Polyaenus of Lampsacus

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Polyaenus of Lampsacus (/ˌpɒliːˈiːnəs/;^[1] Greek: Πoλύαινoς Λαμψακηνός, Poluainos Lampsakēnos; c. 340 BCE – c. 285 BCE), also spelled Polyenus, was an ancient Greek mathematician and a friend of Epicurus.

Life

He was the son of Athenodorus. His friendship with Epicurus started after the latter's escape from Mytilene in 307 or 306 BC when he opened a philosophical school at Lampsacus associating himself with other citizens of the town, like Pythocles, Colotes, and Idomeneus. With these fellow citizens he moved to Athens, where they founded a school of philosophy with Epicurus as head, or hegemon, while Polyaenus, Hermarchus and Metrodorus were kathegemones.

A man of mild and friendly manners, as Philodemus refers, he adopted fully the philosophical system of his friend, and, although he had previously acquired great reputation as a mathematician, he now maintained with Epicurus the worthlessness of geometry.^[2]^[3] But the statement may be at least doubted, since it is certain Polyaenus wrote a mathematical work called Puzzles (Greek: Aπoριαι) in which the validity of geometry is maintained. It was against this treatise that another Epicurean, Demetrius Lacon, wrote Unsolved questions of Polyaenus (Greek: Πρὸς τὰς Πoλυαίνoυ ἀπoρίας) in the 2nd century BCE. Like Epicurus, a considerable number of spurious works seem to have been assigned to him; one of these was Against the Orators, whose authenticity was attacked both by Zeno of Sidon and his pupil Philodemus.

Writings

The works attributed to Polyaenus include:^[4]

On Definitions
On Philosophy
Against Aristo
Puzzles (Aporiai)
On the Moon
Against the Orators
and his collected Letters.

References

Polyaenus, Polieno. Frammenti, A. Tepedino Guerra (Italian translation), Napoli, (1991)
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Polyaenus (2)", Boston, (1867)

Notes

↑ US dict: pŏl′·ē·ē′·nəs
↑ Cicero, De finibus, i. 6; Academica, ii. 33
↑ Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, ii.105, x. 12
↑ Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997), Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, page 446.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1867). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Epicureanism

Philosophers

Greek era	Epicurus Polyaenus Metrodorus Batis Leontion Carneiscus Idomeneus Hermarchus Colotes Themista Leonteus Polystratus Dionysius of Lamptrai Basilides Philonides Diogenes of Tarsus Alcaeus and Philiscus Apollodorus Demetrius Lacon Zeno of Sidon

Roman era	Amafinius Rabirius Titus Albucius Phaedrus Philodemus Lucretius Patro Catius Siro Diogenes of Oenoanda

Philosophy

Epicureanism (cf. Hedonism)
Tetrapharmakos

Concepts

Works

On the Nature of Things

Persondata
Name	Polyaenus of Lampsacus
Alternative names
Short description	Ancient Greek scholar
Date of birth	340 BC
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

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