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Anaxilas (2), Greek poet of Middle Comedy, mid-4th cent. BCE  

Kenneth Dover

Anaxilas (2), Middle Comedy poet (see comedy (greek), middle), can be dated to the middle of the 4th cent. bce by the fact that in three of his plays (Diog. Laert. 3. 28) he ridiculed *Plato (1). We have nineteen titles and some 40 citations, the longest of which (fr. 22 KA, from Neottis) characterizes well-known *hetairai.

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Anaximenes (2), of Lampsacus, historian and rhetorician, c. 380–320 BCE  

Donald Russell

Anaximenes (2) of Lampsacu (c. 380–320 bce), historian and rhetorician, a pupil of *Zoïlus. His historical work (FGrH 72) comprised Hellenica, Philippica, and a work on *Alexander (3) the Great. An ‘answer to a letter of Philip’ ([Dem.] 11) was believed in antiquity to be his; so perhaps is the ‘letter’ itself ([Dem.] 12). He also wrote on Homer. The Rhetorica ad Alexandrum, first attributed to him by P. Victorius (1499–1585), on the ground of Quintilian, Inst. 3. 4. 9, is the sole surviving pre-Aristotelian manual of *rhetoric.

Article

Anaxippus, New Comedy poet  

William Gillan Waddell

(see comedy (greek), new), ‘in the time of Antigonus and Demetrius Poliorcetes’ (Suda). Four comedies are plainly attributed to Anaxippus; and one fragment (49 lines) of another is assigned to (X)anthippus’—possibly a mistake for Anaxippus—the verbose but humorous speech of a cook who elevates the gastronomic art (see H. Dohm, Mageiros (1964), 156 ff.

Article

Andreas, d. 217 BCE  

Antony Spawforth

Physician and court doctor of *Ptolemy (1) IV (Philopator), follower of *Herophilus. Works: Νάρθηξ (a pharmacopoeia, with descriptions of plants and roots); Περὶ δακέτων (on snake-bites); Περὶ τῶν ψευδῶς πεπιστευμένων (against superstitious beliefs); Περὶ στεφάνων (on wreaths: all lost except for fragments). *Eratosthenes berated him as a ‘literary *Aegisthus’ (Etym.

Article

anecdote  

Simon Goldhill

An anecdote in English means a short and pointed narrative, often of a biographical nature, which is not usually attributed to an author. The ancient Greek word anekdotos means no more than “unpublished,” and is a very rare term. But there are three main words—chreia, paradoxon, and paradeigma (exemplum in Latin)—which were used in Greek to categorize such stories. These terms together give an important insight into the literary culture of antiquity, especially in the Greek-speaking world of the Roman Empire, revealing how knowledge circulates and how elites performed their relationship to the past.A chreia is a very brief story culminating in or consisting of a single sentence put-down or witty rejoinder. It is often associated with Cynic philosophy: “Diogenes is to be praised for rubbing away on his genital organ in public and saying to the bystanders, ‘If only it were as easy to rub away hunger’” (Plutarch .

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Anonymus Antatticista  

M. B. Trapp

Anonymus Antatticista (Ἀνταττικιστής), a contemporary opponent of *Phrynichus (3) the Atticist, who cites from good, but not always Attic, writers many words which Phrynichus condemns.

Article

Anonymus Seguerianus  

M. B. Trapp

Anonymus Seguerianus wrote a treatise on the formal style (πολιτικὸς λόγος), which contains frequent references to the work of *Alexander (12) son of Numenius.

Article

Antagoras of Rhodes  

Richard Hunter

Antagoras of Rhodes wrote an epic Thebais, epigrams, and other poems (fr. 1 Powell, verses in hymnal style on Eros, seems to be echoed by *Callimachus (3), Hymn 1. 5). Like *Aratus (1), Antagoras visited the court of *Antigonus (2) Gonatas, and the fragments also reveal familiarity with the Athenian *Academy.

