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[German version] (Παροιμιογράφοι; Paroimiográphoi). Term, of which no evidence suggests use in ancient times, describing authors of collections of proverbs or theoretical works on proverbs ( paroimía ); probably coined by Byzantine scholars. The first Greek to concern himself scientifically with the field was Aristotle in a book entitled Παροιμίαι ( Paroimíai, 'Proverbs') (Diog. Laert. 5,26). He believed them to be ancient remnants of human wisdom, a precursor of philosophical aphorisms, distinguished by brevity and memorability (fr. 13 Rose). H…

[German version] I. Greek (Μαρκελλῖνος; Markellînos). [German version] [I 1] Greek author of a treatise on pulses, 2nd cent. AD?, [1] Greek author of a treatise on pulses. His reference to followers of Archigenes suggests the late 1st or 2nd cent. AD as the earliest date of its composition. A more precise dating would be possible if he were the author of a recipe quoted by Galen (De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos 7,5 = 13,90 K.) from Andromachus [5] the Younger, but the identification is uncertain. M.'s …

(Μενεκράτης; Menekrátes). [German version] [1] Attic comic poet, 5th cent. BC Attic comic poet of the 5th cent. BC. Two titles of his plays have survived, Ἑρμιονεύς/ Hermioneús (or Ἑρμιόνη/ Hermiónē?) and Μανέκτωρ/ Manéktōr (probably ‘Manes as Hector) [1. test. 1], as well as an anapaestic tetrameter (fr. 1) from the latter. It is uncertain whether Menecrates was once victorious at the Dionysia [1. test. *2]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 1-2. [German version] [2] Tragic poet, 5th cent. BC Greek tragic poet, victor at the Great Dionysia in…

(Μνασέας; Mnaséas). [German version] [1] Politician Phocian, father of Aristotélous hetaíros (‘companion of Aristoteles [6]’) Mnason (Timaeus FGrH 566 F 11; Aristot. Pol. 1304a 10-14). Aristotle says the cause of the Third “Sacred War” was a dispute between M. and Euthycratus over an heiress, but this explanation (probably originating from Mnason) is considered inadequate. After the death of Onomarchus, in 352/1 BC Phayllus appointed M. guardian of Phalaecus and stratēgós, but he was killed shortly afterwards during a nocturnal attack by the Boeotians (Diod. 16,38,6f.). Beck, Ha…

[German version] I Greek (Φίλων/ Phíl ōn). [German version] [I 1] Athenian politician Athenian from Acharnae who was exiled by the Oligarchic regime in 404 BC (Triakonta). During the civil war, he lived as a metoikos (resident without Attic citizenship) in Oropos awaiting the outcome of events. Following his return, when he applied to join the boulḗ he was accused of cowardice and other misdemeanours at a dokimasia investigation (Dokimasia) (Lys. 31; possibly 398 BC). Walter, Uwe (Cologne) Bibliography Blass, vol.1, 480f.  Th.Lenschau, A. Raubitschek, s.v. P. (2), RE 19, 2526f. …

(Νίκανδρος; Níkandros). [German version] [1] Spartan king, c. 715 BC Spartan king, Eurypontid, the father of Theopompus (Hdt. 8,131). N. led the raid of Spartans and Asinaeans into Argolis, in retaliation for which the Argives destroyed Asine [1] ( c. 715 BC). The settlement was refounded a few years later on the Messenian Gulf (Asine [2]; Paus. 2,36,4f.; 3,7,4; 4,14,3f.). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) Bibliography M. Meier, Aristokraten und Damoden, 1998, 74f., 93, 96. [German version] [2] Strategos in the Aetolian League, 190/189, 184/3 and 177/6 BC Son of Bittus of Trichonium (Syll.3 5…

