Idomeneus of Lampsacus

Idomeneus of Lampsacus ( /aɪˈdɒmɨniː.əs/;[1] Greek: Ἰδομενεύς Λαμψακηνός, Idomeneus Lampsakēnos; c. 325-c. 270 BC) was a friend and disciple of Epicurus. We have no details of his life, except that he married Batis of Lampsacus, the sister of Metrodorus,[2] and he was a court dignitary at Lampsacus around 306-301 BC.[3] Idomeneus wrote a considerable number of philosophical and historical works, and though the latter were not regarded as of very great authority,[4] still they must have been of considerable value, as they seem to have been chiefly devoted to an account of the private life of the distinguished men of Greece.

The titles of the following works of Idomeneus are mentioned : 1. History of Samothrace (Greek: Ἱστορία τῶν κατὰ Σαμοθρᾴκην).[5] This work is probably the one referred to by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius. 2. On the Socratics (Greek: Περὶ τῶν Σωκρατικῶν), of which some fragments survive.[6]

We do not know for certain the title of the work or works of Idomeneus, which contained some account of the following people: of the Peisistratidae,[7] of Themistocles[8] of Aristides,[9] of Pericles,[10] of Demosthenes,[11] of Aeschines,[12] of Hyperides,[13] and of Phocion.[14] It is not improbable that all these persons were mentioned in one work, to which modern writers have assigned various conjectural titles. The true title of the work is, however, in all probability On the Athenian leaders (Greek: Περὶ τῶν Aθηνησι δημαγωγῶν).

References

Notes

  1. ^ John Walker & William Trollope, 1830, A key to the classical pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and scripture proper names, p 68;
    Robert Palfrey Utter, 1918, Every-day pronunciation, p 127
  2. ^ Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, x. 23, 25; Strabo, Geography, xiii. 1; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, vii. 279
  3. ^ Tiziano Dorandi, Chapter 2: Chronology, in Algra et al. (1999) The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy, page 51. Cambridge.
  4. ^ Plutarch, Lives, "Demosthenes", 23.
  5. ^ Suda, Idomeneus.
  6. ^ Diogenes Laertius, ii. 19-20; Athenaeus, xiii. 611.
  7. ^ Athenaeus, xii. 532
  8. ^ Athenaeus, xii. 533, xiii. 576.
  9. ^ Plutarch, "Aristides", 10.
  10. ^ Plutarch, "Pericles", 10, 35.
  11. ^ Plutarch, "Demosthenes", 15, 23; Athenaeus, xiii. 592.
  12. ^ Apollonius, Vita Aeschinis.
  13. ^ Athenaeus, xiii. 590.
  14. ^ Plutarch, "Phocion", 4.

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

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