Bias from Priene

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Bias von Priene, modern reproduction of a Roman image of Hermes found in Cassius's country house in Tibur with images of the remaining seven wise men in 1780.

Bias of Priene ( Greek  Βίας ὁ Πριηνεύς , * around 590 BC; † around 530 BC), together with Thales of Miletus, Pittakos of Mytilene and Solon of Athens, belonged to the fixed canon of the Seven Wise Men , and how they became numerous sayings and sentences attributed to him. The problematic sources of his life and work often cause uncertainty and allow various different assumptions.

Life and political work of bias according to tradition

Bias was the son of Teutámes from the city of Priene in Asia Minor . He was respected for his eloquence and persuasiveness in litigation.

Historically credible is the advice that Bias gave to the Ionians who, despite a defeat by the victorious Persians , had gathered in Panionion : They should sail to Sardinia on a joint train and found a single city for all Ionians there. So they would escape bondage and gain wealth; for the largest island would then be their property and they would rule over others. But if they stayed in Ionia, he did not see how freedom could still exist.

The legation can also be regarded as a historical fact, in which Bias succeeded in settling a protracted armed conflict between Priene and Samos through reasonable proposals. As leader of the embassy, ​​Bias was given the official authority to negotiate a contract with the Sami, which he succeeded and established his high reputation in the Greek polis world.

And the news about a ruse also contains an authentic core. Through them, Bias is said to have caused the Lydian king Alyattes II to give up the siege of Priene by deceiving him about the supplies still available in the city so that the king gave up the siege and made peace.

According to an anecdote, Bias witnessed the conquest of his city by an enemy and expressed himself when he saw the citizens fled and dragged a lot of their belongings with them, according to Cicero , saying: Omnia mecum porto mea , “ I carry all mine with me. “Research has doubts that the saying is genuine, as it would otherwise be put into the mouths of Simonides and Diogenes.

Significance and reputation as the “first” to speak in its time

Around 550 BC Bias was undoubtedly a leading figure in Priene and beyond that in all of Ionia, whether as a superior, neutral judge, or rather as a lawyer, as a consummate expert in advocating a cause, is controversial in scholarship. The fact that after his death a sacred grove was consecrated to him like a demigod ( hero ) testifies to the fact that Bias made a great contribution to his hometown . Strangely enough, after the name of his father, he is said to have been called Teutámeion and is more likely to be associated with the inscribed Biánteion .

The Greek universal historian Diodorus from Agyrion (Sicily), who was active at the time of Caesar , judged the historical significance of bias as follows in his universal history : “Bias was extremely capable and the first in his time to speak. But he used his speaking power differently than most; not to earn a wage or because of the income, but out of concern to help those who suffered injustice - which one can very rarely find. ” This fits the winged sentence that Hipponax (around 545 BC) passed down from someone to say he was “ better to speak in court than Priene's bias. Diogenes Laertios 1.84 also emphasizes that Bias developed his speaking talents primarily as a brilliant lawyer in court, when he writes: “It is said that Bias was a very good speaker in court, and that he only used the power of his words to Good ones. ”That is why Demodokos von Leros alludes to this in a verse:“ If you ask for penance, then speak to the judges according to Priene law. ”And Heraclitus of Ephesus , who made very high demands on a wise man, praises Bias in the highest tones : "In Priene lived Bias, the Teutames son, whose reputation (validity) is greater than that of the others."

Political "referee" as aisymnet?

The older research advocated the thesis that bias, "statesman and wise man" as " aisymnet in the Altionic sense", namely as a constitutional electoral monarch and emergency dictator (aisymnety = legal tyranny in the sense of the category of Aristotle) ​​for a limited time similar to Pittakos of Mytilene and Solon of Athens worked. For the Aisymneten thesis only a single, very general sentence from Dikaiarch can be claimed, according to which " there are neither wise men nor philosophers, but only sensible men with aptitude for legislation ".

Recent research considers this function of bias to be a later construction with no historical value. She finds a competent voice in Hölkeskamp: The ancient testimonies and in general all the detailed news and anecdotes, regardless of whether they are unhistorical or contain an authentic core, would just not prove that bias ever acted as an “arbiter” in an internal conflict Priene or even as "Aisymnet" (extraordinary legislator) with extensive legislative power was active. There is also no evidence of this in the later ancient tradition. “ Hence the idea of ​​bias as a 'folder' and 'nomothesis' is only a construction of modern research that is based on problematic assumptions about the character of 'aisymnety' and 'nomothesis'. "