(Μεθόδιος; Methódios). [German version] [1] Bishop of Olympus, 3rd-4th cent. AD Bishop of Olympus (late 3rd - early 4th cent. BC). Little about his life is known for certain. According to Jer. Vir. ill. 83 he was bishop of Olympus in Lycia, but Tyre, Patara, Myra and Philippi are also mentioned as his see. His martyrdom, also reported by Jerome, is equally disputed. M., who preferred the dialogue form in imitation of Plato, wrote numerous works (CPG 1810-1830) in an elegant style. His main work Sympósion ē Perí hagneías (Συμπόσιον ἢ Περὶ ἁγνείας [2]) celebrates virginity as an anti…

(Θέων; Théōn). [German version] [1] Greek painter from Samos, 300 BC and after T. of Samos was a Greek painter of the Hellenistic Period, who was active around and after 300 BC. His skill as a creator of images and the successful way in which his paintings were composed were praised in handbooks of rhetoric (e.g. Quint. Inst. 12,10,6) as examples to be followed. The viewer's creative imagination and intuitive understanding were meant to be stimulated at the same time by means of the artistic phantasía (Lat. ingenium, 'image creation'; Phantasia), so that the viewer might imagine e…

(Φιλόξενος; Philóxenos). [German version] [1] Name of several officers under Alexander the Great Several officers with the name P. are mentioned in the sources about Alexander  [4] the Great. They cannot always be distinguished with certainty. One P. was appointed by Alexander in 331 BC (incorrect [1]) ' to collect tribute on this side of the Taurus'(i.e. in Asia Minor) (Arr. An. 3,6,4). This cannot be correct. Arrian must, as often, have expressed himself imprecisely, as this duty had already been entrusted to somebody else. It can also hardly be th…

(Ναυκράτης; Naukrát ēs). [German version] [1] Of Erythrae, rhetor, 4th cent. BC Rhetor of the 4th cent. BC, of Erythrae [2] in Ionia, known almost solely by virtue of the fact that he was a student of Isocrates. He seems not only to have relied closely on his teacher linguistically and stylistically (Cic. De orat. 2,94), but also, like him, to have confined his activities particularly to the area of political journalism (an epitáphios [2] is mentioned - probably a model funeral oration without a concrete occasion: Dion. Hal. Rhet. 6,1 - and a funeral oration presente…

[German version] (Θεόγνωστος; Theógnōstos). Byzantine grammarian, 9th cent. AD, author of a (lost) work on Euphemius' rebellion in Sicily in 826-827 (cf. Theophanes Continuatus, Chronographia p. 82 Bekker) and an 'Orthography' (Περὶ ὀρθογραφίας/ Perì orthographías; Cod. Baroccianus 50, 10th cent.) containing 1003 rules. Several words, not recorded in earlier works and taken over into later etymologica, constitute the true value of this two-part instructional text, whose main sources are a glossary of Cyrillus [6] and (according to T.' letter of dedication) Herodianus [1]. Dams…

[German version] (παροιμία; paroimía). Greek term for the ancient proverb (Proverbs). First attested in Aesch. Ag. 264, paroimia, etymologically related to οἶμος ( oîmos, 'way'; since H. Hom. 4,451 in figurative sense also 'course of the song') (cf. prooímion), probably means 'something that stands alongside the course of the story' ([2], undecided [1. 476]). A paroimia is usually a concisely formulated, popular phrase, passed down from ancient times, indicating - strictly anonymously, often with rhythm or metrically bound and betraying characteris…

I Greek [German version] [1] Poet c. AD 500 Early Byzantine poet, contemporary of emperor Anastasius I (AD 491-518). According to Suda s.v. M., he originally was a descendent of a Roman family of senators, emigrated to Eleutheropolis in Palestine with his father and was a patríkios under Anastasius, composed iambic paraphrases of the works of Hellenistic authors ( Theocritus; Apollonius [2] Rhodius' ‘Argonautica; Callimachus' ‘Hecale, ‘Hymns, ‘Epigrams; Aratus [4]; Nicander's‘Theriaka). Possibly identical with M. [2]. Damschen, Gregor (Halle/Saale) Bibliography 1 J. Geffcken,…

