Pytheas
- a geographer, a native of Marseilles, contemporary with Ptolemy Philadelphus, Plin. 2, 75, 77, § 187; 2, 97, 99, § 217.
(Πυθέας), historical.
1. The son of Lampon, of Aegina, was a conqueror in the Nemean games, and his victory is celebrated in one of Pindar's odes (Nem. v). He is in all probability the same as the Pytheas who distinguished himself in the Persian wars [No. 2], since we know that the latter had a son of the name of Lampon.
2. Or Pythes, the son of Ischenous, of Aegina, was in one of the three Greek guard-ships stationed off the island of Sciathus, which were taken by the Persians shortly before the battle of Thermopylae. Pytheas distinguished himself by his bravery in the engagement, and was in consequence treated by the Persians with distinguished honour. At the battle of Salamis the Sidonian ship, in which he was kept as a prisoner, was taken by an Aeginetan vessel, and he thus recovered his liberty. Lampon, the son of this Pytheas, was present at the battle of Plataea, and urged Pausanias, after the engagement, to avenge the death of Leonidas by insulting and mutilating the corpse of Mardonius. (Hdt. 7.181, 8.92, 9.78; Paus. 3.4.10.)
3. Or Pythes, of Abdera, the father of Nymphodorus. (Hdt. 7.137.) [Nymphodorus.]
4. An Athenian orator, distinguished by his unceasing animosity against Demosthenes. he was self-educated, and, on account of the harshness and inelegance of his style, was not reckoned among the Attic orators by the grammarians. (Suidas, s.v. Syrian. ad hermog. 16; comp. Phil. Phoc. 21.) His private character was bad. and he had no political principles, but changed sides as often as suited his convenience or his interest. He made no pretensions to honesty. On being reproached on one occasion as a rascal, he frankly admitted the charge, but urged that le had been so for a shorter time than any of his contemporaries who took part in public affairs. (Aelian, Ael. VH 14.28.) Suidas relates (s. v.) that having been imprisoned on account of a debt, probably a fine incurred in a law-suit (διὰ ὄφλημα), he made his escape from prison and tied to Macedonia, and that after remaining there for a time, he returned to Athens. The statement that he was unable to pay his debts is confirmed by the account of the author of the Letters which go under the name of Demosthenes (Ep. 3. p. 1481, ed. Reiske), where it is related that Pytheas had acquired such a large fortune by dishonest means that he could at that time pay five talents with more ease than five drachmas formerly. We learn from the same authority that he obtained the highest honours at Athens, and was in particular entrusted with the distinguished duty of offering the sacrifices at Delphi for the Athenians. He was accused by Deinarchus of ξενία (Dionys. Deinarch. ; Harpocrat. s. v. δώρων γραφή ; Steph. Byz. s. v. Αἴγιναι), probably on account of his long residence at Macedonia. Of the part that he took in political affairs only two or three facts are recorded. He opposed the honours which the Athenians proposed to confer upon Alexander (Plut. Praec. gerend. Reip. p. 804b, An Seni ger. resp. p. 784c), but he afterwards espoused the interests of the Macedonian party. He accused Demosthenes of having received bribes from Harpalus. (Dem. Ep. l.c . ; Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 846c; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 265; Dionys. Isaeus, 4.) In the Lamian war, B. C. 322, he joined Antipater (Pint. Dem. 27), and had thus the satisfaction of surviving his great enemy Demosthenes. His hostility to Demosthenes is frequently mentioned by the ancient writers, who have preserved many of his jests against the great orator. He is said to have been the author of the well-known saying, that the orations of Demosthenes smelt of the lamp. (Aelian, Ael. VH 7.7; Plut. Dem. 8; comp. Athen. 2.44f.) The titles of two of the orations of Pytheas are preserved by Harpocration, Πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειξιν ἀπολογία (s. v. ἀγραφίου), and Κατʼ Ἀδείμαντος (s. v. ἀξυθυμία). Two short extracts from his orations are given in Latin by Rutilius Lupus (1.11, 14). (Comp. Ruhnken, ad Rutil. Lup. 1.11 ; Westermann, Geschichte der Griech. Beredtsamkeit, § 54.)
5. Boeotarch of Thebes, was, next to Critolaus, the chief instigator of the Achaeans to undertake the fatal war against the Romans, which destroyed for ever the liberties of Greece. He was put to death by Metellus at the beginning of B. C. 146. (Plb. 40.1, 3; Paus. 7.14.6, 7.15.10.)
