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(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. …

(Ἀριστομένης; Aristoménēs). [German version] [1] Messenian hero and freedom fighter (2nd half of 7th cent. BC) Messenian hero and freedom fighter, seen as a descendant of the Aepytids. With the support of Arcadians and Argives, A. was the supposed leader of a Messenian revolt against Sparta which lasted for many years. Paus. 4,14,6-24,3 reports that on his defeat, after initial successes, in the so-called battle of the ‘Great Trench’ because of the treachery of the Arcadian king  Aristocrates [1], A. retreated…

[German version] (Βιλιστίχη; Bilistíchē). Daughter of Philo, from a Macedonian family that originated in Argos; won Olympic contests in 268 and 264 BC with young horses, in 251/50 kanephoros to  Arsinoe II 3 Philadelphus, (deified?) mistress of Ptolemy II. Mother of Ptolemy Andromachou (?). Ameling, Walter (Jena) Bibliography A. Cameron, Two Mistresses of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in: GRBS 31, 1990, 287-311 HM 3, 589 O. Masson, Onomastica Graeca Selecta 2, 1990, 467ff.

[German version] I. Persons (Δίων; Díōn) Meister, Klaus (Berlin) [German version] [I 1] Close friend of Plato and defender of his philosophy Son of Hipparinus, brother-in-law and son-in-law of Dionysius I of Syracuse, b. 409 BC, close friend of Plato and defender of his philosophy since Plato's first visit to Syracuse in 388. He gained prestige and wealth as Dionysius' I' trusted friend and advisor and also remained an influential person under Dionysius II. In 366, he arbitrated the peace with Carthage and called Pl…

[German version] (Μελαγκόμας/ Melancomas). Eponymous priest of Alexander in 166/5 BC. Son of the Aetolian Philodamus, served in 180-145 as garrison commander and priest of the theoí euergétai ( euergétēs ) in Citium, father of the garrison commander M. (PP VI 15119). PP III/IX 5194 (VI 15120?). Ameling, Walter (Jena) Bibliography W. Clarysse, G. van der Veken, The Eponymous Priests of Ptolemaic Egypt, 1983, 24.

[German version] Son of Onias IV, brother of Chelcias. 105-101 BC commander of the army of Cleopatra III; is supposed to have dissuaded Cleopatra from annexing Judea as a province. PP 2, 2149; 6, 15173. Ameling, Walter (Jena) Bibliography I. Michaelidou-Nicolaou, Prosopography of Ptolemaic Cyprus, 1976, 33 no. 34.

(Εὔφρων; Eúphrōn). [German version] [1] Sculptor from Paros, 5th cent. BC Sculptor from Paros who worked in Athens in the middle of the 5th cent. BC. Based on the evidence from extant sculpture pedestals, he created votive reliefs. The bearded head of a herm dedicated in Piraeus is extant. Neudecker, Richard (Rome) Bibliography Jeffery, 363, no. 29 C. Karouzos, En feuilletant les vieilles publications, in: BCH 70, 1946, 263-270 A. E. Raubitschek, Dedications from the Athenian Akropolis, 1949, no. 298, 304. [German version] [2] Pro-Spartan Theban, succesful in a democratic coup Afte…

[German version] (Ἴδιος λόγος; Ídios lógos). The idios logos (IL) was set up under  Ptolemaeus VI as a ‘special account’ (first documented 5.1.162 BC, [1]). Almost all revenues from the sale of state property, especially abandoned or confiscated estates (ἀδέσποτα, γῆ ἐν ὑπολόγῳ / adéspota, gê en hypológōi) were paid into this account; by the 1st cent. BC at the latest there was an office πρὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ( pròs tôi idíōi lógōi) responsible for the administration of the land confiscated in favour of the IL and for reselling it (account management and administration h…

[German version] (Φιλοπάτωρ/ Philopátōr, literally 'father lover'). Cultic epithet of Hellenistic rulers, first borne by Ptolemaeus IV, then by his wife Arsinoe [II 4] III  ( theoì philopátores). The epithet P. was also used outside the Ptolemaic dynasty (e.g. Mithridates [4] IV, Ariarathes V, Demetrius [9] III, Antiochus [13] XII). It describes somebody his father designated as his successor during his lifetime. Co-regency could, but did not have to, be connected with the title. The Egyptian background, which the title …

[German version] An Egyptian from the district of  Sebennytus, a village scribe and perhaps also scribe for the district, he began a five-year journey in 173 BC, which he had been instructed to make by an oracle.   Pastophóros of Isis and from 167/6 priest (κάτοχος/ kátochos?) at the ibis Sanctuary of Saqqara/Memphis, where he had an administrative position in the temple. His oracular prophesies delivered via dreams, were listened to even in the palace. Among other destinations he travelled from Alexandria to Sarapeum in 168, where he deli…

(Θρασυκλῆς/ Thrasyklês). [German version] [1] Representative of Athens in the Peace of Nicias, 2nd half of the 5th cent. BC Athenian, who in 421/0 BC requested the proxenía for a resident of the Peloponnese (IG I3 80,7) and belonged to those who swore an oath on the truce and the alliance between Sparta and Athens in the so-called Peace of Nicias [1] in 421 (Thuc. 5,19,2; 24,1). In 412/1, T. was strategos along with Strombichides in the campaign to Asia Minor (Thuc. 8,15,1; 17,3; 19,2). Peloponnesian War Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) Bibliography Traill, PAA 517180 Develin 157; 141. …

