Aphthonios
Aphthonios of Antioch ( Greek Ἀφθόνιος Ἀντιοχεὺς ὁ Σύρος , Latinized Aphthonius ) was a Greek sophist and rhetorician . He lived in Antioch on the Orontes in the second half of the 4th century or later .
Nothing is known about his life except that he was a pupil of Libanios and a friend of Eutropius, who can possibly be identified with the author of an epitome of Roman history of the same name . The written exercise speeches of aphthonios mentioned by Photios are lost. In contrast, his Progymnasmata (Προγυμνάσματα) have been preserved, a book designed for beginners on the basic terms of rhetoric with explanatory examples. Apparently it was an introduction to the techne (Τέχνη) of Hermogenes of Tarsus . Aphthonios' style is clear and simple; ancient critics praise his atticism . Many commentaries on the progymnasmata were written in the Byzantine era . The work found frequent use as a rhetorical introductory book, especially in Germany until the 17th century. Chria Aphthoniana, named after Aphthonios, is particularly well known . From 1507 to 1680 it was translated into Latin ten times by ten different translators. In addition, a collection of forty fables in the Aesop style has been preserved by Aphthonios .
expenditure
- Hugo Rabe (ed.). Teubner, Leipzig 1926 (critical edition).
- Leonhard von Spengel (ed.): Rhetores Graeci. Volume 2, 1856, pp. 21f. (Greek; the pagination of this edition has since been used to identify passages in the text).
- Rodolphus Agricola , Giovanni Maria Catanaeo (Ed.): Aphthonii Progymnasmata . 1655. (Latin)
- Daniel Heinsius (Ed.): Progymnasmata Apthonii sophistae Graece . 1626. (Greek-Latin synopsis)
- Malcolm Heath : Aphthonius Progymnasmata . 1997 (English translation).
- George Alexander Kennedy: Progymnasmata: Greek textbooks of prose composition and rhetoric. P. 95f. (English translation, books.google.co.uk ).
- Ray Nadeau. In: Speech Monographs. 19, 1952, pp. 264-285 (English translation). Revised version in: Patricia P. Matsen u. a. (Ed.): Readings from Classical Rhetoric. Pp. 266-288.
- Francesco de Furia (ed.): Fabulae. 1810.
literature
- Paweł Janiszewski: Aphthonios. In: Paweł Janiszewski, Krystyna Stebnicka, Elżbieta Szabat: Prosopography of Greek Rhetors and Sophists of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-871340-1 , p. 36 f.
- Julius Brzoska : Aphthonios 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2797-2800 (outdated).
Remarks
- ^ Hans Gärtner: Aphthonios . In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 431.
- ↑ Otto Ludwig: The school essay: His story in Germany . Walter de Gruyter, 1988, p. 22.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aphthonios |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aphthonios of Antioch; Aphthonius Antiochenus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek philosopher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century or 5th century |