[German version] (Μεγακλείδης; Megakleídēs). Peripatetic exegete of Homer, contemporary of Ephorus, Philochorus and Chamaeleon (cf. Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos 31,2; Eus. Pr. Ev. 10,11,3). He must therefore have lived in the second half of the 4th cent. BC. M.'s interpretations of Homer, which in addition to criticism (cf. schol. Hom. Il. 22,36) and questions of composition (cf. ibid. 16,140) are primarily concerned with factual issues, are preserved only in fragments. They probably stem from a work …

(Λυσίμαχος; Lysímachos). [German version] [1] Athenian, 5th cent. BC Athenian, son of Aristides [1], born around 480 BC, is a dialogue partner in Plato's Láchēs (178ff.), where he is represented as the prototype of the unsuccessful son of a celebrated father. A decree mentioned by Demosthenes (20,115; cf. Plut. Aristides 27), according to which L. is said to have been granted support from the state because he was penniless after the death of his father, is probably a construction from the 4th cent. Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) Bibliography Davies 1695 III-IV. [German version] [2] G…

(Νικάνωρ; Nikánōr). [German version] [1] Military official under Alexander the Great, died 330 BC Second son of Parmenion. Under Alexander [4] the Great he led the hypaspistaí of the hetaîroi in the major battles. During the pursuit of Darius [3], Alexander commanded him to pursue the Persian king with a group of riders who had given up their horses and the Agrianes under Attalus [2] as fast as possible (Arr. Anab. 3,21,7-8). He died soon after (330 BC). His brother Philotas stayed behind with an escort for his funeral. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography Berve 2, no. 554. …

[German version] Modern term for the ancient technique of determining the length of a literary text by counting its lines (στίχοι, stichoi). While each verse in poetry is valued, stichometrically speaking, as one line, a line in prose is equated to the length of an average epic hexameter (cf. Galen 5,655 Kühn; the terminology for 'line' uses stichos as synonymous with ἔπος/ epos), i.e. approximately 35 letters or 16 syllables. Two methods of stichometry are directly attested: 1. marginal numbering, in which every hundredth line is marked with a Greek lette…

[German version] [1] Mythical seer (Μελάμπους/ Melámpous). Mythical seer. Son of Amythaon, brother of Bias [1], husband of Iphianassa [1], father of Mantius, grandfather of Amphiaraus, born in Pylus. As a child he received the gift of interpreting bird songs when snakes licked his ears. Apollo granted him other prophetic gifts. He was considered a seer, a miracle healer and an expiatory priest, and also the founder of the cult of Dionysus in Greece (Hdt. 2,48f.). When his brother Bias wooed Pero, M. a…

I. Mesopotamia [German version] A. Concept According to lexical texts (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC), the Sumerian term for proverbs was i-bi-lu. The Akkadian tēltu(m) is known primarily from the epistolary literature of Assyria and the city of Mari (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC) [7]. Both terms refer not only to proverbs in the modern sense, but also to the fable and anecdotes, riddles and witty sayings. Böck, Barbara (Madrid) [German version] B. Sources The earliest Sumerian sources of proverbs are collections of proverbs and so-called 'proverb-poems'. The pro…

(Φιλήμων; Philḗmōn). [German version] [1] Husband of Baukis Husband of Baucis. Junk, Tim (Kiel) [German version] [2] Writer of the Attic New Comedy, c. 300 BC Son of Damon of Syracuse [1. test. 1, 11], became (before 307/6 BC; cf. [1. test. 15]) an Athenian citizen [1. test. 2-12. 15]. Important writer of Attic New Comedy with his stage debut several years before Menander [4] (before 328: [1. test. 2]); it is uncertain whether this somewhat earlier chronology or the different nature of his plays led to P. once being call…