13 Zoroaster (c. 628–551 BC), also known as Zarathustra, was a monotheistic religious sage who lived in Persia. Zoroastrianism took hold in Persia in the sixth century BC and is still actively practiced in Iran and South Asia and among expatriates from those regions.
14 The fall of Troy, the end point of the legendary Trojan War, was conventionally dated by the Greeks to about 1200 BC.
15 Xerxes, king of Persia, invaded Greece in 480 BC by using a bridge over the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles) to cross from Asia into Europe.
16 The “overthrow of the Persians” probably refers to the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Very little is known about the four Magi whom Diogenes names here, but a late Greek text titled Oracles of Astrampsychus, a practical treatise on how to tell fortunes, was widely circulated in the ancient world and survives today in Byzantine versions.
17 Like Orpheus, whom Diogenes discusses below, Linus and Musaeus were legendary poets and musicians associated with mystical wisdom.
18 Phalerum, or Phaleron, was the port of Athens until the fifth century BC, when it was superseded by Piraeus.
19 A priestly clan at Athens. Founded by the demigod Eumolpus, according to legend, the Eumolpidae were responsible for the worship of Demeter and for celebrating the Eleusinian Mysteries in her honor.
20 The muse of astronomy, normally considered a consort of Apollo; her connection to the god Hermes is not otherwise attested.
21 A fifth-century BC philosopher known for his speculations about the origins of the natural world. Diogenes discusses his life and work at 2.6–15; see 2.6 for Mind’s role in the creation of the cosmos.
22 Apollo, the god of music, killed Linus out of jealousy of his musical gifts.
23 Diogenes refers to the fact that “philosophy” comes from Greek roots meaning “love” (phil-) and “wisdom” (sophia).
24 Orpheus was revered not just as a musician but as a poet and philosopher. He is credited with founding the cult of Dionysus and playing a role in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult dedicated to Demeter.
25 A papyrus that emerged in the 1960s at a Greek village called Dervéni contains a fourth-century BC commentary on an Orphic theogonic poem, and indicates that much of the Orphic account of the origin of the gods did not fit with that of Hesiod or Homer. A line quoted from the poem by the author of the papyrus appears to describe Zeus swallowing the severed phallus of his grandfather Uranus, an act that Diogenes here equates with fellatio.
26 According to myth, Orpheus rejected the advances of a group of maenads (female followers of Dionysus), and in revenge they tore him to pieces.
27 This etymology incorporates the Greek roots zōros, “pure,” and astēr, “star.”
28 Oromasdes (or Ahura Mazda) in Zoroastrian theology is the creator and ruler of the universe, and hence seemed to the Greeks an equivalent of Zeus.
29 Arimanius (also known as Ahriman) was, according to the Zoroastrians, born from the darkness as an antagonist to Oromasdes. His dark origins led the Greeks to identify him with Hades.
30 In his Histories (7.35), Herodotus reports that the Persian king Xerxes became enraged at the sea for destroying a bridge, and ordered its waters lashed and chains thrown into its depths. Xerxes never threw spears at the sun, in Herodotus’ account, though another Persian king, Darius, fired an arrow toward the sky (5.105).
31 The Egyptian goddess Isis was regularly associated with the moon, magic, and resurrection. The link between Osiris and the sun—normally identified with the god Ammon—is more tenuous.
32 Diogenes discusses Pythagoras’s life and work at 8.1–50.
33 The original meaning of this word, and its sense here, is simply “wise men.” Plato turned it into a derogatory term for someone who employed rhetoric for personal gain rather than for the sake of truth. The English word “sophistry” derives from this latter use.
34 The ancients compiled a group of Seven Sages, considered the seven wisest men of early Greek thought. As Diogenes points out, the names on the list varied, depending on who was making it. All the figures named in the following list are discussed more fully in later portions of Diogenes’ book.
35 Diogenes discusses Anaximander’s life and work at 2.1–2.
36 In this sentence and those that follow, Diogenes lays out the grand plan of his work, since the order in which he will relate his biographies is based on the successive leaderships of the various philosophic schools. His phrase “ends with” should not be taken to imply that a given school ceased to exist, only that his own account of that school will stop when it reaches that point.