In this research controversy, too little attention is paid to one fact that is undisputed: There was a Heroon for Bias in Priene (see above). That was an extraordinary honor that was only granted to the founders or new founders of a polis after their death. Since Bias has proven his excellent suitability as an officially appointed arbitrator in the dispute between Priene and Samos during his lifetime in the field of foreign policy , the reason for the posthumous honor cannot be dismissed a priori: Bias has his skill as an "arbitrator" and extraordinary legislator in domestic political disputes and has thus become the founder of the Polis Priene in the era of a general crisis in the Adelspolis in the Mediterranean world. Like Solon, he would then have “ embodied in paradigmatic purity the role of intellectual authority in the area of ​​practical action. “This judgment would fit well with one of the most important spirits of Ionia, of whom Heraclitus says:“ In Priene, Bias, the son of Teutames, was born, a man of more spirit than anyone else. “And it is precisely this bias Heraclitus has in mind when he utters a fragment beforehand:“ One is countless to me, if he is the most excellent. "

Reception of the Priene bias

In the ancient, albeit rather late, tradition, bias was included in the indisputable core of the Seven Wise Men. His name appears regularly in the various, differing lists. Like Solon and others of the seven wise men, bias has been associated with the kings Kroisos of Lydia and the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis . The contact with Amasis, attested by Plutarch, is certainly legendary. Furthermore, chronologically, his alleged work in the 2nd Messenian War is impossible.

One of the core slogans ascribed to bias is that the best democracy is one in which everyone feared the law like a tyrant. However, according to the criticism of Kiechle and Hölkeskamp, ​​numerous sayings are just as inauthentic as his great poem of 2,000 verses about Ionia, in which he is said to have shown how the country could flourish. We have none of these verses because they never existed. However, a certain skepticism towards modern research is appropriate here; for Diogenes Laertius quotes verbatim in his chapter on bias from this song about Ionia the supposedly most popular and most sung verses. A forgery is undoubtedly in the motive that Bias wrote his poem about Ionia with the aim of showing how the country could flourish most. This is spun out of Herodotus I 27. 170 with partly literal echoes. However, it cannot be ruled out that the verses quoted by Diogenes Laertius from this poem are genuine and that the whole thing is rather the misunderstanding of real poetry: there may have been a competition of the Seven Wise Men in which they recited verses of the kind that Bias here were placed in the mouth by Diogenes.

Sentences (core sentences)

Originally, the “sentence” is probably the most important thing about the wise and also had great weight in ancient poetry. The statesman and philosopher Demetrios of Phaleron (around 350–280 BC) based on the example of his teachers Aristotle and Theophrastus put together a much-used collection of such key sayings of the seven wise men . By bias, it is above all those sentences that Bruno Snell took into his collection and Diels-Kranz into the fragments of the pre-Socratics that were taken as credible. The ancient authors make it clear that such sayings were usually communicated as the tip of a novelistic story or an anecdotal situation and only thereby gained life and their special charm:

1. Most people are bad. Οἱ πλεῖστοι κακοί .
2. Look in the mirror: if you look beautiful, you have to do beautiful too; if ugly, you must make up for lack of nature with righteousness. Εἰς κἀτοπτρον ἑμβλἐψαντα δεῖ, εὶ μὲν καλὸς φαἱνῃ, καλὰ ποιεῖν · εἰ δὲ αἰσχρός, τὸ τῆς φύδσεως ὲῦλιπἑς κοατατθολικἑοαταρθοῦλιπἑς .
3. Go slowly to work; but what you started, persevere. Βραδέως ἐγχείρει • οὗ δ᾿ ἂν ἄρξῃ, διαβεβαιοῦ.
4. Hate speaking quickly lest you make a mistake; because repentance follows immediately. μἱσει τὸ τάχυ λαλεῖν, μὴ ἀμάρτῃς · μετάνοια ἀκολουθεῖ .
5. Be neither good-natured nor malevolent. Μήτ᾿ εὐήθης ἴσθι, μήτε κακοήθης.
6. Do not accept misunderstanding. ἁφροσύνην μὴ προσδἑχου.
7. Love reason. Φρόνησιν ἀγάπα.
8. Say of the gods: they are. Περὶ θεῶν λέγε, ὡς εἰσἰν.
10. Hear a lot. Ἄκουε πολλά.
11. Timely speech. Λάλει καίρια.
12. If you are poor, do not blame a rich man unless you are of great benefit. Πένης ὢν πλουσίοις μὴ ἐπιτίμα, ἢν μὴ μέγα ὠφελῇς.
13. Do not praise an unworthy person for his wealth. Ἀνάξιον ἄνδρα μὴ ἐπαίνει διὰ πλοῦτον .
14. Gain through persuasion, not violence. Πείσας λάβε, μὴ βιασάμενος .
15. What you do good, attribute to the gods, not to you. Ὅ τι ἂν ἀγαθὸν πράσσῃς, θεοὑς, μὴ σεαυτὀν αἰτιῶ .
16. I carry all that is mine with me. Omnia mecum porto mea.
17. Take wisdom from youth to old age as travel provisions; for that is more permanent than the other possessions. Έφόδιον ἀπὸ νεότητος εἰς γῆρας ἀναλάμβανε σοφἱαν βεβαιότερον γὰρ τοῦτο τῶν ἄλλων κτημἀτων .

