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[German version] from the Greek μαιευτική ( maieutikḗ, sc. téchnē), ‘midwifery. In Plato's dialogue Theaetetus (148e-151d) Socrates compares his ability to recognize whether or not hidden wisdom lies dormant in others, and to help them if necessary to bring it to light, with the craft of his mother, the midwife ( maía) Phaenarete, and of midwives in general, to recognize pregnancies and to help deliver the baby. It is contested whether or not the historical Socrates used this comparison but the stronger arguments speak against it. In Middle Plat…

[German version] (Χαιρεφών; Chairephṓn). From the Attic deme of Sphettus; from early youth a passionate follower of  Socrates. In Aristophanes' Clouds, Wasps and Birds C. is lampooned as an especially zealous and ascetic pupil of Socrates. As a committed democrat, he lived in exile during the tyranny of the  Thirty (404-403 BC) (Pl. Ap. 21a). C. was already dead by the time of Socrates' trial (399 BC). Plato (Ap. 20e-21a) and Xenophon (Apol. 14 Xen. Apol. 14) report that C. once asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyo…

[German version] (Φαίδων; Phaídon) from Elis, b. 418/416 BC, date of death unknown. Title character of the Platonic dialogue Phaídōn. P. is believed to have been taken prisoner when the city of Elis was conquered, sold as a slave to Athens and forced to work in a brothel. After meeting Socrates, the philosopher apparently had one of his pupils buy P.'s freedom, and from then on P. devoted himself to philosophy (Diog. Laert. 2,31; 2,105 et passim). P. wrote two dialogues, titled Zṓpyros and Símōn. It is probably true that the story of Socrates' meeting with the magician Zopyrus,…

(Ἡγησίας; Hēgēsías). [German version] [1] Cyrenaic, c. 300 BC  Cyrenaic, lived in the decades before and after 300 BC. Due to the modifications that he (presumably in dialogue with  Epicurus) made on the original Cyrenaic doctrine of pleasure, some ancient philosophical historians have a new phase in the history of the Cyrenaics begin with him. H. assessed the view that one could succeed in achieving  pleasure and avoiding pain much more pessimistically than the original Cyrenaics. …

(Ξανθίππη; Xanthíppē). [German version] [1] Daughter of Dorus Daughter of Dorus, with Pleuron parent of Agenor [3], Sterope, Stratonice and Laophonte (Apollod. 1,58). Antoni, Silke (Kiel) [German version] [2] Mythical feeder of her imprisoned father Mycon Woman who fed her father Mycon in prison with her milk (Hyg. Fab. 254; the same motif with different names: Val. Max. 5,4, ext. 1; Plin. HN 7,121; Fest. 228,28-32; Solin. 1,124f.; Nonn. Dion. 26,101-145). Antoni, Silke (Kiel) [German version] [3] Wife of the philosopher Socrates [2] Wife of the philosopher Socrates [2]; orig…

[German version] [1] Wife and sister of the Phaeacian king  Alcinous (Ἀρήτη; Arḗtē). Wife and sister of the Phaeacian king  Alcinous (Hes. fr. 222). Her benevolence helped both Odysseus (Hom. Od. 7) and Jason and Medea: she mediated between the Argonauts and the Colchians (Apoll. Rhod. 4,1068-1120), married Jason to Medea (Apollod. 1,138 f.), and presented the couple with 12 female servants who jokingly teased the heroes during the wedding celebrations; an aition in the cult of Apollo Aigletes [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography U. Hölscher, Das Schweigen der Arete, in…

(Τερψίων; Terpsíōn). [German version] [1] Dialogue partner in Plato [1], c. 400 BC From Megara [2]. In the introductory part of Plato's [1] Theaetetus, Euclides [2], coming from the harbour, where he has run into the mortally ill Theaetetus [1], meets up with his friend T. in the city of Megara; in the main part of the dialogue, he uses the notes he was taking to recall for T. a conversation that Socrates [2] once had with the mathematician Theodorus [I 2] from Cyrene and Theaetetus. In Pl. Phd. 59c, T. is named among…