37 The foregoing lists lay out the content and sequence of the first four books.
38 These lines of transmission form Books 5–7, though the order is jumbled compared with what Diogenes gives here, and the line that supposedly “ends with” Theophrastus in fact continues further.
39 These lines are followed in Books 8–10, except that Nausiphanes is not in fact given a biography there. The words “and Naucydes” are missing from some manuscripts and may have arisen from a copyist’s error.
40 This division was emphasized by the Skeptics themselves, who devoted many of their works to refuting the theories of dogmatic philosophers, particularly the Stoics.
41 Cynics were known for their unconventional manners and haphazard hygiene, which prompted them to be mocked as “dogs” (kynes), from which their name derived.
42 The term comes from the Greek eu- (good) and daimōn (god), and refers to a state of happiness and connection with divinity that Eudaemonists strove to cultivate.
43 These “truth-lovers” are not otherwise known.
44 These “refuters” may be a designation of the followers of Socrates. Some manuscripts have the reading “Eclectics” here rather than “Elenctics,” and that may be the correct one (see chapter 21).
45 In classical Greece, a “school” was not usually a formally established institution (like Plato’s Academy) but a group of like-minded philosophers with a common leader and a regular meeting place, generally in public. Belonging to a school meant pledging allegiance to a specific philosopher who served as a model to be emulated: Socrates and Plato for the Academics, Zeno for the Stoics, Epicurus for the Epicureans, Diogenes for the Cynics, etc. A primary goal was not simply to ratify a certain set of doctrines (even when the ability to define terms and analyze arguments was a constitutive component of a school’s shared culture) but to embody a characteristic way of life.
46 The word “recently” here would seem to place Potamon close to, and therefore to help determine, the time at which Diogenes wrote. Unfortunately, the only other surviving information about Potamon places him in the first century BC, and we know that Diogenes lived at least two centuries later than that, so it’s unclear why “recently” is used.
47 A fifth-century BC philosopher, jointly credited, along with his teacher Leucippus, with originating atomic theory. Diogenes discusses his life and views at 9.34–49.
48 Agenor and Cadmus were mythological kings of Phoenicia; Cadmus, Agenor’s son, settled in Greece and founded the city of Thebes, according to legend, and also imported writing into the Greek world. Herodotus (1.70) attests to Thales’ Phoenician identity—a disputed point, as Diogenes goes on to say—but not his parentage.
49 As the angle brackets indicate, this clause was inserted by editors to fill an apparent gap in the text. Plato groups Thales with the sages at Protagoras 343a.
50 That is, in 582 or 581 BC. Ancient authors, lacking a numerical system of dating past events, used the chief archons at Athens—officials elected for one-year terms, whose names were recorded chronologically in lists that went back centuries—as their reference points.
51 The mythological founder of Miletus.
52 An early Greek astronomer and scientist about whom little is known.
53 The Little Bear, also referred to as the Wagon in the verses below, is better known to us as the Little Dipper. Thales could hardly have “discovere
d” it, but he may have been the first to recognize its utility in navigation.
54 Herodotus (1.70) attests that Thales predicted the year of a solar eclipse that, when it occurred, halted a battle between Lydians and Medes; astronomers have fixed on an eclipse seen in Asia Minor in 585 BC as a likely candidate, assuming the story is true. But it is not clear just what Herodotus means, since no astronomical science available in antiquity would have allowed the prediction of an eclipse’s date. The “prediction” of solstices is discussed further, below.
55 Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570–c. 475 BC) was a Greek philosopher and poet who lived somewhat later than Thales. Diogenes discusses his life and views at 9.18–20.
56 Heraclitus of Ephesus (fl. c. 504 BC) was a Pre-Socratic philosopher whose life and views are discussed at 9.1–17.
57 The Egyptians were known to the Greeks as the inventors of geometry, a science devised (according to Herodotus 2.109) as a means of apportioning land.