(Πυθέας), of Massilia, in Gaul, a celebrated Greek navigator, who sailed to the western and northern parts of Europe, and wrote a work containing the results of his discoveries. We know nothing of his personal history, with the exception of the statement of Polybius that he was a poor man (apud Strab. ii. p. 104). The time at which he lived cannot be determined with accuracy. Bougainville (Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. xix p. 143) maintained that he lived before Aristotle, but the passage on which he relied (Arist. Met. 2.5.) is not sufficient to warrant this conclusion. Vossius (de Historicis Graecis, p. 125, ed. Westermann) places him in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, but this is certainly too late a date. As he is quoted by Dicaearchus, a pupil of Aristotle (Strab. ii. p.104) and by Timaeus (Plin. Nat. 37.11), he probably lived in the time of Alexander the Great, or shortly afterwards. Works
The works of Pytheas are frequently referred to by the ancient writers. One appears to have borne the title Περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ (ἐν τοῖς περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ, Geminus, Elem. Astron. in Petav. Uranol. p. 22), and the other to have been called a Περίπλους (Marcianus, in Geogr. Min. vol. i. p. 63, ed. Husdon), or as it is termed by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (4.761), Γῆς περίοδος. That he gave an account of the north-western coasts of Europe is evident from Strabo, who refers to his statements respecting Iberia, Gaul, and other countries (Strah. i. p. 64, ii. p. 75, iii. p. 158, iv. p. 195). It would appear from Pytheas' own statement, as related by Polybius (apud Strab. ii. p. 104), that he undertook two voyages, one in which he visited Britain and Thule, and of which he probably gave an account in his work On the Ocean ; and a second, undertaken after his return from his first voyage, in which he coasted along the whole of Europe from Gadeira (Cadiz) to the Tanais, and the description of which probably formed the subject of his Periplus. Some modern writers, however, maintain that the passage in Strabo may be interpreted to mean that Pytheas undertook only one voyage; but we think that the words are scarcely susceptible of such an interpretation.
The following are the principal particulars which ancient writers have preserved from the works of Pytheas. 1. He related that at the extreme west of the inhabited world was a promontory of the Ostidamnii, called Calbion, and that islands lay to the west of it, the furthest of which named Uxisama was a three days' sail (Strab. i. p.64). Strabo treats all this as the pure invention of Pytheas. 2. He further related that he visited Britain, and travelled over the whole of the island as far as it was accessible; and he said that it was 40,000 stadia in circumference. As to Thule and those distant parts he stated that there was neither earth, sea, nor air, but a sort of mixture of all these, like to the mollusca, in which the earth and the sea and every thing else are suspended, and which could not he penetrated either by land or by sea. The substance like the mollusca Pytheas had seen himself, but the other part of the account he gave from hearsay (Polyb. apud Strab. ii p. 104). Pytheas made Thule a six days' sail from Britain ; he said that the day and the night were each six months long in Thule (Strab. i. p.63; Plin. H.N 2.77). 3. He spoke of a people called Guttones, bordering upon Germany, and dwelling upon a gulf of the sea called Mentonomon, in a space of (6000 stadia. he added that at the distance of a day's sail there was an island named Abalus, to which amber was brought by the waves in spring ; that the inhabitants used it instead of firewood, and sold it to the neighbouring Teutoni. Timaeus gave credit to this account, but called the island Basilia. ( Plin. H.N. 37.11.)
The credibility of the statements of Pytheas was differently estimated by the ancient writers. Eratosthenes and Hipparchus refer to them as worthy of belief; but other writers, especially Polybius and Strabo, regard them as of no value at all. Polybius says that it is incredible that a private man, and one who was also poor, could have undertaken such long voyages and journeys (apud Strah. ii. p. 104); and Strabo, on more than one occasion, calls him a great liar, and regards his statements as mere fables, only deserving to be classed with those of Euhemerus and Antiphanes (Strab. i. p.63, ii. p. 102, iii. pp. 148, 157, 158). Most modern writers, however, have been disposed to set more value upon the narrative of Pytheas. In reply to the objection of Polybius it has been urged that he may have been sent on a voyage of discovery by the Massilians, at the public expence, in order to become acquainted with the country from which the Carthaginians procured amber. There seems no reason to doubt that he did go on a voyage to the northern parts of Europe; but the reasons for his undertaking it must be left in uncertainty. It would appear from the extracts which have been preserved from his works, that he did not give simply the results of his own observations, but added all the reports which reached him respecting distant countries, without always drawing a distinction between what he saw himself and what was told him by others. His statements, therefore, must be received with caution and some mistrust. It is equally uncertain how far he penetrated. Some modern writers have regarded it as certain that he must have reached Iceland in consequence of his remark that the day was six months long at Thule, while others have supposed that he advanced as far as the Shetland Islands. But either supposition is very improbable and neither is necessary; for reports of the great length of the day and night in the northern parts of Furope had already reached the Greeks. before the time of Pytheas. There has been likewise much dispute as to what river we are to understand by the Tanais. Without stating the various opinions which have been advanced, we may remark that the supposition of Ukert appears to us the most probable, namely, that the country which Pytheas describes as the one from which amber came may have been the Cimbrian peninsula (Denmark, &c.), and that when he reached the Elbe, he concluded that he had arrived at the Tanais, which separated Europe from Asia.
