Anaximenes of Lampsacus
Encyclopedia
Anaximenes of Lampsacus
(c. 380 – 320 BC) was a Greek
rhetoric
ian and historian.
and, like his teacher, wrote a work on Homer
. As a rhetorician, he was a determined opponent of Isocrates
and his school. He is generally regarded as the author of the Rhetoric to Alexander
, an Art of Rhetoric included in the traditional corpus
of Aristotle
's works. Quintilian
seems to refer to this work under Anaximenes' name in Institutio Oratoria 3.4.9, as the Italian Renaissance philologist Piero Vettori
first recognized. This attribution has, however, been disputed by some scholars.
The hypothesis to Isocrates' Helen mentions that Anaximenes, too, had written a Helen, "though it is more a defense speech (apologia) than an encomium
," and concludes that he was "the man who has written about Helen" to whom Isocrates refers (Isoc. Helen 14). Jebb
entertained the possibility that this work survives in the form of the Encomium of Helen ascribed to Gorgias
: "It appears not improbable that Anaximenes may have been the real author of the work ascribed to Gorgias."
According to Pausanias
(6.18.6), Anaximenes was "the first who practised the art of speaking extemporaneously." He also worked as a logographer
, having written the speech prosecuting Phryne
according to Diodorus Periegetes (quoted by Athenaeus
XIII.591e). The "ethical" fragments preserved in Stobaeus
' Florilegium may represent "some philosophical book."
at the Battle of Mantinea
(Hellenica), and a history of Philip of Macedon
(Philippica). He was a favorite of Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied in his Persian campaigns, and wrote a third historical work on Alexander. (However, Pausanias 6.18.6 expresses doubt about his authorship of an epic poem
on Alexander.) He was one of the eight exemplary historiographers included in the Alexandrian
canon.
Didymus
reports that the work transmitted as speech 11 of Demosthenes
(Against the Letter of Philip) could be found in almost identical form in Book 7 of Anaximenes' Philippica, and many scholars regard the work as a historiographic composition by Anaximenes. The Letter of Philip (speech 12) to which speech 11 seems to respond may also be by Anaximenes, or it may be an authentic letter by Philip, perhaps written with the aid of his advisers. The more ambitious theory of Wilhelm Nitsche, which assigned to Anaximenes a larger part of the Demosthenic corpus (speeches 10-13 and 25, letters 1-4, proems), can be rejected.
Anaximenes was hostile to Theopompus
, whom he sought to discredit with a libelous parody, Trikaranos, published in Theopompus' style and under his name, attacking Athens, Sparta, and Thebes.
Plutarch
criticizes Anaximenes, together with Theopompus and Ephorus
, for the "rhetorical effects and grand periods
" these historians implausibly gave to men in the midst of urgent battlefield circumstances (Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 803b).
Lampsacus
Lampsacus was an ancient Greek city strategically located on the eastern side of the Hellespont in the northern Troad. An inhabitant of Lampsacus was called a Lampsacene. The name has been transmitted in the nearby modern town of Lapseki.-Ancient history:...
(c. 380 – 320 BC) was a Greek
Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
ian and historian.
Rhetorical works
Anaximenes was a pupil of ZoilusZoilus
Zoilus or Zoilos was a Greek grammarian, Cynic philosopher, and literary critic from Amphipolis in East Macedonia, then known as Thrace...
and, like his teacher, wrote a work on Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
. As a rhetorician, he was a determined opponent of Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
and his school. He is generally regarded as the author of the Rhetoric to Alexander
Rhetoric to Alexander
The Rhetoric to Alexander is a treatise traditionally attributed to Aristotle. It is now generally believed to be the work of Anaximenes of Lampsacus.-Authorship:...
, an Art of Rhetoric included in the traditional corpus
Corpus Aristotelicum
The Corpus Aristotelicum is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity through Medieval manuscript transmission. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school...
of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's works. Quintilian
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
seems to refer to this work under Anaximenes' name in Institutio Oratoria 3.4.9, as the Italian Renaissance philologist Piero Vettori
Piero Vettori
Piero Vettori was an Italian writer, philologist and humanist.-Biography:Vettori was born in Florence and in his life dealt with numerous matters, from agriculture to sciences, from rhetorics to moral philosophy, and also catalogued codexes in Florence and Italy...
first recognized. This attribution has, however, been disputed by some scholars.
