Alexander Peloplaton
Alexander (
Early life
He was the son of an elder Alexander of Seleucia in Cilicia (modern Silifke, Turkey).[2] His father was distinguished as a pleader in the courts of justice, by which he acquired considerable property, but he died at an age when his son was too young to care for himself. His place, however, was supplied by his friends, especially by Apollonius of Tyana, who is said to have been in love with Seleucis on account of her extraordinary beauty, in which she was equaled by her son. [citation needed] He spent the property his father had left to him on pleasures, but, says Philostratus, not contemptible pleasures.[citation needed]
Education
Alexander was tutored at first by
Career
When he had attained the age of manhood, the town of Seleucia, for some reason now unknown, sent Alexander as ambassador to the emperor
Philostratus gives the various statements which he found about these points. Alexander was one of the greatest rhetoricians of his age, and he is especially praised for the sublimity of his style and the boldness of his thoughts; but he is not known to have written anything. An account of his life is given by Philostratus, who has also preserved several of his sayings, and some of the subjects on which he made speeches.[2][4][5]
Marcus Aurelius refers to him in his Meditations, as Alexander the Platonic, in a passage recounting good practices the emperor learned from friends:
From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those with whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations.[6]
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
References
- ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alexander Peloplaton". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 123–124.
- ^ a b Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists ii. 5. ~ 1, compared with Epist. Apollon. Tyan. 13, where the father of Alexander Peloplaton is called "Straton", which, however, may be a mere surname.
- ^ Ivars Avotins, Prosopographical and Chronological Notes on Some Greek Sophists of the Empire California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 4 (1971), p 70 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25010614?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A323e81020d44d6c4467306af094f98af&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents
- ^ Suda s. v. Ἀλέξανδρος Αἰγαῖος in fin.
- ^ Eudoc. p. 52
- ^ Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. 1.12
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Alexander, surnamed Peloplaton". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.