Article

anthology  

Alan Douglas Edward Cameron and P. J. Parsons

Is not used in the modern sense before *Diogenianus (2). Many Hellenistic poets published books of epigrams: PMil. Vogl. VIII. 309 and PColon. 5. 204 are from collections by *Posidippus (2) and *Mnasalces, and a number of papyri of the 3rd–2nd cents. bce contain epigrams (P. Firmin Didot, SH 961, 974, 985, 986, 981, PColon. 3.128). The unpublished PVindob. G 40611 (3rd/2nd cent. bce) contains a check-list of at least 240 epigrams (first lines only), all unknown but one, selected from a collection or anthology in four books; for a preliminary account see P. J. Parsons, Entretiens Hardt XLVIII, Callimaque (2002) 118–20. Florilegia of all sorts were common from an early period (H. Chadwick, RAC ‘Florilegium’; J. Barns, CQ 1950–1), but the first artistically arranged anthology of epigrams still seems to be the Garland (Στέφανος) of *Meleager (2), c.

Article

Antidorus, of Cyme, c. 300 BCE  

John Francis Lockwood and Nigel Wilson

Antidorus may have been the first to abandon the name κριτικός and to call himself γραμματικός (Clem. Al. Strom. 1. 16. 79). He wrote a work on Homer and Hesiod, of which the form and content are unknown, and a treatise on λέξις, which was either a lexical study, perhaps of Homeric expressions, or a work on style (schol. Dion. Thrax, 3, 7, 448 Hilgard; schol. Il.

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Antigenes  

Bernhard Zimmermann

Antigenes, Attic *dithyrambic poet, who wrote a dedicatory poem for tripods won at the Dionysian competition (see dionysia) by the Acamantis tribe (see phylai). The poem, preserved at Anth. Pal. 13. 28, is written in Dionysiac language and composed in couplets (Archilochean, i.e. dactylic tetrameter and ithyphallic; and cretic, surrounded by ancipitia, and Alcaic decasyllable).

Article

Antigone (1)  

Andrew Brown

Antigone (1), daughter of *Oedipus and Iocasta, sister of *Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene.

*Sophocles (1)'s Antigone deals with events after the Theban War, in which Eteocles and Polynices killed one another (see seven against thebes). Antigone's uncle *Creon (1), the new king of Thebes (1), has issued an edict forbidding anyone to bury the body of the traitor Polynices. Antigone, despite efforts at dissuasion by Ismene, insists on defying the edict. She is arrested and brought before Creon, and proudly defends her action. He decrees that she should be imprisoned in a tomb and left to die, although she is engaged to his son *Haemon (3). Creon is left unmoved by Haemon's arguments against such punishment, but is finally made to change his mind by the prophet *Tiresias, who reveals that the gods are angry at the exposure of Polynices and the burial of Antigone. He buries Polynices but arrives at Antigone's tomb too late: she has hanged herself, and Haemon, who has broken into the tomb, kills himself in front of his father. Creon's wife Eurydice also commits suicide, leaving Creon a broken man.

Article

Antigonus (4), of Carystus, writer and bronze-worker, fl. c. 240 BCE  

Frank William Walbank and Andrew F. Stewart

Antigonus (4) of Carystus (fl. c. 240 BCE), writer and bronzeworker, lived at Athens and (apparently) at *Pergamum.

An inferior anecdotal collection survives: (a) Ἱστοριῶν παραδόξων συναγωγή, collection of paradoxical stories (see paradoxography) (Rer. nat. scr. Graec. min. 1. 8 f.); *Diogenes (6) Laertius and Athenaeus (1) use (b) Lives of Philosophers; (c) treatises on sculpture and painting (Plin. HN 1. 33, 34; 34. 84; etc.); (d) Περì λέξεως, on diction (Ath. 3. 88a; 7. 297a: probably this Antigonus).

A reliable biographer (see biography, greek) with a flowing, periodic style, Antigonus achieved considerable popularity. His art-historical writing analysed style and authorship (e.g. Plin. HN 35. 67; [Zenobius] 5. 82), and he was among the sculptors the Attalids (see attalus i–iii) selected to celebrate their Celtic victories.

