lived Ortesinus, dvnp äpioros, iatpos de THY Téxvny, ev Adyors biloodbois kai Ie Oavpacrds
(IG XIV 1900), and a portrait-herm commemorated Asclepiades (ibid. 1142), the philosopherdoctor of Prusa in Bithynia, who lived and practised in Rome.
The Council, People and Gerusia
of Rhodiapolis in Lycia conferred outstanding honours on Heraclitus, Rhodiapolite and Rhodian
and priest of Asclepius and Hygiea, mp@rov am’ ail@vos larpov Kai ovvypabea Kai mom|rmv Epywv
larpikfs Kai dtAocodias, || dv dvéypaypay larpırav momparwv | "Ounpov eiva,t°® and an interesting
93 J. W. H. Walden, Universities of Ancient Greece, 68 ff.,
A. D. Nock, Sallustius, xvii ff., H. von Arnim, Dio, 4 ff.
A philosopher might, however, be at the same time a
sophist and/or rhetor, as was Lachares, whose ‘metrical’
epitaph survives in JG II: 11952, and T. Flavius Glaucus,
described as route Kai 67twp Kai diAdoodog (IG IT?
3704. 12; cf. Hesperia, Suppl. VIII 246 ff.). ‘Suidas’ calls
Hippias of Elis oodiotic Kai dtAdoodog, and says that
Zoilus of Amphipolis ó¿xtop Tv Kai diAdoodoc, Eyparbe
MÉVTOL TIVA Kai ypappatika.
94 SB Berlin, 1935, 967 ff.; cf. RA VIII (1936) 289 ff.,
Gnomon, XIV 507 ff.
95 E. Graser ap. T. Frank, Economic Survey of Ancient Rome,
V 344 ff., ch. VII 71;
cf. J. Bingen, BCH LXXVII 655.
96 E. Müller-Graupa, RE XVI 797 ff., F. Poland,
Geschichte d. griech. Vereinswesens, 121, 206, SIG goo, n. 17,
OGI 714, n. 4, E. Ziebarth, Griech. Vereinswesen, 69 ff.
97 IBM 1076 = Sammelbuch, 6012.
A Roman officer
who in A.D. 122-3 carved his name on the statue of
Memnon is
called tay
[Ev
Movoeiw] | osırovusvov
ateA[@v] (IGR I 1200 = Sammelbuch, 8340), but we are not
told to which section he belonged.
98 Keil-von Premerstein, Bericht über eine zweite Reise in
Lydien, 210 = IGR IV 1373.
99 IG XIV 1103 = OGI 714
= IGR I 154 (Rome).
M. Aur. Asclepiades of Alexandria, the philosopher in
question, was a distinguished pancratiast and senior
vewKopos tod ueyddov Zapamôos (cf. IG XIV 1102).
The phrase recurs in Pap. Ryl. 143. 2 ff. of A.D. 38.
100 SIG 900, 53 f. (Panamara, A.D. 3905-13).
tor BCH IV 405 (Halicarnassus). Cf. loMagn 180. 3 (äro
Movosiov), CIG 4748. 5 ("Ounpıkod Tromtod éx Movosiov).
102 Hesperia, III 191 ff.
Pompeius Dionysius may well
be the same as the lou.
Auovöcws Ilara(vieúc) named
in l. 21 of a prytany-list (JG II: 1826) dated ‘c.a. 210 p.’
by Kirchner and assigned to A.D. 222-3 by J. A. Notopoulos (Hesperia, XVIII 37 ff., 53).
For the University
of Athens at this period see J. W. H. Walden, The Universities of Ancient Greece, 130 fl.
103 OFh VIII 135 f.; cf. Ephesos, II, no. 65, IIl, no. 68,
IV (1), no. 1, OFA XL 11.
104 Cf. A. D. Nock, Sallustius, xxii f.
105 JTepi tv idiwy BıßAlwv, xii—xvi.
106 TAM II 910 (= IGR III 733) 12 ff.
Page 9
View in PDF(opens in a new window)inscription of Pisidian Antioch describes C. Calpurnius Collega Macedo, a Christian BovAevrns
(curialis) of the fourth century, who died at the early age of thirty, as fyropa èv rots Séxa *AOnvaiwy
mparois KA[ {pov Exovra?], | drrdcodov ra IMdrwvos Kai Zwkpärous Erı alipospevov?], | apxıarpov ev
Adyous Kal épyous Ta ‘Immoxpdrovs ro[Aunoavra?] (CR XXXIII 2 ff.).
Other cases are more doubtful.