(Χαρμίδης; Charmídēs). [German version] [1] Son of Glaucon, 5th cent. BC Son of Glaucon, from an old Athenian noble family; brother of  Perictione the mother of Plato, and cousin of  Critias. C. was one of the committee of the ‘Ten’ appointed by the ‘Thirty’ and officiating in Piraeus during the despotic rule of the ‘Thirty’ ( Triakonta; 404-403 BC); its powers are not precisely known (Plat. Ep. 7,324c5. Aristot. Ath. Pol. 35,1). He was killed in 403 during the fighting that accompanied the fall of the ‘Th…

(Μυρτώ/ Myrt ṓ). [German version] [1] Daughter of Menoetius Daughter of Menoetius [1] from Opus in Locria; sister of Patroclus, mother by Heracles [1] of  Euclea (Plut. Aristides 331e). Antoni, Silke (Kiel) [German version] [2] Supposed wife of Socrates Real or putative daughter, granddaughter or great-granddaughter (the sources disagree) of Aristides [1] the Just. A tradition deriving from Aristotle's ‘On Noble Birth (Περὶ εὐγενείας fragment 3 Ross, fragments 71,1-2 Gigon; SSR I B 7) implies that Socrates had M. as a wife before, af…

(Ἀντισθένης; Antisthénēs). [1] Student of Socrates [German version] A. Life and work Son of an Athenian of the same name and of a Thracian, pupil of Socrates,   c. 445 BC, died c. 365. According to some witnesses A. had been initially a pupil of Gorgias and taught rhetoric himself. As [8] has shown, these testimonia are not fully reliable. At the latest at the beginning of the 420s, A. became a follower of Socrates. Plato mentions him among those, who were present at the death of Socrates (Phd. 59b). In the first 10 to 15 yea…

(Εὐβουλίδης; Euboulídēs). [German version] [1] E. from Miletus Megarian of the 4th cent. BC Member of the  Megarian school. The time when E. lived (mid 4th cent. BC) is determined by his intense attacks against Aristotle, which are repeatedly mentioned in the sources. In part these are personal attacks (Euseb. Praep. evang. 15,2,5), in part criticism of certain logical theorems by Aristotle (Eubulides, SSR vol. 4, p.88). Possibly, Aristotle may in turn have discussed the teachings of E. There is evidence tha…

(Κρίτων; Krítōn). [German version] [1] Wealthy friend of Socrates, of the same age Wealthy friend of  Socrates and of the same age, also from the Alopece demos (Pl. Ap. 33d; Pl. Crit. 44b; Xen. Mem. 2,9,2; 2,9,4); discussion partner of Socrates in Plato's ‘Criton’ and ‘Euthydemus’ and in Xen. Mem. 2,9,1-3. In Plato's ‘Criton’ he unsuccessfully advises Socrates to flee his prison. The Epicurean  Idomeneus claimed that not Criton but Aeschines [1] of Sphettus had done this (Diog. Laert. 2,60; 3,36). Diogenes Laërtios (2,121) lists the titles of 17 dialogues composed by C.  Socratics. Dörin…

(Μόσχος; Mόschos). [German version] [1] From Elis, pupil of Phaidon M. from Elis, with Anchipylus a pupil (or pupil of a pupil) of Phaedon of Elis and teacher of Asclepiades [3] of Phleius and Menedemus [5] of Eretria. According to an ancient piece of gossip M. and Anchipylus are supposed to have subsisted only on water and figs their whole lives (Diog. Laert. 2,126; Athen. 2,44c). M. is presumably identical with the homonymous person whose name is the title of a dialogue by Stilpon (Diog. Laert. 2,120). Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) Bibliography SSR III E. [German version] [2] M. from Lampsacus…

[German version] I. Greek (Φαῖδρος; Phaîdros). [German version] [I 1] 5th cent. BC Son of Pythocles, from the Attic deme of Myrrhinus, born probably c. 450 BC. Accused of participation in the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteria and the mutilatation of the herms, P. went into exile in 415 BC. His property was confiscated (And. 1,15; ML 79,112-115). By 404 BC at the latest, he had returned to Athens; he subsequently married a cousin (Lys. 19,15). Died before 393. Participant in the meeting in Plato's Protagoras (315c), interlocutor of Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus and first speaker in his Sy…

