Polyaenus Of Lampsacus

Polyaenus of Lampsacus (/ˌpɒliːˈiːnəs/ POL-ee-EE-nəs; Greek: Πoλύαινoς Λαμψακηνός, Polyainos Lampsakēnos; c. 340 – c. 285 BCE), also spelled Polyenus, was an ancient Greek mathematician and a friend of Epicurus.

Life

He was the son of Athenodorus. His friendship with Epicurus started after the latter's escape from Mytilene in 307 or 306 BC when he opened a philosophical school at Lampsacus associating himself with other citizens of the town, like Pythocles, Colotes, and Idomeneus. With these fellow citizens he moved to Athens, where they founded a school of philosophy with Epicurus as head, or hegemon, while Polyaenus, Hermarchus and Metrodorus were kathegemones.

A man of mild and friendly manners, as Philodemus refers, he adopted fully the philosophical system of his friend, and, although he had previously acquired great reputation as a mathematician, he now maintained with Epicurus the worthlessness of geometry.^[1]^[2] But the statement may be at least doubted, since it is certain Polyaenus wrote a mathematical work called Puzzles (Greek: Aπoριαι) in which the validity of geometry is maintained. It was against this treatise that another Epicurean, Demetrius Lacon, wrote Unsolved questions of Polyaenus (Greek: Πρὸς τὰς Πoλυαίνoυ ἀπoρίας) in the 2nd century BCE. Like Epicurus, a considerable number of spurious works seem to have been assigned to him; one of these was Against the Orators, whose authenticity was attacked both by Zeno of Sidon and his pupil Philodemus.

Writings

The works attributed to Polyaenus include:^[3]

On Definitions
On Philosophy
Against Aristo
Puzzles (Aporiai)
On the Moon
Against the Orators
His collected Letters.

Notes

↑ Cicero, De finibus, i. 6 ; Academica, ii. 33
↑ Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, ii.105, x. 12
↑ Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997), Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, page 446.

References

Polyaenus, Polieno. Frammenti, A. Tepedino Guerra (Italian translation), Napoli, (1991)
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Polyaenus (2)", Boston, (1867)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.article+name+needed]]&rft.atitle=[[Dictionary+of+Greek+and+Roman+Biography+and+Mythology]]&rft.date=1870&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikibooks.org:Biography:Polyaenus_of_Lampsacus">

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[1] Cicero, De finibus, i. 6 ; Academica, ii. 33

[2] Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, ii.105, x. 12

[3] Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, (1997), Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy, page 446.