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[German version] (Μοδέρατος/ Modératos) of Gades. Neo-Pythagorean, middle of the 1st cent. AD. He was the author of a work consisting of eleven books on the Pythagoreans (Porph. Vita Pythagorica 48), on which, it seems, all accounts about him are based. M. makes a sharper distinction than Numenius [6] does between Pythagoras and Plato, whom he (like Aristotle, Speusippus, Xenocrates and Aristoxenus) accused of appropriating Pythagorean ideas in such a way that made it easy for later authors not to …

[German version] An abundance of writings, for the most part surviving only fragmentarily, which purport to originate from the defunct tradition of the Pythagorean School; they were published under the name of an ancient Pythagorean, but are in fact of later origin. They are to be distinguished (1) from a very small number of genuine fragments of Philolaus [2] and of Archytas [1] and (2) perhaps from a number of Pythagoreanizing fragments which are not pseudonymous but represent an attempt in the …

[German version] The eclecticists are a school of philosophers documented in one source only (Diog. Laert. 2,12). Their founder, Potamon of Alexandria, taught that the aim was to select the most plausible teachings of the various schools. In the same manner, Galenos refused to identify with any branch of philosophy or medicine (De libris propriis 1; De dignot. affect. 8). Modern research often refers to eclecticism, most of all in respect of the philosophy of the early Imperial period. This often …

[German version] (Πύρρων/ Pýrrhōn) of Elis c. 365 - c. 275 BC; left no written work. He accompanied Alexander [4] the Great on the campaign to India, where he is said to have met the gymnosophists (Diog. Laert. 9,61). P. owes his place in the history of philosophy to the fact that Pyrrhonian skeptics, beginning with Aenesidemus, referred to him (Scepticism). P. was long considered the founder of the Pyrrhonian school. However, Cicero speaks repeatedly of P., Ariston [7] and Herillus as representatives of…

[German version] Modern collective term for a several very different philosophical schools of the late Hellenistic and early Imperial period (after the late 1st cent. BC). All these schools based their teachings on Pythagoras – either of tradition or legend – although some of them focused more on purely philosophical aspects of his doctrine, whereas others emphasised practical and ethical aspects, sometimes in conjunction with a religious motivation and an interest in the arcane arts. When Plato a…

[German version] (Αἰνησίδημος; Ainēsídēmos) [of Cnossus] Originally a member of the Academy (Phot. 212, 169 b 33) and the founder of Pyrrhonism. The exact dates of his life are disputed, but A.'s critique of the Academy points to the beginning of the 1st cent. BC.The fact that Cicero does not mention him and deems Pyrrho's philosophy dead is not significant as long as we clearly distinguish between Pyrrho and Pyrrhonism. None of A.'s writings survive, but Phot. 212 presents a summary of ‘Pyrrhonian…

[German version] A. Concept of the soul In order to understand the concept and the theory of the soul ('psychology': λόγος/ lógos, 'theory', from ψυχή/ psychḗ, 'soul') in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, it is important to distinguish between two ways of perceiving the soul: the soul as an essential component of a human being, as the subject of thinking and feeling, which controls one's behaviour, and the soul as the general quality that infuses a living thing with life. The first view is based on the perception of the soul ( psychḗ) as an individual's shadowy doppelgänger, which separates itself…

[German version] (Ὄκελλος; Ókellos) from Lucania (Ocellus Lucanus); Pythagorean, unless the accounts about his brother and sister (Iambl. VP 267) are fictitious. Also the pseudonymous author of Doric texts from c. 100 BC. A letter to Plato (Diog. Laert. 8,80) with the faked authorship of Archytas (Ps.- Archytas [2]) lists the following works by O.: (1) On Law, (2) On Kingship, (3) On Piety, (4) On the origin of the universe. The letter was obviously meant to guarantee the authenticity of these writings. A fragment of (1) is transmitted in Stob. 1,13,2 p. 139 W.; …

[German version] I. Definition The modern term 'sceptic' normally refers to someone who believes that in general, we know nothing with any degree of certainty or in any case nothing about the world beyond our own consciousness. There were sceptics in this sense already in Antiquity: Metrodorus [1] of Chios (4th cent. BC), a Democritean, maintained that we know nothing at all, not even whether or not we know anything, or what knowledge (εἰδέναι/ eidénai) is, or whether anything exists at all (70 B 1 DK). The Cyrenaics were of the opinion that although we are aware of o…

[German version] (Θεάγης; Theágēs). Pseudepigraphical author of a work in the style of Pythagoras, Περὶ ἀρετῆς ( Perì aretês, 'On Virtue', two frr. in Stob. 3,76-81 and 81-84 Hense), 1st cent. BC/2nd cent. AD. A T. is mentioned in Iambl. VP 257 and 261 (based on Apollonius [14] of Tyana), not as a Pythagorean, however, but as one of the Thousand of Croton who took part in the democratic revolution against the Pythagoreans, although he was very close to the latter ( ibid. 255). He is also missing in Iamblichus' catalogue of Pythagoreans. The two surviving fragments are strongl…

