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Menedemus (1), of Eretria, eristic philosopher, c. 339–c. 265 BCE  

David John Furley

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Menedemus (1), of Eretria, eristic philosopher, c. 339–c. 265 bce, was sent by his city to *Megara on military service. He was there won over to philosophy (perhaps after a visit to the *Academy in Athens), and studied under *Stilpon. He moved to Elis and joined the school founded by *Phaedon; he became leader of it and transferred it to Eretria (see Eretria, school of). He involved himself in politics and attained high office, but was forced into exile by political opponents. He took refuge at the court of *Antigonus (2) Gonatas in Macedonia and died there. As a philosopher he was called an eristic, and his positive contributions, if any, are unknown.

Article

Menedemus (2), Cynic philosopher  

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22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Menedemus (2), *Cynic philosopher of the 3rd cent. bce, from western Asia Minor, first a pupil of *Colotes the Epicurean, later of Echecles the Cynic, both of Lampsacus. He is best known from Colotes' polemic against him.

Article

Menexenus, of Athens  

Michael Gagarin

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Menexenus of Athens, pupil of *Socrates, was one of those present at the conversation in prison related in *Plato(1)'s Phaedo. He plays a considerable part in the Lysis and a less prominent one in Plato's dialogue named after him.

Article

Menippus (1), of Gadara, Cynic philosopher  

Richard Hunter

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Menippus (1) of Gadara (Syria), influential *Cynic writer, probably of first half of 3rd cent. bce. An untrustworthy Life (Diog. Laert. 6. 99–101) makes him a pupil of Metrocles and associates him with *Thebes (1). Twice referred to as σπουδογέλοιος or satirist (Strabo 16. 2. 29; Steph. Byz., entry under Γάδαρα), a term he might have applied to himself, he seems to have specialized in humorous moralizing; it is tempting, but perhaps dangerous, to assume that his works closely resembled those of Lucian in which he is a character. Very little is known of his work except titles, among which are: Diathekai or ‘Wills’ (parodying the wills of philosophers ?); Letters Artificially Composed as if by the Gods (? cf. Lucian, Saturnalia); Nekyia or ‘Necromancy’ (presumably in the parodistic tradition of *Crates (2) and *Timon (2), and possibly influential on *Horace, Sat.

Article

Metrodorus (2), of Chios, pupil of Democritus  

William David Ross

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Metrodorus (2) of *Chios, pupil of *Democritus, lived in the 4th cent. bce. His On Nature seems to have combined *atomism with the attempt to apply the Eleatic denial of change (see Eleatic school) to the universe as a whole. He occupied himself mainly with the explanation of meteorological and astronomical phenomena (see astronomy; meteorology).

Article

Metrodorus (3), of Lampsacus, one of the founders of Epicureanism, c. 331–278 BCE  

William David Ross and Dirk Obbink

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Metrodorus (3), of *Lampsacu (c. 331–278bce), was one of the four καθηγεμόνες (‘founders’) of Epicureanism, and the most important after Epicurus; *Epicurus dedicated to him his Eurylochus and his Metrodorus, besides writing letters to him and mentioning him often in his works. He reckoned him not among original thinkers, but as first among those who could reach the truth with the help of others, and ordered that Metrodorus' memory as well as his own should be celebrated on the 20th of every month. Metrodorus' brother Timocrates notoriously left the Epicurean Garden over doctrinal disputes. The list of Metrodorus' writings, preserved by *Diogenes (6) Laertius (book 10) is a long one, and considerable fragments remain.

Article

Metrodorus (4), of Stratonicea, philosopher  

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22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Metrodorus (4) of *Stratonicea, an adherent first of the Epicurean school (see Epicurus), then of that of *Carneades (Diog. Laert. 10. 9; Cic. De Or. 1. 45).

Article

Moderatus, of Gades, c. 50–100 CE  

John Dillon

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Moderatus, of Gades, wrote ‘Lectures on Pythagoreanism’ (Pythagorikai scholai) in eleven books; see pythagoras (1). A polemical *Neopythagorean, he tried to derive the main principles of *Plato(1)'s metaphysics from Pythagorean teaching, and treated the Pythagorean theory of number as a symbolic representation of metaphysical doctrine, the monad being the principle of change and multiplicity. Ancient references suggest that his interpretation of the hypotheses of Plato's Parmenides may have played a significant part in the formation of *Neoplatonic doctrine, since he appears to foreshadow the Plotinian system of hypostases.

