People - Ancient Greece

Speusippus in Wikipedia

Speusippus (c. 408 – 339/8 BC[1]) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, Speusippus inherited the Academy and remained its head for the next eight years. However, following a stroke, he passed the chair to Xenocrates. Although the successor to Plato in the Academy, he frequently di...

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Stobaeus in Wikipedia

Joannes Stobaeus (Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος), so called from his native place Stobi in North Macedonia (Roman province), was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. Biography and works Of his life nothing is known, but he probably lived during the latter half of the 5th century AD. From his silence in regard to Christian ...

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Socrătes in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

An Athenian philosopher, whose teaching revolutionized the whole drift of subsequent philosophical speculation. He was born in the deme Alopecé, near Athens, B.C. 469. His father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor, and his mother, Phaenareté, was a midwife. In his youth Socrates for a time followed his father's occupation, and a group of sculptured Grac...

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Speusippus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

(Σπεύσιππος). An Athenian philosopher, son of Eurymedon and Potoné, a sister of Plato. He accompanied his uncle, Plato, on his third journey to Syracuse, where he displayed considerable ability and prudence. He succeeded Plato as president of the Academy, but was at the head of the School for only eight years (B.C. 347-339). He wrote several works,...

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Stobaeus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

Ioannes (Ιωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος). A Greek writer of uncertain date (probably about A.D. 500), who derived his surname apparently from being a native of Stobi in Macedonia. Of his personal history we know nothing. Stobaeus was a man of extensive reading, in the course of which he noted down the most interesting passages; and to him we are indebted for a...

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Thaïs in Wikipedia

Thaïs (Greek: Θαΐς) was a famous Greek hetaera who lived during the time of Alexander the Great and accompanied him on his campaigns. Thaïs first came to the attention of history when, in 330 BC, Alexander the Great burned down the palace of Persepolis after a drinking party. Thaïs was present at the party and gave a speech which convinced Alexand...

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Sosigenes in Wikipedia

There were several historical figures called Sosigenes: Sosigenes of Alexandria Sosigenes of Alexandria was named by Pliny the Elder as the astronomer consulted by Julius Caesar for the design of the Julian calendar.[1] It appears that little or nothing is known about him apart from two references in Pliny's Natural History. Some web sources say t...

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Pyrrhus of Epirus in Wikipedia

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos (Greek: Πύρρος, Pyrros; 319/318 BC-272 BC) was a Greek[1][2][3] general and statesman of the Hellenistic era.[4] He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians[3], of the royal Aeacid house[5] (from ca. 297 BC), and later he became King of Epirus (306-302, 297-272 BC) and Macedon (288-284, 273-272 BC). He was one of the strongest o...

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Scylax in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

A native of Caryanda, in Caria, who was sent by Darius Hystaspis on a voyage of discovery down the Indus. Setting out from the city of Caspatyrus and the Pactyican district, Scylax reached the sea, and then sailed west through the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, performing the whole voyage in thirty months (Herod.iv. 44). There is still extant a Perip...

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Sappho in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

(Σαπφώ; Aeolic, Ψάπφα). One of the two great leaders of the Aeolian school of lyric poetry, Alcaeus being the other. She was a native of Mitylené, or, as some said, of Eresos in Lesbos, and flourished towards the end of the seventh century B.C. Her father's name was Scamandronymus, who died when she was only six years old. She had three brothers, C...

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