58 The sacrifice was presumably performed in gratitude to the gods for his epiphany.
59 Diogenes discusses Pythagoras at 8.1–50; the particular point mentioned here is at 8.12.
60 Euphorbus the Phrygian was a mythic warrior who fought at Troy. Pythagoras, who professed a doctrine of reincarnation, apparently believed that his own soul had once inhabited the body of Euphorbus (see 8.4–5).
61 King of Lydia in the sixth century BC, famous for his vast wealth and patronage. He apparently employed Thales as a military engineer (Herodotus 1.75), although Diogenes seems unaware of this connection.
62 Diogenes is referring to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who defeated Croesus (c. 547 BC) and subjugated all Lydian-controlled territory, including many Ionian Greek cities. Since Thales had persuaded the Milesians not to ally with Croesus in the war against Cyrus, Cyrus dealt favorably with Miletus.
63 Thrasybulus ruled Miletus in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC. “Tyrants,” the Greek term for rulers who lacked the legitimacy of monarchic lineage, often tried to bolster their authority by attracting artists and sages to their courts.
64 Tripods, multipurpose three-legged stands, were highly valued in the ancient Greek world, serving often as offerings to gods or prizes in contests.
65 Located at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, Delphi was home to the oracle of Apollo, the most famous source of prophecy and divine advice in the ancient world.
66 Another name for Apollo.
67 The shift in tense here corresponds to the original Greek.
68 The story of a gift being offered to “the wisest man” was a common one in the ancient world. Diogenes gives a number of variations on the tale here and elsewhere.
69 Another of the archaic sages; see 1.68–73.
70 At 1.106–8.
71 Diogenes means that Anacharsis, another of the archaic sages (see 1.101–5), had posed a question to the oracle that resulted in this response. Later (at 1.106) he quotes the wording of the question.
72 There are a number of significant historical figures named Aristodemus, but none of them seem to correspond to the sage cited here.
73 Tyrant of Corinth in the archaic period, sometimes listed as one of the Seven Sages (see 1.94–100).
74 See 1.82–88 for the life of Bias, and 1.82 for the point mentioned here.
75 A mythological king of Olympia for whom the Peloponnese is named. He defeated the previous king, Oenomaus, in a chariot race and married his daughter Hippodameia.
76 In mythology, Menelaus, grandson of Pelops, became king of Sparta after marrying Helen. She was later abducted by the Trojan prince Paris, precipitating the Trojan War.
77 Diogenes means Helen, who was born a Spartan princess.
78 Residents of Lebedos, a city on the west coast of Asia Minor, founded as a colony of Miletus.
79 Didyma, located on the coast of Asia Minor, contained an important temple and oracle dedicated to the god Apollo.
80 A mythical figure from Miletus; “the sons of Merops” would therefore be a roundabout way of referring to the Milesians.
81 The etesian, or “yearly,” winds blew from the north in winter, and so were invoked by some early thinkers to explain the summer flooding of the Nile; the river’s waters, it was thought, were pushed backward by the winter winds, then flowed in full spate when those winds ceased.
82 This Olympiad began in 640 BC.
83 This Olympiad began in 548 BC.
84 The Halys is the longest river in Asia Minor; it often formed the boundary between Lydia and the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus (1.74–75), Thales found a novel way for Croesus to cross it on his invasion of Persian territory.
85 In his Epigrams, Diogenes wrote verses about famous figures in a variety of meters, earning it the nickname Pammetros, meaning “[Poems of] All Meters.” The book itself has not survived, but many of the poems are preserved thanks to Diogenes’ reuse of them.
86 The mythological first priestess of the oracle at Delphi, believed to be the daughter of Apollo and credited with having invented the hexameter. The famous phrase “Know thyself” was carved on the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
87 Tyrant of Corinth in the mid-seventh century BC.
88 The Panionia, or Pan-Ionian festivals, drew Greeks from the cities and islands of western Asia Minor to a common location for athletic and musical contests.
