the Macedonians; begins the war with Cleomenes, king of Lacedemon, 227; is assisted by Antigonus Gonatus, king of Macedon, and defeats Cleomenes in the battle of Sellasia, in Laconia, 222; makes a league with Philip against the Ætolians, 220; poisoned by him, 213. PHILOPEMON, of Megalopolis, made Prætor of the Achaans, 210; carries on the war with the Lacedemonians, and kills Machanidas, 208; succeeds in joining Lacedemon to the Achæan league, 191; upon dissensions arising there, he takes Sparta, and puts down the laws of Lycurgus, 188; makes war upon the Messenians who had revolted from the League; he is defeated and killed by Dinocrates, 183. THOAS, Ætolian General, takes part with Antiochus the Great against the Romans, 192. DINOCRATES, Tyrant of the Messenians, defeats and kills Philopamon, 183. LYCORTAS, succeeds Philopæmon as Prætor of the Achæans, 183; he was father of Polybius the Historian. In Egypt, we remark PTOLEMY CERAUnus, eldest son of Ptolemy Soter, but excluded from the succession on account of his vices; he seized Macedon, 281. PTOLEMY MAGAS, Governor of Cyrene and Lybia, for his half brother Ptolemy Philadelphus, rebels and makes himself king, 265; leagues with Antiochus Soter against Egypt. SOSIBIUS, Minister to Ptolemy Philopater, 221; encourages him in his cruelty and injustice; his son, of the same name, was Governor to Ptolemy Epiphanes, 204. SCOPAS, an Etolian, revolts to the Egyptians, and is made General of their armies in the war with Antiochus the Great, 200; defeated by him in the battle of Paneas, 198. TLEPOLEMUS, succeeds Sosibius, as Minister to Ptolemy Philopater, 206. EULAUS, Minister to Ptolemy Philometor, 173. In Syria, PHILETERUS made Governor of Pergamus, by Lysimachus; he revolts under the protection of Seleucus, and founds the kingdom of Pergamus, 283. ARSACES, invades Parthia, kills the Governor, and lays the foundation of the Parthian Empire, 251; in honour of him, the Parthian kings were styled Arsacida. THEODOTUS, Governor of Bactria, revolts and declares himself king of that province, 251. ANTIOCHUS HIERAX, brother of Seleucus Callinicus, engages in a civil war with him, 242; puts himself under the protection of Ptolemy Evergetes, who imprisons him. ACHEUS, cousin to Antiochus the Great, and Governor of Upper Asia for him; revolts, 219; is conquered and put to death, 215. POLYXENIDES, Admiral to Antiochus the Great, defeated by the Romans, 191. HELIODORUS, Minister to Seleucus Philopater, is sent to Jerusalem to seize the treasures in the Temple, 176; murders his master, 175. APOLLONIUS, General in Judea, defeated by Judas Maccabeus, 168. PTOLEMY MACRON, Governor of Cyprus, for Ptolemy Philometor, revolts to Antiochus Epiphanes, 171; advises the persecution of the Jews. NICANOR, SERON, GORGIAS, TIMOTHEUS, and BACCHIDES, Syrian Generals in Judea, defeated by Judas Maccabeus, 166. LYSIAS, Minister to Antiochus Eupator, 164. HERACLIDES, sets up Alexander Balus against Demetrius, 150. APOLLONIUS, Syrian Præfect of Calosyria, 150. During this period learning and the arts were encouraged in Greece and Egypt. In Philosophy we distinguish MENEDEMUS, of Eretrea, 325. CRATES, of Thebes, the Cynic, 324. Amongst the Peripatetics THEOPHRASTUS, 322. DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, who was made Archon of Athens for ten years, 317. BION, of Borysthenes, and STRATO, of Lampsacus, (Preceptor to Ptolemy Philadelphus), 258. LYCON, 270. ARISTO (or ARISTON) of Cos, 226. HERMIPPUS, of Smyrna, 210. CRITOLAUS, 183, and SATYRUS, 148. Amongst the Academic Philosophers, POLEMON, (who succeeded to the school of Zenocrates,) 313. CRANTOR, 310; ARCESILAUS, (founder of the 2d, or middle Academy) 298; CRATEs, 269. LACIDAS, (or LACYDES) 241; EVANDER, 215. TELECLUS, (or TELECLES) 214. HEGESINUS, of Pergamus, 193; and CARNEADES, of Cyrene, founder of the 3d Academy, 160. Amongst the Stoics, ZENO, of Attium, the founder of the sect, 312. DIONYSIUS, of Heraclea, 279. PERSEUS, 274; CLEANTHES, 264; SPHÆRUS, 243. CHRYSIPPUS, of Cilicia, 239; ZENO, of Tarsus, 207; and DIOGENES, of Babylon, 