The city of Sosandra in Lycia honoured Menecrates, u[éyav | !Jarpov kat fid[600|g]ov (ZGR IV 1359),
who may be the same as Tiberius Claudius Menecrates, to whom, ¿arpúd: Ka:odpwv kai idtas Aoyırns
evapyoús iarpus Kriorn. ev BiBAlots pvs’ and radu éavr@v aipeoidpynt, his yvopınoı erected a ypdov
at Rome.:°7 But the identification is dubious, and even the restoration ¢A[dcog]ov is uncertain,
as we see by comparing an epitaph of Lydae in Lycia commemorating Aminias, or Aristobulus,
ye|vopevov larpôv Tédewov kai didddoyov.t°8
The Roman epigram évdaôe Keîra avip moM&y
avratios adAAwv | Iloumnos AiokAÿs répuar’ Exwv oodins!°9 may refer to a doctor or a philosopher or
one who was both, though the obvious echo of Iliad, XI 514, inrpös yap avnp moAAav avrafıos ¿Mw
supports the view that he was a doctor. A remarkable philosopher-poet of the time of the Flavians
and Trajan, on whom recent epigraphical studies have thrown fresh light,"° is the Athenian
Sarapion, whom his grandson described as [Zapariwv]a KXoMeiönv>r[omrmv - - | kai di lAdoopov
Zrwir[ov] (IG II: 3796, 3631) on a monument on which he inscribed Sarapion’s poem de officus
medici moralibus,1 which is in the best tradition of the Hippocratic oath.
He was a friend of
Plutarch, who introduces him into several of his works, especially the De Pythiae oraculis, in which
he figures prominently and is acclaimed as one who has revived the old custom of expressing
philosophic truth in poetic form (402 E, F; cf. 396 F).
Occasionally, or perhaps normally, the Athenian epheboi at the close of their course made
a present of books to the “Library in the Ptolemaion’, which they presumably used for their instruction or recreation.
It is recorded that the epheboi of 117-16 B.c. dedicated [Bu]BAia ékalror eis
Try BulBlioëiknl]v rpôror kara TO ıdmdıona 6 Oeodwpiôns ITeipai[eds] eêrev,"?2 and that those of 96-5
dedicated Buflia eis tHv ev Ilrodenaiw BußAuodnknv éxarov kara | [ro Yydropa,3 and a mutilated
passage relating to those of some year c. 44 B.c. seems to refer to a similar gift.14
It would be
interesting to have a list of the books comprised in such a present, and to see what part, if any,
philosophical literature took in it, but the decrees in question do not enlighten us beyond indicating
that on the last occasion the gift included one or more plays Eö]pıriö[ov and a copy of 77]v "Duada,
no doubt as duplicates or in replacement of worn or lost copies.
We possess, however, a considerable fragment of a book-catalogue!!5 of the late second or early first century B.c., which may
relate to an ephebic presentation; in it the dramatists (Sophocles, Euripides, Achaeus, Crates,
Diphilus, Menander, etc.) predominate, but the EvxA]eiSou Aioyivns of 1. 10 is probably the
dialogue of Euclides of Megara which bore this title.16
Another fragmentary book-list!17 of
C. 100 B.C. gives us a glimpse of the contents of a Rhodian library, for which the gymnasiarchs
apparently had some responsibility ; authors’ names are arranged in alphabetical order—[Demetrius
(Phalereus)], Hegesias, Theodectes, Theopompus of Chios and a second Theopompus—but the
only work which here concerns us is Theopompus’s Karaôpouÿy ris IMarwvos] SiarpiBfs.
Very
different is the list preserved in a papyrus8 of the early third century from Memphis; here philo107 IG XIV 1759.
Cf. PIR? II 218, no. 937, IGRI 286,
SIG 803.
108 TAM II 147 = IGR III 534.
109 IG XIV
1951 = IGR I 333.
It is uncertain
whether the eintnp 6 <m>dvoodos of IG XIV 942 (Ostia)
was philosopher as well as doctor; I think not.
o J. H. Oliver, Hesperia, Suppl. VIII 243 ff. (partly
superseding his earlier treatment in Hesperia, V 91 ff.);
of. R. Flaceliére, REG LXIV 325 ff.
mur P. L. Maas and J. H. Oliver, Bulletin of the History
of Medicine, VII 315 ff., Oliver, op. cit. 245 f.
I doubt
Oliver’s translation of 6ed¢ oía [c]awtip | dude art[e]avov
[tle Kai ddver@v Kai dváxtow | isos [fo]: (ll. 25-7) by ‘like
a savior god, let him make himself the equal of slaves
and of paupers, of the rich and of rulers of men’.
