Acesas

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Acesas (Greek Ακεσας) was a native of Salamis in Cyprus famed for his skill in weaving cloth with variegated patterns (polymitarius).

Acesas and his son Helicon, who distinguished himself in the same art, are mentioned by Athenaeus.^[1] Zenobius speaks of both artists, but says that Acesas (or, as he calls him, Aceseus, Ακεσεύς) was a native of Patara, and Helicon of Carystus. He tells us also that they were the first who made a peplos for Athena Polias.

We are not told explicitly when they lived, but it must have been before the time of Euripides and Plato, who mention this peplos.^[2][3] A specimen of the workmanship of these two artists was preserved in the temple at Delphi, bearing an inscription to the effect that Pallas had imparted marvelous skill to their hands.^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Athenaeus. ii. p. 48, b
2. ^ Euripides, Hecuba 468
3. ^ Plato, Euthyphro § 6
4. ^ Mason, Charles Peter (1867), “Acesas”, in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, pp. 7 

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).