185. PYRRHO, founded the sect of the Sceptics, 304. Amongst the Epicureans, we see EPICURUS, founder of the sect, 296. HERMACHUS, of Mitylene, 267; and POLYSTRATus, 238. PHILO, the Dialectic Philosopher, flourished, 273. Poetry and Rhetoric flourished under DEMOSTHENES, HYPERIDES, and DEMADES, the Athenian Orators; they were put to death, 322, for having by their eloquence excited the Athenians to resist Antipater. PHILETAS, of Cos, the Poet and Grammarian, 328; afterwards Preceptor to Ptolemy Philadelphus. MENANDER, (surnamed Prince of the new comedy,) 320; and PHILEMON, his rival, 308. DINARCHUS, Athenian Orator, banished, 307. BION, of Borysthenes, the Poet, Musician, and Satyrist, 290. MOSCHUS, the Bucolic Poet. ZENODOTUS, the Grammarian, the 1st Librarian at Alexandria, 287.* " Ptolemy Soter, being a learned Prince, out of the affection he "had for learning, founded at Alexandria, a museum, or college of "learned men, for the improving of philosophy, and all other know"ledge, like that of the Royal Society at London, and the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. And for this use he got together a library of books, which, being augmented by his successors, grew "afterwards to a very great bulk. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the son of "Soter, left in it, at the time of his death, an hundred thousand "volumes. Their method, in the collecting of them, was thus: 'they seized all the books that were by any Greek, or other 'foreigner, brought into Egypt, and, sending them to the museum, "caused them there to be written out by those of that Society, "whom they there maintained, and then sent the transcripts to the owners, and kept the originals to lay up in the library. And par"ticularly it is said of Ptolemy Evergetes, that, having thus borrowed "of the Athenians the works of Sophocles, Euripides, and Eschylus, "he sent them back the copies, which he had caused very fairly to "be transcribed, and retained the originals for his library, giving "them fifteen talents, over and above for the same. The museum 'being placed in the region of the city called Bruchium, near the "king's palace, there the library was at first placed also, and had THEOCRITUS, of Syracuse, the pastoral Poet, and one of the Pleiades,* 282. ARATUS, of Tarsus, the Astronomical Poet, (one of the Pleiades, 277. LYCOPHRON, of Chalcis, Poet and Grammarian, (one of the Pleiades) 276. HOMER, jun. Tragic Poet, (one of the Pleiades) 263. CALLIMACHUS, of Cyrene, Poet and Historian, 260. ZOILUS, the Grammarian and Critic, (surnamed HomeroMastix, for his severe criticisms on the works of Homer) 259. NEANTHES of Cyzicum, Orator and Historian, 257. ERATOSTHENES of Cyrene, 2nd Librarian at Alexandria, 246. EUPHORION of Chalcis, the Poet, 237. APOLLONIUS of Rhodes, the Poet, 3rd Librarian at Alexandria, and one of the Pleiades, 230. ARISTOPHANES of Byzantium, the Grammarian, died 200. 66 great resort made to it: but afterwards, when it was filled with "books, to the number of four hundred thousand volumes, the other library, within the Serapeum, was erected by way of supplement "to it, and it was therefore called the daughter of the former; and 66 grew up to have three hundred thousand volumes placed in it: and "these two put together, made up the number of seven hundred "thousand volumes; in the whole of which, the royal libraries of the "Ptolemean kings of Alexandria were said to consist." Prideaux Con. vol. iv. p. 33. The existing state of this library only two centuries after the first dawnings of literature amongst the heathens, suggests an awful reflection, viz. that at the very period when the light of human reason was acquiring new splendour from every year's experience, the "true wisdom," that message of glad tidings, that free gift of God to the simple hearted, was gradually disappearing, and, even in the land of promise, gross (spiritual) darkness was beginning to overshadow the people. * Seven poets so called from their number. They most of them lived near the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Lempriere. |