The hypothesis to Isocrates' Helen mentions that Anaximenes, too, had written a Helen, "though it is more a defense speech (apologia) than an encomium
Encomium
Encomium is a Latin word deriving from the Classical Greek ἐγκώμιον meaning the praise of a person or thing. "Encomium" also refers to several distinct aspects of rhetoric:* A general category of oratory* A method within rhetorical pedagogy...
," and concludes that he was "the man who has written about Helen" to whom Isocrates refers (Isoc. Helen 14). Jebb
Richard Claverhouse Jebb
Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb, OM, FBA was a British classical scholar and politician.He was born in Dundee, Scotland. His father was a well-known barrister, and his grandfather a judge...
entertained the possibility that this work survives in the form of the Encomium of Helen ascribed to Gorgias
Gorgias
Gorgias ,Greek sophist, pre-socratic philosopher and rhetorician, was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger...
: "It appears not improbable that Anaximenes may have been the real author of the work ascribed to Gorgias."
According to Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...
(6.18.6), Anaximenes was "the first who practised the art of speaking extemporaneously." He also worked as a logographer
Logographer (legal)
The title of logographer was applied to professional authors of judicial discourse in Ancient Greece...
, having written the speech prosecuting Phryne
Phryne
Phryne was a famous hetaera of Ancient Greece .- Early life :Her real name was Mnesarete , but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne "Toad", a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens...
according to Diodorus Periegetes (quoted by Athenaeus
Athenaeus
Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
XIII.591e). The "ethical" fragments preserved in Stobaeus
Stobaeus
Joannes Stobaeus , from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each...
' Florilegium may represent "some philosophical book."
Historical works
Anaximenes wrote a history of Greece in twelve books, stretching from the gods' origins to the death of EpaminondasEpaminondas
Epaminondas , or Epameinondas, was a Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics...
at the Battle of Mantinea
Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)
The Battle of Mantinea was fought on July 4 362 BC between the Thebans, led by Epaminondas and supported by the Arcadians and the Boeotian league against the Spartans, led by King Agesilaus II and supported by the Eleans, Athenians, and Mantineans...
(Hellenica), and a history of Philip of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
(Philippica). He was a favorite of Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied in his Persian campaigns, and wrote a third historical work on Alexander. (However, Pausanias 6.18.6 expresses doubt about his authorship of an epic poem
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
on Alexander.) He was one of the eight exemplary historiographers included in the Alexandrian
Library of Alexandria
The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest and most significant great library of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the...
canon.
Didymus
Didymus Chalcenterus
Didymus Chalcenterus , ca. 63 BCE to 10 CE, was a Hellenistic Greek scholar and grammarian who flourished in the time of Cicero and Augustus.- Life :...
reports that the work transmitted as speech 11 of Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
(Against the Letter of Philip) could be found in almost identical form in Book 7 of Anaximenes' Philippica, and many scholars regard the work as a historiographic composition by Anaximenes. The Letter of Philip (speech 12) to which speech 11 seems to respond may also be by Anaximenes, or it may be an authentic letter by Philip, perhaps written with the aid of his advisers. The more ambitious theory of Wilhelm Nitsche, which assigned to Anaximenes a larger part of the Demosthenic corpus (speeches 10-13 and 25, letters 1-4, proems), can be rejected.
Anaximenes was hostile to Theopompus
Theopompus
Theopompus was a Greek historian and rhetorician- Biography :Theopompus was born on Chios. In early youth he seems to have spent some time at Athens, along with his father, who had been exiled on account of his Laconian sympathies...
, whom he sought to discredit with a libelous parody, Trikaranos, published in Theopompus' style and under his name, attacking Athens, Sparta, and Thebes.
Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
criticizes Anaximenes, together with Theopompus and Ephorus
Ephorus
Ephorus or Ephoros , of Cyme in Aeolia, in Asia Minor, was an ancient Greek historian. Information on his biography is limited; he was the father of Demophilus, who followed in his footsteps as a historian, and to Plutarch's claim that Ephorus declined Alexander the Great's offer to join him on his...
, for the "rhetorical effects and grand periods
Periodic sentence
A periodic sentence is a stylistic device employed at the sentence level, characterized as a sentence that is not grammatically complete until the final clause or phrase.-Characteristics:...
" these historians implausibly gave to men in the midst of urgent battlefield circumstances (Praecepta gerendae reipublicae 803b).
Editions and translations
- Art of Rhetoric
- edited by Immanuel Bekker, Oxford 1837 (online)
- edited by Leonhard von SpengelLeonhard von SpengelLeonhard von Spengel was a German classical scholar, born at Munich. He became known through his edition of Varro's De Lingua Latina and was appointed in 1826 lector, in 1830 professor in the Wilhelmsgymnasiun of Munich. From 1842 to 1847 he was professor at Heidelberg, but he returned to Munich...
, with commentary in Latin, Leipzig, 1847 (online) - edited by Manfred FuhrmannManfred FuhrmannManfred Fuhrmann was a professor emeritus for classical Latin philology and one of the most eminent German philologists.-Life:Fuhrmann was born on 23rd of June 1925 in Hiddesen . He started his studies in Leiden...
, Bibliotheca TeubnerianaBibliotheca TeubnerianaThe Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise the most thorough modern collection ever published of ancient Greco-Roman literature...
, Leipzig, 1966, 2nd ed. 2000, ISBN 3598719833 - edited by Pierre Chiron, Collection BudéCollection BudéThe Collection Budé, or the Collection des Universités de France, is a series of books comprising the Greek and Latin classics up to the middle of the 6th century...
, with French translation, Paris, 2002, ISBN 225100498X - anonymous translation, London, 1686 (online)
- translated by E.S. Forster, Oxford, 1924 (online, beginning on p. 231 of the PDF file)
- Fragments
- Karl Müller, appendix to 1846 DidotFirmin DidotFirmin Didot was a French printer, engraver, and type founder. He invented the word "stereotype", which in printing refers to the metal printing plate created for the actual printing of pages , and used the process extensively, revolutionizing the book trade by his cheap editions...
edition of ArrianArrianLucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
, AnabasisAnabasis AlexandriAnabasis Alexandri , the Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, is the most important source on Alexander the Great.The Greek term anabasis referred to an expedition from a coastline into the interior of a country. The term katabasis referred to a trip from the interior to the coast...
et IndicaIndica (Arrian)Indica is the name of an ancient book about India written by Arrian, one of the main ancient historians of Alexander the Great. The book mainly tells the story of Alexander's officer Nearchus’ voyage from India to the Persian Gulf after Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Indus Valley...
(online) - Felix JacobyFelix JacobyFelix Jacoby was a German classicist and philologist. He is best known among classicists for his highly important work Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, a collection of text fragments of ancient Greek historians...
, Die Fragmente der griechischen HistorikerFragmente der griechischen HistorikerDie Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, commonly abbreviated FGrHist or FGrH , is a collection by Felix Jacoby of the works of those ancient Greek historians whose works have been lost, but of which we have citations, extracts or summaries...
, no. 72, with commentary in German - Ludwig RadermacherLudwig RadermacherLudwig Radermacher was a German-Austrian classical philologist who was a native of Siegburg.In 1891 he earned his doctorate at the University of Bonn, where he was a student of Hermann Usener . Following graduation he remained in Bonn, where he assisted Usener with the works of Dionysius of...
, Artium Scriptores, Vienna, 1951, pp. 200–202 (rhetorical fragments only, adding PhilodemusPhilodemusPhilodemus of Gadara was an Epicurean philosopher and poet. He studied under Zeno of Sidon in Athens, before moving to Rome, and then to Herculaneum. He was once known chiefly for his poetry preserved in the Greek anthology, but since the 18th century, many writings of his have been discovered...
' Rhetorica, which accounts for three of the nine fragments printed)
- Karl Müller, appendix to 1846 Didot