Does
it not rather mean that the doctor should treat all men
alike, regardless of status and of wealth?
Another
fragment of Sarapion’s poetry is preserved in Stobaeus,
Anthol. IIT 10. 2 Hense; for his stemma see Oliver, op. cit.,
facing p. 248.
In RE he is dismissed in two lines.
112 Hesperia, XVI 171, ll. 31 f. = JG II? 1009. 7f.
A
fragment containing parts of Il. 52-62 was added in
1946 by Meritt (Hesperia, XV 213 f.), who in the following
year published (Hesperia, XVI 170 ff., no. 67) a large
fragment bearing the opening lines of the decree.
Cf.
A. E. Raubitschek, 474 XLIX 435, n. 5, M. T. Mitsos,
AE 1950-1, 41 f., no. 19.
13 JG II* 1029. 25f.
For the date see Dinsmoor,
Archons of Athens, 290, J. A. Notopoulos, Hesperia, XVIII
6, II.
114 JG Il? 1041. 23 f.
For the date see Dinsmoor, op. cit.
292.
ns IG II? 2363.
R. J. Walker’s ingenious interpretation (Parnassus Biceps, Paris, 1926) is rejected by E. J.
Thomas, CR XL 215. .
16 “Suidas” s.v. Eördelöng, Meyapeds . . . diAdcodog . . .
ovvéypawe Otaddyoug > AAkiBiaônv, Aioyivny, Kpitwva, KrA.
117 A. Maiuri, Nuova silloge, no. 11, Jacoby, F Gr Hist,
115 T 48, no. 228 T 11, F. Hiller von Gaertringen,
no.
Gnomon, 11 195 f., 365, RE Suppl. V 825, G. De Sanctis,
Riv Fil LIV 63 ff.
It is uncertain whether the names
Dionysius and Democlidas in col. ii are those of authors
or titles.
Maiuri also edited (op. cit., no. 4; cf. Gnomon,
II 195) a decree inviting gifts of books for a library
(perhaps that of no. 11) and recording donors’ names. Cf.
M. Segre, Riv Fil LXIII 214 ff., LXIV go.
18 Mitteis-Wilcken, Grundzüge, I (2) 182 ff., no. 155.
F. G. Kenyon’s examination of the literary fragments
discovered at Oxyrhynchus (7EA VIII 129 ff.) showed
that “Demosthenes stands out as clearly among the
orators as Thucydides among the historians.
The same
is true of Plato among the philosophers; and here it is a
case of “Eclipse first and the rest nowhere””” (p. 136).
Page 10
View in PDF(opens in a new window)MARCUS N. TOD
sophical works by Aristotle, Theophrastus, Posidonius and others form the great majority in what
appears to be a private collection rather than a public library.
Most of the inscriptions naming individual philosophers fall into one of four classes: (1) decrees
conferring honours and privileges; (2) honorary inscriptions, often engraved on the bases of statues
of the philosophers concerned; (3) epitaphs; and (4) names inscribed on busts or herms indicating
the persons portrayed. Of the first, third and fourth classes I have already given some examples,
but the second calls for some further remarks. We may distinguish three types: (a) honours paid
by states or other public bodies, e.g. to T. Pompeius Dionysius at Athens UG II? 3810), to M.
Aurelius Olympiodorus, reıundevra Aoyıorea ro THs Baoıdeias eis Sexaeriav at Troezen (IG IV 796),
to Flavius Maecius Dionysodorus at Antinoe (see p. 138), to Ti. Claudius Paulinus avrı[rawiav] ris
koAwveías at Pergamum (Abh Berl 1932 (5) 42 no. 2), and to Apuleius at Madaura, below whose statue
stood the inscription [Ph]ilosopho|[Pllatomico|| Ma)daurenses|cives||ornament[o]|suo d.d. p. [p.] (Ann.
