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(Μνήσαρχος; Mnḗsarchos). [German version] [1] Father of Pythagoras Father of Pythagoras (6th and early 5th cents. BC), whose historicity seems certain (cf. Heracl. fr. 17 Marcovich and Hdt. 4,95,1), even if the tradition is contradictory and sometimes legendary. M. is sometimes described as a Samian gem cutter (Diog. Laert. 8,1; Apul. Flor. 15; cf. Porph. Vita Pythagorica 1; [1]), sometimes as a merchant from the Tyrrhenian island of Lemnos who had settled on Samos (Neanthes FGrH 84 F 29a = Porph. ibid…

(Ἵππασος; Híppasos). Name often used in epic texts for figures lacking any further characterization, particularly common in patronymic information about less important heroes. Esp. interesting in this context are [1] - [4]: [German version] [1] Father of Actor, the Argonaut  Father of Actor, the Argonaut (Apoll. Rhod. 1,112; Hyg. Fab. 14). Visser, Edzard (Basle) [German version] [2] Father of Charops  Father of  Charops [4] (Hom. Il. 11,426). Visser, Edzard (Basle) [German version] [3] Father of Hypsenor  Father of Hypsenor, killed by Deiphobus (Hom. Il. 13,411). Visser, Edzard …

[German version] The Greek terms μετεμψύχωσις ( metempsýchōsis, literally 're-ensoulment'), μετενσωμάτωσις ( metensōmátōsis, 're-embodiment'), παλιγγενεσία ( palingenesía, 're-becoming') are not recorded in ancient sources before the 1st cent. BC (only the verbal phrase πάλιν γίγνεσθαι/ pálin gígnesthai is in Plato; the noun in the other sense, that of periodic world renewal, is documented in the older Stoa). However, the doctrine of the migration of the soul is demonstrably present in the Greek cultural sphere from the 2nd half o…

(Διόδωρος, Διόδορος; Diódōros, Diódoros). Well-known representatives of the name: the philosopher D. [4] Kronos, the mathematician D. [8] of Alexandria, the universal historian D. [18] Siculus, the early Christian theologian D. [20] of Tarsus. [German version] [1] Athenian fleet commander in the Peloponnesian War Athenian, fleet commander with Mantitheus at the end of 408-407 BC at the Hellespont with a sufficient number of ships, so that Alcibiades [3] was able to sail to Samos and Thrasyllus and Theramenes to Athens (Diod. Sic. 13,68,2). (Traill, PAA 329550; Develin 171). Kinzl, …

(Εὔρυτος; Eúrytos). [German version] [1] Hom. character Ruler of Oechalia, mentioned in Hom. Il. 2,596; 730. The location of Oechalia is unclear (on the Peloponnese?). In Hom. Od. 21,20ff., Iphitus the son of E., while searching for his horses in Messenia, gives Odysseus his father's great bow (with which Odysseus later kills the suitors), and on his search is later murdered by Heracles. E. himself is killed by Apollo, whom he challenges to an archery competition (Od. 8,224-228). He plays an important role in the non-extant early epic ‘The Capture of Oechalia’ (Οἰχαλίας ἅλωσις; Oichalías…

(Ἀρχύτας, Archỳtas) [1] of Tarentum Pythagoraean philosopher [German version] A. Life Important Pythagorean philosopher of the ‘mathematical’ orientation, politician of Tarentum, a friend of Plato's. His life and his teachings are known in little more than outline because of insufficient records; his true works, with the exception of a few fragments, are lost, as is Aristoxenus' biography, Aristotle's treatise on A.'s philosophy and his comparison of Plato's Timaeus and A. (no. 94 in Diog. Laert. 5,25 = no. 85 in Hesychius' catalogue). A. is described as the so…