Areios (philosopher)

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Areios (Greek Ἄρειος, Latin Arius or Areus; * around 83 BC; † after 9 BC) was a philosopher from the Egyptian capital Alexandria and a personal friend, teacher and advisor to the Roman general Octavian , des later emperor Augustus .

family

Areios, who was presumably about 20 years older than Octavian, had two sons, Dionysios and Nicanor, who were also active as philosophically trained teachers. Gaius Julius Nicanor, son of Areios, was later allowed to return the island of Salamis, which they had lost under Sulla, to the Athenians on behalf of Augustus.

Philosophical and political role

The Augustus biographer Suetonius reports that by dealing with Areios and his sons, Octavian acquired a comprehensive education that also made it possible to read Greek works in the original.

Through his friendship with Octavian, Areios must have exerted considerable influence on his behavior and, in part, on his political decisions.

The historian Cassius Dio reports that for Octavian after the conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. His friendship with Areios was one of the reasons he treated Egypt in general, and the city of Alexandria in particular, with leniency and leniency. The Augustus biographer Plutarch describes how Octavian took advice from Areios on his political appearance in defeated Alexandria. The execution of Caesarion by Octavian is also attributed to Areios' advice.

The later emperor Julian announced in a letter that Octavian had offered Areios the governorship of Egypt, but Areios had refused this office. Apparently, in assessing his own abilities, Areios preferred to remain true to his previous field of activity.

Cassius Dio goes on to report how Maecenas , one of Octavian's closest advisers, after the victorious end of the civil war, advised him to build the new state on monarchical principles and warned the autocrat against the pernicious influence of the philosophers, whose activities could fuel attempts at overthrow However, he excluded Areios of Alexandria and Athenodoros of Tarsus (the son of Sandon) because he knew that Octavian valued them as "brave and honorable men".

The philosopher Seneca reports how Areios Livia Drusilla , the wife of Augustus, after the death of her son Drusus in 9 BC. Through appropriate words of comfort helped to cope with their suffering.

Differentiation from Areios Didymos

The classical philologist Hermann Diels identified Areios, the friend and "court philosopher" of Augustus, with the philosopher Areios Didymos , who was also from Alexandria and who did doxographic studies. According to Wolfgang Gombocz, however, the latest research results suggest that Areios, the “court philosopher” of Augustus, should not be equated with the doxographer Areios Didymos.

swell

  • Cassius Dio: Roman History .
  • Julian: Letter to Themistion .
  • Plutarch: Biographies . Book " Marcus Antonius ".
  • Seneca: consolation to Marcia .
  • Strabo: description of the earth .
  • Suetonius: Life of the Caesars . Book " Augustus ".

literature

  • Wolfgang L. Gombocz: History of Philosophy . Volume IV: The Philosophy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . CH Beck, Munich 1997.
  • T. Göransson: Albinus, Alcinous, Arius Didymus . Gothenburg 1995 (Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 61).
  • Ulrich Huttner: Recusatio imperii. A political ritual between ethics and tactics . Georg Olms, Hildesheim 2004, ISBN 978-3-487-12563-3 (Spudasmata, Volume 93).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cassius Dio, IV, 51, 4 and 52, 36 (4).
  2. ↑ Cf. Dietmar Kienast: Augustus, Prinzeps and Monarch . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1982. ISBN 3534070585 , p. 374.
  3. ^ Suetonius: Life of the Caesars . Book "Augustus" (89.1).
  4. ↑ Plutarch: Biographies . Book "Marcus Antonius" (chap. 80).
  5. ↑ Christoph Schäfer: Cleopatra . Darmstadt 2006, p. 249.
  6. ↑ Julian: Letter to Themistion (265c – 266a). Commented in: Ulrich Huttner: Recusatio imperii. A political ritual between ethics and tactics . Verlag Georg Olms, 2004, p. 255.
  7. ↑ See Strabo: Description of the earth . XIV, 674.
  8. ↑ Seneca: Consolation to Marcia . (IV, 2-V, 6).
  9. ↑ Wolfgang L. Gombocz: History of Philosophy . Volume IV: The Philosophy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Munich 1997, p. 415.
personal data
SURNAME Areios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Areus; Arius; Αρειος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher, friend of the Roman emperor Augustus
DATE OF BIRTH around 83 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 9 BC Chr.