Pytheas cultivated science. He appears to have been the first person who determined the latitude of a place from the shadow of the sun; and it is expressly stated that he determined the position of Massilia by observing the shadow of the sun by the gnomon (Strab. ii. pp. 71, 115). He also paid considerable attention to the phaenomena of the tides, and was well aware of the influence of the moon upon them. (Fuhr, De Pythea, p. 19.) Editions
Arvedson, Pytheae Massiliensis Fragmenta, Upsalae, 1824. Further Information
The voyages of Pytheas have been discussed by a large number of modern writers : we can only refer to the most important works on the subject : -- Bougainville, Sur l'Origine et sur les Voyages de Pythéas, in Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. xix. pp. 146-165; D'Anville, Sur la Navigation de Plyhéas à Thule, ibid. vol. xxxvii. pp. 436-442 ; Ukert, Bemerkungen über Pytheas, in his Geographie der Griechen und Römer, vol. i. part i. pp. 298-309; Fuhr, De Pythea Massiliensi, Darmstadt, 1835; Straszewick, Pythéas de Marseille et la Géographie de son Temps, Paris, 1836, translated into German by Hoffmann, Leipzig, 1838.
artists.
1. A silver-chaser, who flourished at Rome in the age immediately following that of Pompey, and whose productions commanded a remarkably high price. (Plin. Nat. 35.12. s. 55 : Pliny states the precise value of every two ounces of silver plate engraved by him, but the number is differently given in the MSS. as 10,000 or 20,000 sesterces, see Sillig's edition.) A very celebrated work by him was a cup, on which Ulysses and Diomedes were represented carrying off the Palladium, in that sort of chasing which was called emnblema. According to the opinion of Thiersch, the greatest gem engravers of that and the succeeding age did not disdain to copy from the design of Pytheas, whose figure of Diomed is still to be seen on gems by Dioscurides, Gnaeus, Calpurnius Severus, and Solon : the grounds of this opinion, however, are not stated by the author. (Thiersch, Epochen, pp. 296-299.)
The suggestion of Meyer appears more probable, that the designs of both the vase of Pytheas and the gems referred to were copied from some more ancient work of art. (Meyer, Gesch. d. bild. Kunst, vol. iii. pp. 172, 173; comp. Levezow, Ueber den Raub des Palladium.)
Pytheas also chased small drinking vessels with grotesque subjects, of the most elaborate and delicate workmanship, which are thus described by Pliny : -- Fecit idem et cocos magiriscia appellatos, parvulis potoriis, sed e qztibus ne exemplsaria quidem licet exprimere, tan opportuna injuriae subtilitas erat.
2. A painter, of Bura in Achaia, whose painting on a wall at Pergamus. representing an elephant, is mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Βοῦρα). [P.S]
(Πυθέας). (1) An Athenian orator, distinguished by his unceasing animosity against Demosthenes. He had no political principles, made no pretensions to honesty, and changed sides as often as suited his convenience or his interest. Of the part that he took in political affairs only two or three facts are recorded. He opposed the honours which the Athenians proposed to confer upon Alexander, but he afterwards espoused the interests of the Macedonian party. He accused Demosthenes of having received bribes from Harpalus. In the Lamian War (B.C. 322) he joined Antipater, and had thus the satisfaction of surviving his great enemy Demosthenes. He is said to have been the author of the well-known saying that the orations of Demosthenes smelt of the lamp.
(2) Of Massilia in Gaul, a celebrated Greek navigator, who sailed to the western and northern parts of Europe, and wrote a book containing the results of his discoveries. He probably lived in the time of Alexander the Great or shortly afterwards. He appears to have undertaken two voyages, one in which he visited Britain and Thulé, and of which he probably gave an account in his work on the Ocean; and a second, undertaken after his return from his first voyage, in which he coasted along the whole of Europe from Gadira (now Cadiz) to the Tanaïs (Don), and the description of which probably formed the subject of his Periplus. Pytheas made Thulé a six days' sail from Britain, and said that the day and the night were each six months long in Thulé; hence some modern writers have supposed that he must have reached Iceland, while others have maintained that he advanced as far as the Shetland Islands. But either supposition is very improbable, and neither is necessary; for reports of the great length of the day and night in the northern parts of Europe had already reached the Greeks before the time of Pytheas. There has been likewise much dispute as to what river we are to understand by the Tanaïs. The most probable conjecture is that, upon reaching the Elbe, Pytheas concluded that he had arrived at the Tanaïs, separating Europe from Asia. See Antichan, Les Grands Voyages de Découvertes des Anciens (Paris, 1891).
- incites Achaeans to war with Rome: Paus. 7.14.6
- put to death by Metellus: Paus. 7.15.10
- son of Ischenous, his bravery, and attention paid him by the Persians: Hdt. 7.181
- his return to Aegina: Hdt. 8.92
- father of Lampon(apparently not the same as 1): Hdt. 9.78