Stephanus of Byzantium
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 17:46, 5 March 2012 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | '''Menippus''' ([[3rd century BC]]) of [[Gadara]], was a [[Cynic]] and [[satirist]]. His works, which are all lost, were an important influence on [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] and [[Lucian]]. The [[Menippean satire]] genre is named after him. | ||
| - | ==Life== | ||
| - | Little is known about the life of Menippus. He was a native of [[Gadara]] in [[Coele-Syria]]. The ancient sources agree that he was a [[Slavery in Ancient Greece|slave]]. He was in the service of a citizen of [[Pontus]], but in some way obtained his freedom and lived at [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]. [[Diogenes Laërtius]] relates a dubious story that he amassed a fortune as a [[usury|money-lender]], lost it, and committed [[suicide]] through grief. [[Lucian]] ranks Menippus with [[Antisthenes]], [[Diogenes of Sinope|Diogenes]], and [[Crates of Thebes|Crates]] as the most notable of the [[Cynics]]. | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==Writings== | ||
| - | His works (written in a mixture of [[prose]] and [[poetry|verse]]) are all lost. He discussed serious subjects in a spirit of ridicule, and especially delighted in attacking the [[Epicureanism|Epicureans]] and [[Stoic]]s. [[Strabo]] and [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Stephanus]] call him the "earnest-jester" ({{lang-el|σπουδογελοίος}}, ''[[Spoudaiogeloion|spoudogeloios]]''). His writings exercised considerable influence upon later literature, and the [[Menippean satire]] genre is named after him. Although the writings of Menippus no longer survive, there are some fragments of [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]'s ''Saturae Menippeae'', which were written in imitation of Menippus. One of the dialogues attributed to [[Lucian]], his avowed imitator, who frequently mentions him, is called ''Menippus'', but since the sub-title ("The Oracle of the Dead") resembles that of a work ascribed to Menippus by Diogenes Laërtius, it has been suggested that it is imitated from his ''Necromancy''. | ||
| - | |||
| - | Diogenes Laërtius says the following works were written by Menippus: | ||
| - | |||
| - | * Νέκυια - ''Necromancy'' | ||
| - | * Διαθῆκαι - ''Wills'' | ||
| - | * Ἐπιστολαὶ κεκομψευμέναι ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν προσώπου - ''Letters artificially composed as if by the Gods'' | ||
| - | * Πρὸς τοὺς φυσικοὺς καὶ μαθηματικοὺς καὶ γραμματικοὺς - ''Replies to the Natural Philosophers, and Mathematicians, and Grammarians'' | ||
| - | * Γονὰς Ἐπικούρου - ''The Birth of Epicurus'' | ||
| - | * Τὰς θρησκευομένας ὑπ' αὐτῶν εἰκάδας - ''The School's reverence of the twentieth day'' (celebrated in the Epicurean school) | ||
| - | |||
| - | In addition, [[Athenaeus]] mentions works called ''Symposium'' and ''Arcesilaus'', and Diogenes Laërtius mentions a ''Sale of Diogenes'' ({{lang-el|Διογένους Πράσει}}) written by Menippus which seems to be the main source of the story that [[Diogenes of Sinope]] was captured by pirates and sold into slavery. | ||
| + | '''Stephen of Byzantium''', also known as '''Stephanus Byzantinus''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: {{polytonic|Στέφανος Βυζάντιος}}; fl. 6th century AD), was the author of an important [[Gazetteer|geographical dictionary]] entitled ''Ethnica'' ({{polytonic|Ἐθνικά}}). Of the dictionary itself only meagre fragments survive, but we possess an [[epitome]] compiled by one [[Hermolaus (grammarian)|Hermolaus]]. | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus (Greek: Template:Polytonic; fl. 6th century AD), was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica (Template:Polytonic). Of the dictionary itself only meagre fragments survive, but we possess an epitome compiled by one Hermolaus.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Stephanus of Byzantium" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