89 Diogenes’ citation of the following verses as an instance of disputed attribution assumes that readers are accustomed to think of “Nothing in excess” as a maxim of Solon’s (see 1.63), not Chilon’s.
90 Diogenes’ own selection of archaic sages, here in Book 1, follows none of the lists mentioned, but comes closest to the inclusive group of ten attributed to Dicaearchus.
91 One of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea.
92 Certain myths traced the foundation of Miletus to refugees from Athens, even though in fact the Milesians had closer connections to Megara.
93 An island off the western coast of Attica.
94 The Greek word is seisachtheia. It was coined as a description of Solon’s program of debt reduction, a set of measures designed to help the small landholders and landless poor of Athens who had, over decades, become deeply indebted to their wealthier countrymen.
95 These tablets, called axones by Plutarch (Solon 25), were evidently designed to rotate on a spindle so that multiple faces could be displayed.
96 Now known as the Gallipoli Peninsula, this spit of land helped protect Athens’s trade routes through the Dardanelles.
97 In populous Athens, citizens were often identified by way of their deme or native district, as in “Aeschines of Sphettus.”
98 Diogenes refers here to the famous “Catalogue of Ships” in Iliad Book 2, which lists the Greek contingents that came to Troy and the number of ships each contributed. Since Athens was conspicuously absent from that list, the insertion of the line quoted here would have done much to bolster Athenian civic pride. The line does appear in some modern editions of the Iliad, as 2.558, though others mark it as spurious.
99 Pisistratus was to become tyrant of Athens in 561 BC and dominate the city, at times by force, through most of the next thirty-five years. Solon probably lived long enough to witness the start of Pisistratus’ tyranny, an event that erased many of his hard-won reforms.
100 The Ekklesia, or Assembly, at Athens was an open meeting place where all citizens could debate and vote; it was the most democratic organ of Athenian government. By contrast the Boulé, or Council, referred to below was composed in Solon’s day of wealthier members more inclined to favor one-man rule.
101 It seems likely that Croesus’ reign did not in fact overlap with Solon’s life span, but there is room for doubt, and in Book 1 of his Histories, Herodotus immortalized the idea that the two had met and conversed.
102 According to the words Herodotus attributes to Solon (1.30–31), Tellus died gloriously in battle, having lived to see his children and grandchildren grow up healthy, and thus c
ould be counted the happiest of men. Cleobis and Biton were second happiest, in that they had died peacefully, after a glorious feat of strength, in the prime of life. Diogenes regards these Solonic parables as too familiar to his readers to bear repeating.
103 Soloikismos in Greek means “a grammatical blunder,” and the English “solecism” is derived from it. The word was widely explained in antiquity as a reference to the town of Soli, and modern etymologists have not disagreed.
104 A mythical king of Athens.
105 No such speech is known from the corpus of Lysias, an Athenian orator and legal speechwriter of the fifth century BC.
106 Draco was the author (c. 620 BC) of the first written code of laws of Athens; he imposed death as the penalty for many offenses, the origin of the word “draconian.”
107 The word translated as “tribune” here is bēma, which would normally refer to the bēma in the Athenian Assembly; but since women were not admitted to that body in the first place, it’s not clear what “tribune” is here meant.
108 The drachma was the ancient currency used by many Greek city-states, including Athens. Aristophanes, in Wasps, says that half a drachma, the daily wage of a juror, was enough to support a family of three for a day.
109 At the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, Athens and her allies decisively defeated the invading Persian forces of Darius I. Callimachus and Cynegirus both died there, and Miltiades, mentioned just below, was one of the generals leading the Athenian forces.
110 Unlike the other names mentioned here, which all belong to war heroes, Harmodius and Aristogeiton died as a result of a failed attempt to assassinate the tyrants ruling Athens, in 514 BC.
111 A passage from Euripides’ tragedy Autolycus, which survives only in fragments.
112 Retaining such seals would enable them to impersonate the seal owner in legal documents.
113 Pisistratus was credited in antiquity with creating the first full edition of Homer’s works, but that legend is rejected by modern scholars.
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