Ep. 1919, 36); (5) honours paid by the recipients’ relatives or friends,"9 and (c) expressions of
esteem and gratitude felt by pupils to their teachers.12° Private inscriptions of these last two types
frequently include a phrase indicating that the erection of the statue has received the sanction
of the state. Among many examples of type (c) I call attention to two, which concern well-known
philosophers. In 1949 the American excavators of the Athenian Agora unearthed a previously
known, but long lost, plinth of a seated bronze statue inscribed Kapveaönv *Alnviéa | "Arrados
kai *Apuapäôns ZurraAgrTi[
oc] | avéOnxav,% attesting the regard felt for Carneades of Cyrene, now
a citizen of Athens, by two of his pupils, Attalus (later Attalus IT, King of Pergamum 159-38 B.c.)
and his kinsman Ariarathes (later Ariarathes V, King of Cappadocia 162-c. 131 B.c.), both of
whom had received Athenian citizenship. Again, A. E. Raubitschek has recently shown! how
much light is thrown by the skilful comparison and restoration of a number of Attic inscriptions,
mostly honorary, on the history and family of the ®aidpos Avoradov Bepevikiöns of IG 112 3897-9
(which he dates c. 78 B.c.), head of the Epicurean School and a close friend of Cicero and of
T. Pomponius Atticus. His statue was erected by Lucius Saufeius, often mentioned in Cicero’s
letters to Atticus, who terms him 7ov &avr[od «ka]|0mynlrnv (3897.6, with a new fragment), and probably
also by Atticus himself (3899), while Appius Saufeius, Lucius’ brother, dedicated a herm, the
basis of which has come to light in the Agora, portraying Phaedrus, röv &avrod [|kaßny|nryv, probably
in the Athenian Eleusinion.
Philosophic training might begin at an early age; the phrase amo rparas aAıkias occurs in an
epigram of Orchomenus (JG VII 3226), darò ris mpwrns Actas in an honorary decree from Branchidae (IBM 925614) and dyav Keîra véos in the epitaph of a Stoic from Patrae buried at Athens
(IG II: 10046a), while an inscription of Chaeronea commemorates an &vr[eAn] | dıAdoodov érdv [x]ß’
(IG VII 3425, if the restorations are correct), and a metrical epitaph from Gythium contains the
couplet ”Arrados Evdade ébnBlo]s Ern Émoas Ser[a]mevre | keiraı tiv Movowv yvods én’ dkpov aodinv
(IG V (1) 1186.7 f.). Nor was philosophy confined to men; an inscription of Apollonia in Mysia
honours Ma[y]vMMa[v hA6||oobov Mayv[ov] | hiooobou Ovyalrépa, Mnvio[v diolloéplou yu[vatîka]
(IGR IV 125),123 an epigram from Nicaea in Bithynia commemorating a Christian nun is headed
’Arria diroacddicoa (AM XXXVI 103),124 and the adjective dıAocodos is applied to a woman in
Paros (IG XII (5) 292.6) and, in the superlative degree, to two women honoured at Sparta in
Imperial times (IG V (1) 598 f.).
Philosophers did not necessarily devote themselves wholly to contemplation and to teaching;
many of them played active, some even leading, roles in the life of their communities. We may
cite the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Julian, röv Ex ilocopias Bacıdevovra (OGI 520),125 the
statesman Demetrius of Phalerum, the hieromnemon Menedemus of Eretria,!26 M. Aurelius
Olympiodorus at Troezen, reıumdevra Aoyıorea eis deraeriav (IG IV 796), a [dia] Biov Evorapxnv
Kal em Badaveiwv Toû ZeBaoroû at Rome (IG XIV 1103 = OGI 714), an avri[rapiav] tis KoAwvetas
at Pergamum (Abh Berl 1932 (5) 42 no. 2), BovAevrai at Antinoe (IBM 1076 = Sammelbuch, 6012) and
Pisidian Antioch (CR XXXIII 2), and a mp@rov rod e0vov[s], | Sis T'adarapynv pirddo€ov || cai Kriornv
119 Examples are JGR IV 1449 (tov watépa), IG VII
3423 (tov mpòs untpös mammov), BCH XXXIII 407 fl.,
nos. 407, 409 (tv didov, tov Eavtod di[lAov]), BSA XXIX
33, FHS XLIV 42, no. 76 (tov éavtod edepyétnr).
120 Examples are Ephesos, IV (3) 288, no. 40 ([rlôr
Eavtod | [öJödoraAov), IG II: 3801 (tov diddoxalAor),
3819 (tov diddoKador), 3793 ([tov] ¿avróv | xa0nyntnv),
4262 (coding édv ryntipa).
11 JG II: 3781 = SIG 666. Cf. B. D. Meritt, Hesperia,
XVII 29, H. A. Thompson, Hesperia, XIX 318 f.
122 Hesperia, XVIII o8 ff. The article includes a
valuable discussion of the title xa0nyntis, characteristic
of,
and
at
first restricted to,
the Epicurean School.
123 For philosophy running in families see also JG II:
3704. 9, 12, S. Pelekides, "470 tv moAırela Kai tiv Kowwvia
tic apyatas Oeccadovixno, 53, N. 4.
