Attalus was a Stoic philosopher in the reign of Tiberius (c. 25 AD), who was defrauded of his property by Sejanus, and reduced to cultivating the ground.[1] He taught the philosopher Seneca,[2] who frequently quotes him, and speaks of him in the highest terms.[3] The elder Seneca describes him[1] as a man of great eloquence, and by far the acutest philosopher of his age. We have mention of a work of his on lightning;[4] and it is supposed that he may be the author of the Proverbs referred to by Hesychius[5] as written by one Attalus.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).