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[German version] (Χερσίας; Chersías). From Orchomenus; Plutarch in his ‘Banquet of the Seven Sages has C. taking part in the conversations as a poet (Mor. 156f), contemporary and close friend of  Periander, tyrant of Corinth (end of the 7th/beginning 6th cent. BC). Two hexameters by the poet (Paus. 9,38,9), in which the city's hero Aspledon is described as the son of Poseidon and Midea, are supposed to attest to the accuracy of local tradition in the Boeotian city of the same name. Pausanias' expli…

[German version] [1] Epic poet of the island of Proconnesus in the Propontis. The Suda places him in the period of Croesus and Cyrus. In his epic Ἀριμάσπεια ( Arimáspeia), A. tells of his travels into the land of the Scythes and of the Issedones, who lived further north. According to Hdt. 4,13-15, it was the Issedones who told A. about the one-eyed Arimaspeans, about the griffins who guarded the gold, and about the Hyperboreans. A. added to this description of mythical and historical peoples and places an explanation for th…

(Δημοσθένης; Dēmosthénēs). [German version] [1] Athenian commander during the Peloponnesian War Prominent Athenian commander during the Peloponnesian War. Appointed strategos for the first time in 427/6 BC, he entered Aetolia with Western Greek allies so as to be able to attack Boeotia from the west. Through tactical errors D. suffered a severe defeat and fear prevented him from returning to Athens (Thuc. 3,94-98). However, in the Aetolian and Spartan assault on the Athenian stronghold of Naupactus in 426, D., wit…

[German version] Author of Ναξιακά ( Naxiaká) treating the childhood of Zeus. A. is perhaps the Agathosthenes named by the schol. Lycoph. 704 and 1021 as a paradoxographer. Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography FHG 4, 1868, 293-294 C. Robert (ed.), Eratosthenis Catasterismorum Reliquiae, 1878, 8, 26, 243.

[German version] (Χριστόδωρος; Christódōros) from Coptus. Son of Paniscus; lived at the time of Anastasius I (491-518). Author of Πάτρια ( Pátria), i.e. poems about the early histories of different cities (Thessalonica, Nakle, Miletus, Tralles, Aphrodisias and Constantinople). As well as Λυδιακά ( Lydiaká), C. wrote an epic Ἰσαυρικά ( Isauriká) about Anastasius' Isaurian wars. Extant is his ἔκφρασις ( Ekphrasis) of the 80 statues in the baths of Zeuxippus in Constantinople, destroyed by fire during the Nika revolt of AD 532 (Anth. Pal. 2,1-416)…

[German version] Daughter of Megacles (3rd cent. BC);she played on the trumpet at the first πομπή ( pompé) the πομπικὸν μέλος ( pompikòn mélos) held in Alexandria. Ath. 10,415ab mentions her greediness (see also Ael. VH 1,26). Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main)

(Δημήτριος; Dēmḗtrios). Well-known personalities: the Macedonian King D. [2] Poliorketes; the politician and writer D. [4] of Phalerum; the Jewish-Hellenistic chronographer D. [29]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] Officer under Alexander the Great Officer under Alexander [4], fought at Gaugamela as commander of a troop ( ile) of  Hetairoi and in India he commanded a hipparchy. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography Berve 2, no. 256. [German version] [2] D. Poliorketes Son of  Antigonus [1], born 337/6 BC (Diod. Sic. 19,96,1). In 320 he m…

(Ἀντιφῶν; Antiphôn). [German version] [1] Athenian (end of the 5th cent. BC) Athenian, who towards the end of the Peloponnesian War equipped two triremes. He was executed 404/403 BC by the 30 Tyrants ( Triakonta) (Xen. Hell. 2,3,40; Traill PAA, 138325). He is probably identical with an A., for whose daughter  Lysias gave an oration (Traill PAA, 138320; cf. Theop. FGrH 115 F 120 = Plut. Mor. 833A-B). Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Athenian (middle of the 4th cent. BC) Athenian, was removed from the list of citizens. Thereafter he allegedly promised  Philippu…

[German version] Writer of an astrological didactic poem in elegiac form, of which only a paraphrase in prose and some verses in a work ascribed to  Manetho, namely the Ἀποτελεσματικά ( Apotelesmatiká) have survived. It is proven that  Firmicus Maternus has used this poem.  Didactic poem Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography CCAG II, 202-212 CCAG VIII 2, 57 und 62.