124 The feminine philosopha is found in Dessau, ILS
7783 = CIL VI 33898 (Rome).
125 Cf.
Dessau, ILS
751
filosofifae]
Geschichte der griech. Religion, II 435
magistro,
Nilsson,
ff.
126 R. Flacelière, Les Aitoliens à Delphes, 188, 387 f.,
no. 5.
For the date, 274 or 273 B.C., see op. cit. 439,
G. Daux, Chronologie delphique, 34G6, Dinsmoor, The
Athenian Archon List, 57, 60.
Page 11
View in PDF(opens in a new window)SIDELIGHTS
mAovriornv | Kal moAvoredavov piAdao| ¢d[o]v
diAdTratpi
I4I
Kai | aAemToy oAeırevryv
at
Ancyra
(FHS XLIV 42, no. 76).
The rarity of the word ¢:Adcodgos in Greek epigrams is due to the fact that it is inadmissible in
elegiac and hexameter verse,!27 the favourite metres of epigrammatists, though not in iambics or
trochaics, as, e.g., in the epitaphs oùver’ Fv pyrwp pev eizetv, dıAdoodos 8 & xpn voetv,128 and Maprov
IToXeirov pilooopou, rrávrwv pidov.129 Epigrams therefore often use oopôs or oodia in phrases
which sometimes leave us in doubt whether philosophy is indicated rather than medicine or some
other branch of learning or skill.130
The aim of the present article is merely to illustrate some of the ways in which epigraphical
discoveries contribute to our knowledge of Greek philosophy and its exponents. I close by calling
attention, briefly and in general terms, to three aspects of this contribution.
(1) Inscriptions render a valuable service in enabling us to identify the portraits of a number
of philosophers, writers and orators.
I content myself with a reference to K. Schefold’s remarks
on this subject.!3!
(2) Many important events in the lives of philosophers and the history of the philosophical
Schools are dated by the names of Athenian eponymous archons.
The determination of the
archon-list for the Hellenistic and Roman periods depends mainly on epigraphical evidence, and,
although complete unanimity has not yet been reached, very remarkable progress has recently been
made, thanks especially to discoveries made in the Agora and the researches of American scholars.132
(3) It would be interesting to inquire how deeply and in what directions philosophic teaching
affected the thought and speech and life of the common people of the Greek and Greco-Roman
world.
‘To assess this influence accurately is beyond our power, but much valuable evidence may
be gained by a study of the language and thought of the surviving epigrams'33—not so much the
dainty and polished products of the epigrammatists’ art collected in the Anthologia Palatina as the
more spontaneous, if cruder, works of lesser artists preserved on stone, often faulty in metre and
grammar and spelling, yet affording an insight into the hearts and minds of those who wrote them
and of those for whom they were written, and indicating their attitude to some of the fundamental
problems of life and death and God.
Marcus N. Top.
Birmingham.
127 In defiance of metre Aristophanes ends a hexameter
with diAdcodoyv éyelpew (Eccl. 571), which doubtless
evoked a hearty laugh from the audience.
128 Kaibel, Epigr. Gr. 106 = IG II? 10826.
129 Kaibel, 391 = IGR IV 628 (Traianopolis).
130 See,
e.g.,
Kaibel,
103
(= JIG XII
(9)
954),
104
(= IG Il: 11140), 372 (IGR IV 606), 845 (= IG II: 3790),
IG 11? 4251, V (1) 598. 19, 1186. 3, 8, VII 93, 581.
Zodós is also used occasionally in prose inscriptions, e.g.
IG XII (9) 147, 253.
131 Die Bildnisse der antiken Dichter, Redner und Denker, 193.
132 See especially W. B. Dinsmoor, The Archons of Athens
in the Hellenistic Age (Harvard U.P., 1931), The Athenian
Archon List in the Light of Recent Discoveries (Columbia U.P.,
1939), W. K. Pritchett and B. D. Meritt, The Chronology of
Hellenistic Athens (Harvard U.P., 1940), S. Dow, Hesperia,
III 140 ff., J. A. Notopoulos, Hesperia, XVIII 1 ff.
133 See R. Lattimore, Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs
(Urbana, 1942), especially ch. II, A. D. Nock, Sallustius,
xxxil ff.
The study will be greatly facilitated by the
publication of the remaining volumes of P. Friedlander’s
Epigrammata and of W. Peek’s Griechische Versinschriften;
meanwhile G. Kaibel’s Epigrammata Graeca, published in
1878, has by no means lost all value.