Article

monotheism  

Herbert Jennings Rose, Herbert William Parke, and John Dillon

Article

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Apart from the influence of developed Judaism (see religion, Jewish) and *Christianity, no such thing as monotheism in the strict sense, i.e. the refusal to use the predicate ‘god’ of any but one being, existed in classical antiquity; even theistic philosophers, such as *Plato(1), *Aristotle, or the Stoics (see Stoicism), acknowledged the existence of subordinate deities (even if no more than planetary gods) beside the supreme one. Locally, it was usual enough to refer to one particular deity as ‘the god’ or ‘the goddess’, e.g. *Athena at Athens, *Apollo at *Delphi. But a further tendency towards monotheism may be detected, at any rate in Greek popular religion as interpreted by non-philosophical authors. This takes the form of the increasing supremacy of *Zeus. Even in *Homer (Il. 8. 18–27) he is much stronger than all the other gods put together; later authors tend to use ‘Zeus’, ‘the gods’, ‘God’ indiscriminately, e.g. Hesiod, Op.

Article

Musonius Rufus, Gaius, of Volsinii  

William David Ross and M. T. Griffin

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
  2. Roman History and Historiography

Roman eques (see equites) and Stoic philosopher (see Stoicism), seems to have been born before ce 30 and to have died before 101/2. About ce 60*Rubellius Plautus was banished by *Nero to Asia Minor, and Musonius followed him. After Rubellius' death he returned to Rome, but in 65, on the discovery of the Pisonian conspiracy (see Calpurnius Piso (2), C.), he was banished to Gyaros in the *Aegean. He returned to Rome, probably under Galba and tried to preach peace to the Flavian army approaching Rome. He was again banished by *Vespasian, but returned again in the reign of *Titus. We do not know of his having written books, but many of his apophthegms (pithy sayings) and discourses have been preserved. Among his pupils were many philosophers (notably *Epictetus) and many leading Roman citizens.

Article

Myia  

Vicki Lynn Harper

Article

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Myia, daughter of *Pythagoras(1), is called a Pythagorean philosopher (Clem. Strom., 4. 19. 121, 224).

Article

nature  

Catherine Osborne

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
The term physis, originally meaning ‘birth’ or ‘growth’, evolved to become the standard term for the ‘nature’ of an animal or plant. From the 6th cent. bce Greek philosophers were said to be investigating ‘the nature of things’ or enquiring ‘about nature’ (peri physeos). See empedocles; gorgias. Their task was to investigate the way the cosmos works, and the things that naturally occur in it. Nature was not regarded as an external force or agent (nothing is done ‘by nature’) but as the natural disposition of things to behave in certain ways.Aristotle reports that *Presocratic Philosophy was largely ‘natural philosophy’ and he describes one of his own works (Ph.) as concerned with natural things. In the Hellenistic period, the study of nature became one of the main three branches of the philosophical curriculum (physics, ethics, and logic). It included studies of natural causation, time, place etc. which might belong to metaphysics in the modern curriculum. See physics.

Article

Nausiphanes, of Teos, fl. c. 340–320 BCE  

D. Sedley

Article

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Nausiphanes of Teos (fl. c.340-320 bce), Democritean philosopher (see democritus), and teacher of *Epicurus, who however claimed to have learnt nothing from him. A pupil of *Pyrrhon of Elis (the putative founder of Scepticism (see sceptics)), he exhibited some of the sceptical tendencies typical of 4th-cent. Democriteanism. His work the Tripod was an epistemological one, said to have influenced Epicurus' treatise on criteria, the Canon.

Article

Neoplatonism  

D. O'Meara

Article

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Neoplatonism, a modern term for *Plotinus' renewal of Platonic philosophy (see plato(1)) in the 3rd cent. ce. It became the dominant philosophy of the ancient world down to the 6th cent. The following phases may be distinguished in its history. (a) After the Sceptical period of Plato's *Academy, philosophers in the 1st cent. bce, notably *Antiochus (11) and *Posidonius (2), initiated a revival of dogmatic Platonism. This revival (called today ‘Middle *Platonism’) became widespread in the 2nd cent. ce when such writers as *Albinus (1) (Alcinous) and *Numenius, having recourse sometimes to Aristotelian and Stoic ideas, drew from Plato's dialogues a systematic philosophy. (b) Working in this intellectual context, Plotinus developed an unorthodox, compelling interpretation of Plato, a philosophy containing profound metaphysical and psychological ideas which provided his successors with a fruitful basis of reflection. Plotinus' Enneads (published posthumously, c.