(Ἀσκληπιάδης; Asklēpiádēs) [German version] [1] of Samos Epigrammatic poet Epigrammatic poet of the ‘Garland’ of Meleager, who addresses him in the preface by the dark pseudonym Σικελίδης (Anth. Pal. 4,1,46; cf. Hedylus, GA I 1, 101 6, 4; Theoc. 7,40); an outstanding representative of the Ionian-Alexandrianschool, he lived around the turn of the 4th/3rd cent. BC. A. was highly praised by Theocritus (7,39-41), but attacked by Callimachus (schol. Flor. Callim. Fr.1,1). From the latter he differed, among other things, through a diametrically opposed appraisal of the Lyde of Antimach…

(Ἀρίστιππος; Arístippos) [German version] [1] Tyrant of Argos (middle of the 3rd cent. BC) From Argus, friend of the Antigonids, against whom his rival Aristeas called  Pyrrhus into the town in 272 BC (Plut. Pyrrh. 30,2); after 272/1 probably the tyrant [1. 396]. Günther, Linda-Marie (Munich) [German version] [2] Tyrant of Argos (240-234 BC) Grandson of [1] [1. 711], son of the tyrant  Aristomachus [3], tyrant in 240-235/4; vanquished in an ambush near Cleonae by the repeated attacks of  Aratus [2] (Plut. Arat. 27-29 [2. 61-63], whom A. had sued a…

(Αἰσχίνης; Aischínēs). [German version] [1] Student of Socrates From the Attic deme of Sphettus, son of Lysanias, student of Socrates. Born between 430/420 BC, died after 375/6 BC. A. was present during Socrates' trial and death (Pl. Ap. 33e; Phaed. 59b). A. is said to have been poor when he joined Socrates. In a speech by Lysias, he was accused of being a notorious debtor (Ath. 13,611d-612f). It remains unclear, whether A. indeed composed court speeches and delivered lectures for cash -- as claimed by …

(Γλαύκων; Glaúkōn). [German version] [1] Athen. strategós about 440 BC Son of Leagoras, Athenian   stratēgós at Samos in 441-440 BC (Androtion FGrH 324 F 38 with comm.); in 439-438 and 435-434 stratēgós, in 433-432 commander of the fleet sent to Corcyra (Thuc. 1,51; Syll.3 72). Often mentioned on Attic   kalos-inscriptions in 480-450 BC. Traill, PAA 277035. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Son of Critias, father of Plato's mother Perictione Son of  Critias, father of Charmides and of Plato's mother Perictione (Pl. Prt. 315a; Charm. 154ab; Symp. 222b; T…

(Ἀριστοτέλης; Aristotélēs). [German version] [1] Athenian oligarch Athenian oligarch who, in 404 BC, was banned from Athens and sent to Sparta by  Lysander (Xen. Hell. 2,2,118). Later, he was one of the 30 Tyrants in Athens (Xen. Hell. 2,3,2;  Triakonta), who sent him to Sparta with the request for a Spartan occupational force (Xen. Hell. 2,3,13). Traill, PAA, 174765. Meier, Mischa (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Rhodian envoy, 166/5 BC Rhodian envoy to Rome who, in 166/5 BC, failed in his request for a renewal of the amicitia by the Senate (Pol. 30,23,2-4) [1. 167,2; 2. 208]. Günther, …

(Ἑρμογένης; Hermogénēs). [German version] [1] Companion of Socrates Athenian, son of Hipponicus, brother of Callias, appears on many occasions in the Socratic writings of Plato and Xenophon as the companion of  Socrates. Together with the eponymous character, H. is the dialogue partner of Socrates in Plato's Cratylus. Döring, Klaus (Bamberg) Bibliography 1 SSR VI B 71-77 2 Davies, 269-270. [German version] [2] From Aspendus, assistant commander of Antiocus I H. from Aspendus. In the struggle of Antiochus [2] I (died in 261 BC) to regain territories in Asia Minor…