Neanthes of Cyzicus
Neanthes of Cyzicus (/niˈænθiːz/; Greek: Νεάνθης ὁ Κυζικηνός) was a Greek historian and rhetorician of Cyzicus in Anatolia living in the fourth and third centuries BC.
Biography
Neanthes was a pupil of Philiscus of Miletus ("who is reasonably certain to have died before 300 BC"[1]). Philiscus himself had been a pupil of Isocrates. In an honorary decree of 287 BC, the people of Delphi award him the proxeny,[2] and this is the earliest of "only five decrees from the third century honoring historians, teachers of grammar or literature, or philosophers for their educational activities in the cities' gymnasia."[3]
Neanthes was a voluminous writer, principally of
writers, as well as by others. Among the writings of Neanthes there were:- Memoirs of king Attalus
- Hellenica
- Lives of illustrious men
- Pythagorica
- The myths about the city[6]
- On Purification
- Annals
He probably wrote an account of Cyzicus, as we can infer from a passage in Strabo. He may also have written many panegyrical orations and a work Περὶ κακοζηλίας ῥητορικῆς or Περὶ ζηλοτυπίας against the Asiatic style of rhetoric.[7] This latter work, as well as the history of Attalus I (who ruled 241–197), are irreconcilable with the dates of the Delphian decree and of Philiscus of Miletus; therefore, it is supposed that they are the work of a later Neanthes of the second century BC.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b Michael Weißenberger, "Neanthes," Brill's New Pauly, 2011
- ^ Fouilles de Delphes 1.429 = Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 84 T 2
- ^ Peter Scholz, "Peripatetic Philosophers as Wandering Scholars: Some Remarks on the Socio-Political Conditions of Philosophizing in the Third Century BCE" in W. W. Fortenbaugh and Stephen A. White (eds.), Lyco of Troas and Hieronymus of Rhodes, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2004, p. 331 n. 51
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius, i. 99; iii. 3, 4, 25; vi. 13; viii. 55, 58, 72; ix. 4
- ^ Athenaeus, ii. 25, 297, 525; iii. 399; iv. 203; vi. 93, 113, 247; vii. 249
- ^ Τὰ κατὰ πόλιν μυθικά
- ^ Leonard Whibley, A Companion to Greek Studies, Cambridge University Press, 1905, p. 88
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)- Fuentes González, Pedro Pablo, “Néanthe de Cyzique”, in R. Goulet (ed.), Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques, vol. IV, Paris, CNRS, 2005, p. 587-594.
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