Article

Neopythagoreanism  

D. O'Meara

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Neopythagoreanism, a renewed interest in Pythagorean ideas and practices (see pythagoras(1)) that took widely different forms, appears first in the Hellenistic period with the emergence of apocryphal texts, often inspired by Platonic, Aristotelian, or Stoic sources (see plato(1); aristotle; stoicism), usually decked out in Doric dialect, and claiming to be the work of Pythagoras (1) or of Pythagoreans such as *Archytas, *Timaeus (1) of Locri, *Ocellus. Individuals described as ‘Pythagoreans’ appear in the 1st cent. bce in *Alexandria (1) (*Eudorus (2)) and Rome (*Nigidius Figulus, his circle, and others) and are found in the 1st cent. ce (*Moderatus of Gades, *Apollonius (12) of Tyana) and in the 2nd (*Nicomachus (3) of Gerasa, *Numenius, *Alexander (13) of Abonuteichos). Some were philosophers who, in the context of a revival of dogmatic Platonism and inspired by Pythagorizing in Plato's *Academy, took an interest in Pythagorean metaphysics, mathematics, and number symbolism.

Article

Nicias (3), of Nicaea, Greek author  

D. Sedley

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Nicias (3) of *Nicaea(1), of uncertain date (100 bce–200 ce), author of philosophical Successions (Διαδοχαί), used as a source by *Diogenes (6) Laertius.

Article

Nicomachus (1), son of Aristotle, 4th cent. BCE  

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Nicomachus (1), son of *Aristotle; to him, according to an ancient account, Aristotle dedicated the Nicomachean Ethics; but possibly the name is due to his having edited the work, as *Eudemus may have edited the Eudemian Ethics.

Article

Numenius, of Apamea, 2nd cent. CE  

D. O'Meara

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Numenius of Apamea (2nd cent. ce), leading Platonist (also referred to as a Pythagorean). Substantial fragments of two of his works survive: a metaphysical dialogue On the Good and a history of the *Academy designed to show how much it had corrupted *Plato(1)'s teaching. This teaching was Pythagorean, he claimed, relating it to the ancient wisdom of the Brahmans, Magi (see magus), Egyptians, and Jews whose scriptures he interpreted allegorically. He shared ideas with *Gnosticism and with the *Chaldaean Oracles. His metaphysics includes a first god (the Good, which is absolutely transcendent) and a second god who imitates the first and organizes the world. Matter is evil, as is life in the body for our soul. He had considerable influence on *Plotinus, who was accused of plagiarizing from him, on *Origen(2), *Porphyry, and later *Neoplatonists. See neopythagoreanism.

Article

Ocellus, of Lucania  

John Dillon

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy
Occurs in *Iamblichus(2)'s list of Pythagoreans (VP36; see pythagoras(1)), along with a brother, Occilus, but the surviving work On the Nature of the Universe bearing his name and known as early as the 1st cent. bce is certainly spurious. It shows considerable traces of Aristotelian influence (e.g. arguments for the eternity of the world), as well as many Platonist formulations (see aristotle; plato(1)), and may probably be dated around 150 bce.

Article

Oenomaus, of Gadara, fl. c. 120 CE  

J. L. Moles

Article

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Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Philosophy

Oenomaus of Gadara (fl. c. 120 ce), *Cynic; seemingly the *pagan philosopher ‘Abnimos’ of the *Talmud, so perhaps a Hellenized *Jew (see hellenism). He wrote: ‘Exposure of the Charlatans’ (or ‘Against the Oracles’), a witty and inventive polemic extensively preserved by *Eusebius; various works effectively known by title only which attest Cynic allegiance; and tragedies (lost). An ambitious and relatively intellectualizing voice of later Cynicism, he imitated *Diogenes(2) (Politeia and tragedies), *Crates(2) (verse parodies) and *Menippus(1) of Gadara (‘Exposure of the Charlatans’). He himself became a literary influence on *Lucian, a philosophical influence on fourth-century Cynics, a target of the idealizing *Julian's vilification and a source for Christians of arguments against paganism. See also cynics.