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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 …

[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…

(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 son of Mnesagoras (Diog. Laert. 8,79) or of Hestiaeus (Aristoxenus fr. 47 Wehrli in Diog. Laert. 8…

I Greek [German version] [I 1] Author of a collection of 'gnomes' The name 'Sextus' is associated with a Greek collection of 610 maxims (Gnome) in all, known from two Greek MSS (Patm. 263, Vat. Gr. 742; Pap. Palau Rib. 225v, c. AD 400 offers 21 'gnomes'); they probably originated c. AD 200. Origenes [2] is the first to mention the title Σέξτου γνῶμαι ( Séxtou gnômai), remarking among other things that 'most Christians read them' (Orig…

(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 Po…

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(Νουμήνιος/Noumḗnios). [German version] [1] Author of didactic poems from Heraclea, c. 300 BC N. from Heraclea, physician and poet, end of the 4th cent. BC. He was a pupil of the physician Dieuches [1] (Ath. 1,5), wrote on cookery and composed didactic poems on fishing (Ἁλιευτικόν/ Halieutikón, SH 568-588), on the theriac (Θηριακόν/ Thēriakón: SH 589-594), on medicinal prescriptions (SH 595) and ‘On Banquets (Δείπνων ἀναγραφαί/ Deípnōn anagraphaí: Ath. 1,5a). He may be the source on Nicander [4] (cf. schol. Theriakon 237; 257; 519; 637) and Archigenes. Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) Bibl…

[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 philos…

(Μέλισσα/ Mélissa, ‘bee’). Epithet of priestesses, name of nymphs and proper name, sometimes in aetiological myths. [German version] [1] Priestesses of Demeter Mélissai are the priestesses of Demeter (Pind. Fr. 158; Callim. H. 2,110; [1. no. 91]; Apollod. FGrH 244 F 89, on Paros), and in schol. Th…

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[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] (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: chasteness, physical adornment, good housekeeping, absence from orgiastic celebrations and moderation in sacr…

[German version] (Αἰνησίδημος; Ainēsídēmos) [of Cnossus] Originally a member of the Academy (Phot…

[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…

(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 comple…

[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 genera…

[German version] I Greek (Θεοδόσιος/ Theodósios). [German version] [I 1] Greek mathematician and astronomer, 2nd/1st cent. BC …

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(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…