Article

Antimachus, of Colophon, Greek poet and scholar  

F. Williams

He may have been taught by *Stesimbrotus of Thasos; Plutarch, Lys. 18. 8 says he competed at the Lysandreia festival in Samos in *Lysander's presence (therefore before 395 bce); his younger friend and admirer *Plato (1) sent *Heraclides (1) Ponticus (fr. 6 Wehrli) to Colophon to collect his poems.Small fragments survive: the Thebais was an epic, probably in 24 books, narrating the first expedition against Thebes, and exhibiting a wide knowledge of earlier poetry. Lyde was a narrative elegy in at least two books, allegedly composed after the death of his wife or mistress Lyde. It included very diverse mythological episodes, e.g. the Argonautica, *Demeter's wanderings, *Oedipus, and *Bellerophon; unhappy love may have been one of its connecting themes. Other poems, Deltoi, Artemis, and Iachine (the title is probably corrupt), are mere names to us. Antimachus also produced an edition of .

Article

Antinous (1), mythical suitor of Penelope in the Odyssey  

Nicholas J. Richardson

Antinous (1), son of Eupeithes (Od. 1. 383), ringleader of *Penelope's suitors, and first to be killed by *Odysseus, whose kingship he is said to have wished to usurp (Od. 22. 8–53).

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Antipater (3), of Sidon, Greek poet of epigrams, 2nd cent. BCE  

Alan Douglas Edward Cameron and Christopher Pelling

Antipater (3), of Sidon, author of about 75 mainly funerary or ecphrastic epigrams in the Greek Anthology (see anthology). Anth. Pal. 9. 151 commemorates the sack of *Corinth (146 bce). An inscriptional epigram on *Delos may be as late as 105 (G. Mancinetti Santamaria, Delo e l'Italia (1982), 79–89). He spent his last years in Rome, where Q. *Lutatius Catulus (1) knew him as a fluent improviser (Cic. De or. 3. 194). A poem attributed to him (Anth. Pal. 9. 58) gives one of the first known lists of the *Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

Article

Antipater (5), of Thessalonica, Greek poet of epigrams, end of 1st cent. BCE  

Alan Douglas Edward Cameron

Antipater (5), of Thessalonica, wrote (at Rome) 80-odd graceful epigrams included in the Garland of *Philippus (2), ecphrastic, dedicatory, and funerary. A client of L. *Calpurnius Piso (2), consul 15 bce; datable poems range between c.11 bce and ce 12.

Article

Antiphanes  

Kenneth Dover

Antiphanes, poet of Middle Comedy (see comedy (greek), middle), exhibited his first play about 385 bce (Anon. De Com. 45 p. 10) and won thirteen victories (Suda, entry under the name), eight of them at the *Lenaea (IG 22. 2325. 146). The number of plays attributed to him in antiquity ranged between 260 and 365; we have 139 or 140 titles and over 330 citations, many of them extensive. Several titles suggest mythological burlesque (including Ἀνθρωπογονία); others are evidently drawn from the plot of the play (e.g. Ἀκοντιζομένη, Ἁλιευομένη); others, again, refer to types or professions (e.g. Ἄγροικος (‘Rustic’), Ἀκέστρια (‘Sempstress’), Φιλοθήβαιος (‘Thebes-lover’)—this last may have been political in character, but not necessarily to be dated to the time at which *Demosthenes (2) was arguing for an alliance with *Thebes (1)). Like all poets of Middle Comedy, Antiphanes is often cited by *Athenaeus (1) for his references to food and drink, but he is also the source of many gnomic passages in *Stobaeus' anthology (e.

Article

Antiphon (3), Greek tragic poet  

Andrew Brown

Antiphon (3), tragic poet put to death by *Dionysius (1) I of Syracuse (Arist. Rh. 2. 6). Anecdotes belonging to him are attached to *Antiphon (1) in the biographical tradition (Philostr. VS 1. 15. 3, etc. ).

Article

Antonius Diogenes  

Ewen Bowie

Antonius Diogenes, Greek writer of ‘The Incredible Things Beyond *Thule’ (Τὰ ὑπὲρ Θούλην ἅπιστα), a novel (see novel, greek) in 24 books known only from *Photius' confusing epitome (Bibl. cod. 166) and some fragments. Papyri allow a date as late as ce 200. Other considerations, however, favour 90s ce or even earlier. Among many novelistic conventions (e.g. false deaths) Antonius carries to extremes that of presenting narrative through characters' stories: seven levels of subordination can be traced, and the whole was allegedly written on tablets by the protagonist Deinias and found in his grave during *Alexander (3) the Great's siege of *Tyre. Sorcery, travel (even to or near the moon), and *Neopythagoreanism bulk larger than love in this encyclopaedic novel.