[German version] (Θεοξένη; Theoxénē) from the Ptolemaic royal house married c. 295 BC Agathocles [2], who sent her and her two sons ( parvuli, Just. Epit. 23,2,6-8) with her dowry back to Egypt shortly before his death in 289. The political purpose of the marriage is unclear. Because of her dowry ( regale instrumentum) T. is considered to be the daughter of Ptolemaeus [1] I and Eurydice [4], but she may have been the daughter of Berenice [1] and the sister of Magas [2] and hence his step-daughter. PP VI 14511. Ameling, Walter (Jena) Bibliography W. Huß, Ägypten in hellenistischer Zeit, 20…

(Ξενοφῶν; Xenophôn). [German version] [1] Of Athens, strategos, 5th cent. BC Athenian. Initially commander of the cavalry ( hippárchēs; IG I3 511); then participated in the campaign against Samos in 441/40 BC as stratēgós (Androtion FGrH 324 F 38), was also stratēgós the following years and operated as such in Thrace in 430/429. He was treated with hostility due to his unauthorized acceptance of the capitulation of Potidaea (Thuc. 2,70), but remained in office and fell as stratēgós at Spartolus in the summer of 429 during a campaign against the Chalcidians and Bottians (…

(Ζωίλος/ Zōílos). [German version] [1] Greek Sophist from Amphipolis, 4th cent. BC Greek Sophist from Amphipolis, 4th cent. BC; active in the area of historiography [1], rhetoric [3] and philology; pupil of Polycrates [3], teacher of Anaximenes [2] from Lampsacus and Demosthenes [2]. However, Z. owes his fame to his criticism of Homerus [1] in his work Κατὰ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως/ Katà tês Homērou poiḗseōs ('Against Homer's verse'; 9 books; fragments in [2]) which earned him the epithet Ὁμηρομάστιξ ( Homēromástix, 'Scourge of Homer'). Motivated by the Cynic approach, Z. endeav…

(Εὐμένης; Euménēs). [German version] [1] Chancellor of Philippos II and Alexander the Gr. * 362/1, Son of Hieronymus of Cardia, from 342 onwards chancellor for the Macedonian king Philip II and then for Alexander III, for whom he kept the ephemerides (Nep. Eumenes 1,4-6; Plut. Eumenes 1,4; Arr. Anab. 7,4,6; Ath. 10,434b). In 326, E. was strategos on a military mission in north-western India and then he was the trierarch of the Indus fleet (Arr. Anab. 5,24,6, Ind. 18,7; Curt. 9,1,19). At the mass wedding in Susa in 324, E. was probably the only Greek…

[German version] (Φιλάδελφος/ Philádelphos, literally 'One who loves his/her brother/sister'). (Cult-) epithet of Hellenistic kings. It was borne first of all by Arsinoe [II 3] II. (Philadelphos is only documented from 165/4 BC with referenceto her brother and husband Ptolemy II.). The name is very frequently used in the dynasty of the Ptolemies (Cleopatra [II 9] Berenice III, Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra [II 10] Tryphaina; Cleopatra [II 12] VII and her brothers became theoì néoi philádelphoi during the lifetime of Ptolemy XII; cf. also Ptolemaeus Philadelphos). Philad…

[German version] (Βῶλις; Bôlis). Senior officer of Ptolemy IV, from Crete. Tasked by Sosibius in 213 BC to free Achaeus from the beleaguered city of Sardes, he changed sides and ensured that Achaeus was handed over to Antiochus III (Pol. 8,15-20). PP 6, 14750. Ameling, Walter (Jena)

(Λάγος, Λαγός/ Lágos, Lagós; personal name not from lagṓs, ‘hare’, but probably from laoí, ‘people’). [German version] [1] Macedonian from Eordaia or Orestis, father of Ptolemy I Macedonian from Eordaea or Orestis. His status is unknown; no definite conclusion about high nobility can be drawn from his marriage to Arsinoe [II 1]. Father of Ptolemaios I and Menelaus. Ptolemy fostered the memory of L.: a hippodrome in Alexandria and a town in Arsinoe were called Lágeion. The legend of Philippus II fathering Ptolemy I is, therefore, probably of later origin. The Ptolemies …

(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…

[German version] Greek name: Asclepiades ( ho kaì Asklēpiádēs héllēn enchṓrios tôn katoíkōn), son of Petesouchus, Greek: Ammónios ( toû kaì Ammoníou), and grandson of Asclepiades (PTebtunis I 164). He is a typical example of how double Graeco-Egyptian names could be used in Ptolemaic Egypt, according to context. M. is mentioned again in August 119 BC as kōmogrammateús of Cerceosiris. He served until 111 BC. M.'s ‘archive’ (PTebt I; IV) is the most important source for the office of kōmogrammateús in the Ptolemaic period. The necessary payments for M.'s official appointment…