(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…

[German version] (Διδύμαρχος; Didýmarchos). Author of ‘Metamorphoses’ in at least three books, which seem to have included the  Battus myth. Rather than a heavenly origin for Pan he prefers the version with Pan as the son of  Gaia (Theoc. schol. 1, 3-4). Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography SH 20 & 175 U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Antigonos von Karystos, 1881, 172, n. 5.

(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…

[German version] (Ἐπικιχλίδες; Epikichlídes) is the title of an erotic poem attributed to Homer (Ath. 14,639a). Menaechmus associates it with the word for thrush (κίχλη, kíchlē), which suggests a travesty or parody, set in the animal kingdom, of the Homeric epics (cf.  Batrachomyomachia). The title may perhaps refer to kichlismoí, which denotes exuberant laughter. Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Die Ilias und Homer, 1916, 18, n. 2.

(Ἀρχίας; Archías). [German version] [1] Corinthian, founder of Syracuse 733 BC Son of Euagetes of Corinth, probably belonging to the family of the  Bacchiadae. He left Corinth following a serious dispute, and, on the instruction of the Delphian oracle, led colonists to lower Italy. In about 733 BC, he founded  Syracusae in Sicily (Thuc. 6,3,2; Str. 6,2,4; Plut. Mor. 772e-773b).  Colonization Stein-Hölkeskamp, Elke (Cologne) Bibliography W. Leschhorn, Gründer der Stadt, 1984, 13-16 H.-P. Drögemüller, s. v. Syrakus, RE Suppl. 13, 817-819. [German version] [2] Politician from C…

[German version] (Βοιώ; Boiṓ) Paus. 10,5,8 quotes four verses from a hymn of the Delphic woman B. in which she names the Hyperboreans as the founders of the oracle and praises Olen as the first prophet of Apollo who wrote down his sayings in hexameters. Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main)

[German version] of Samos. Son of Amphiptolemus; author of genealogical epics from various legendary cycles in the style of the Hesiodic ‘Ehoiai’. In addition to several hexameter fragments, two distichs are extant (Ath. 3,125bd). A fragment (Ath. 12,525e) of roughly seven hexameters describes the luxury of the Samians and their tendency to τρυφή ( tryphḗ). Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography EpGF 88-91 IEG 2, 46.

[German version] (Εὐγάμ(μ)ων; Eugám(m)ōn). Epic poet of Cyrene to whom is attributed the two-volume  Telegonia. According to Eusebius (in Jer. Chron. 102,1 Helm), the epic was written during the period of the 53rd Olympiad = 568-565 BC and is supposed (Clem. Al. strom. 2,442,4f.) to have been identical to a book of  Musaeus about the Thesprotians: E. allegedly drew upon this without naming his source (Paus. 8,12,5 likewise mentions a Thesprotís). The Telegonia described the post-Odyssean journeys of Odysseus to Elis, to Thesprotia because of the prophecy of Tiresias…

[German version] (Εὐάνθης; Euánthēs). It is not known when he wrote his hymnos to Glaucus, in which he portrayed him as a son of Poseidon and the nymph Nais, and in which the god of the sea fell in love with  Ariadne, after Theseus had abandoned her (Ath. 7, 296c). Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography SH 194.

(Διότιμος; Diótimos). [German version] [1] Strategos in Corcyra 433/2 BC Athenian, son of Strombichides, from Euonymon (his family is known into the 3rd cent.). Strategos in Corcyra in 433/32 BC (Thuc. 1,45,2; IG I3 364,9); 439-32 nauarchos at Neapolis (Timaeus FGrH 566 F 98); he may have led a legation to Susa (Str. 1,3,1). Perhaps identical with D. in Ath. 10,436e. Kinzl, Konrad (Peterborough) Bibliography Fraser/Matthews (1) Davies, 4386. [German version] [2] Athenian strategos c. 390 BC Athenian strategos. Commander of the Athenian mercenary force near Corinth in 390/…

[German version] (Βοιός; Boiós). Mentioned by both Ath. 9,393e and Antoninus Liberalis as the author of an Ὀρνιθογονία ( Ornithogonía), a didactic poem in at least two books from the 3rd cent. BC about men being transformed into birds. The work was used by Ovid and imitated, or translated into Latin, by his older contemporary, Aemilius Macer (two books). Selzer, Christoph (Frankfurt/Main) Bibliography A. S. Hollis (ed.), Ovid, Metamorphoses Book VIII, 1970, xvii, 33 G. Lafaye, Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide et leurs modèles Grecs, 1904, 51-53 CollAlex 23-25.