[German version] Name uncertain, missing in Iamblichus' Pythagorean catalogue (v. P. 267), also in Photius' catalogue of Stobaeus' philosophical sources (Bibl. c. 167,114a-b). Author of pseudo-Pythagorean treatises on kingship and piety, fragments of which can be found in Stobaeus. The date of their composition is a matter of dispute. There is no indication in the treatise on kingship which would indicate a reference to the Principate; nor is there an attempt to legitimize monarchy as part of the …

[German version] (ἐποχή; epochḗ). Expression used in sceptic philosophy (Sext. Emp. P.H. 1,196), meaning that the sceptic suspends judgement or refrains from a particular notion (ἐπέχειν; epéchein). A sceptic refrains from judgement, not only because it is not proven that a certain notion is true, but also because there is not a single reason for its acceptance, which was not opposed by a different reason. Later sceptics distinguish between various kinds of ‘assent’ ─ and thus of epochḗ ─, in order to say that in some sense, sceptics always refrain from assent, but in an…

[German version] [1] Philosophers Originally a sceptical expression to designate those who adopt as their own a view ( dógma; cf. S. Emp. P.H. 1,13) ─ especially a philosophical or scientific view ─ which, in sceptical thinking, cannot be justified let alone proven (S. Emp. P.H. 1,3). Also applied by the Pyrrhonians in an extended sense to those Academicians who adopted views such as that nothing can be known (cf. the ἰδίως/ idíōs in S. Emp., ibid.). Because of the close link between empiricism and Scepticism in medicine, the term ‘Dogmatists’ was often also applied…

(Περικτιόνη; Periktiónē). [German version] [1] Mother of Plato Mother of Plato; came from an old aristocratic Athenian family to which Critias and Charmides [1] also belonged. Also born of her marriage to Ariston were the pair of brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus, Socrates' discussion partner in the Platonian Politeía, as well as Potone, the mother of Speusippus, Plato's successor in the headship of the Academy. In her second marriage, P. was the wife of Pyrilampes, the son of an Antiphon. From this relationship was born a son who was also cal…

[German version] (Φίντυς; Phíntys). Pseudonymous female author of a work in Pythagorean spirit, Περὶ γυναικὸς σωφροσύνας ( Perì gynaikòs sōphrosýnas, 'On the self-control of women'; two relatively long fragments in Doric dialect are preserved in Stob. 4,23,61): a woman's characteristic virtue is self-control; some particular traits and abilities are common to both men and women, others are either male or female; philosophizing is common to both. A woman attains the good specific to her by means of five things: cha…

(Ἔκφαντος; Ékphantos). [German version] [1] Greek painter from Corinth, active probably in the mid 7th cent. BC Greek painter from Corinth, active probably in the mid 7th cent. BC. According to Pliny (HN 35,16), he was the founder of the secunda pictura, a style of painting which completely covered all surfaces with paint; an example of this style are the wooden plates handed down from Pitsa. The monochromata mentioned by Pliny in this context may refer to the unbroken and precious mineral pigments that were used. Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) Bibliography N. J. Koch, De picturae initiis, P…

(Κρόνιος; Krónios). [German version] [1] Platonist Platonist (Syranus, In Aristot. Metaph. 109,11) of the Pythagorizing tendency, mostly called a Pythagorean, (perhaps older) contemporary and friend (Porph. De anthro nympharum 21) of  Numenius, about the mid 2nd cent. AD. As a rule C. is only mentioned with him but frequently before him and generally shares his opinion. C. was read in the school of Plotin (Porph. Vita Pythagorica 14); he composed hypomnemata (ibid., probably no commentaries on whole w…

(Καλλικρατίδας; Kallikratídas). [German version] [1] Spartan nauarch, 407/6 BC Spartan nauarch (naval commander) in 407/6 BC, was only able to relieve  Lysander of his command in the spring of 406 and was confronted through the latter's intrigues with extremely serious problems while preparing his operations. However, he was as unimpressed by these as by the affront he suffered from Cyrus the Younger. C. secured the finances for his warfare and took the initiative. After relocating his naval base from Ep…

(Θεανώ/ Theanṓ). [German version] [1] Priestess of Athena in Troy Priestess of Athena in Troy, daughter of Thracian King Cisseus and of Teleclia, daughter of Ilus [1] (Hom. Il. 6,298-300; 11,223-224; schol. Eur. Hec. 3; Lucian. Imagines 19), since Euripides, sister of Hecabe as well (Eur. Hec. 3 and schol.; schol. A Hom. Il. 16,718; cf. Verg. Aen. 7,320). Mother of many children with Antenor [1] (the so-called Antenorids). As a priestess of Athena, she was of crucial importance for the Greeks in the battl…

(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…