Say about bias

Bias bought during the Second Messinian War (the second half of the 7th century BC. Chr.) Messenian girls of robbers free and pulled her up like his own children. When their families came, he gave them back to them without compensation and the children loved him for it.

When Priene was besieged by Alyattes II , the father of Kroisos , he fattened two mules and drove them through the Lydian camp, so that they thought that the food in Priene was enough for the animals too. Then he poured large heaps of sand on top of which as the top layer of grain. When the Lydian scouts saw this supposed pile of grain, they informed their King Alyattes, who concluded a peace treaty with the people of Priene.

After successfully pleading for a client in court, the old bias sank into his grandson's arms and died.

swell

  • Aristot. frg. 576ROSE = Aristotelis qui ferebantur librorum fragmenta collegit V. ROSE, Leipzig 1886.
  • Dikaiarch frg. 32WEHRLI = The school of Aristotle. Texts and comments , ed. by F. WEHRLI, Basel-Stuttgart 1944–1959; Supplement volume I-II, 1974, 1978.
  • DIEHL = Anthologia Lyrica Graeca , ed. E. DIEHL, editio tertia, Leipzig 1948–1952.
  • Diog. Laert. = Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers with an English Translation by RD HICKS, Vol. I, Loeb Classical Library, London 1925 (ND 1980), here Chapter 5: Bias , pp. 84-90.
  • FVS = DK = The fragments of the pre-Socratics I-III, Greek and German by H. DIELS, ed. v. W. KRANZ, 6th improved edition, Zurich etc. 1951–1952 (ND 1985–1987).
  • Her. = Herodotus. Histories, Vol. 1, Greek-German, ed. v. J. FEIX, 2nd edition Munich 1977.
  • IvPriene = inscriptions from Priene . With the assistance of C. FREDRICH et alii, ed. v. F. HILLER VON GAERTRINGEN, Berlin 1906.
  • MASSON = O. MASSON, Les fragments du poète Hipponax. Edition critique et commentée Paris 1962.
  • Plut. Mor. = Plutarch Moralia , 16 vols. in the edition of the Loeb Classical Library, ed. FCBABITT u. a., London 1927-1976.
  • Strab. = Strabon, Geography , ed. With an English Translation by HLJONES, Loeb Classical Library, 8 Vols., London 1917–1937.
  • SNELL 1971 = B. SNELL, Lives and Opinions of the Seven Wise Men. Greek and Latin sources, explained and translated, Heimeran-Verlag, 4th improved edition Munich 1971.
  • (Hipponax frg) WEST = Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati , ed.MLWEST, vols. I - II, Oxford 1971-1972.

literature

Web links

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Commons : Bias of Priene  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hipponax frg. 123 WEST; Heraklit FVS 22 B 39 (= Diog. Laert. 1.88); Demodokos frg. 6 WEST (= Diog. Laert. 1,84). On this VON DER MÜHLL 1965, 178 ff .; differently WILAMOWITZ-MOELLENDORFF 1906/1937, 134 note 3.
  2. ↑ Her. 1,170,1-3; on this, KIECHLE, aO883, who suspects Hekataios to be the source of Herodotus, and HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 233
  3. ↑ Aristotle, Constitution of the Sami, frg. 576ROSE = Plut. Moralia 296A = Snell 1971.25; on this WILAMOWITZ-MOELLENDORFF 1906/1937, 134 f.
  4. ↑ Aristot. a. O.; Letter from King Lysimachus to the Sami from 283/82 BC Chr. In CIG 2254 = Snell, a. O. 25 f.
  5. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.83.
  6. ↑ Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum 1.8; from it Valerius Maximus 7.2 ext. 3.
  7. ↑ CRUSIUS, op. O. 387.
  8. ↑ See WOLF 1950, 185 f. and TRIANTAPHYLLOPULOS 1985,57 (note 20); see also Plut. Mor. 616C-D; Diog. Laert. 1.87.
  9. ↑ Hipponax frg. 123WEST = 873 DIEHL = 122-123MASSON (= Strab. 14,1,12, p. 636; Diog. Laert. 1,84 and 88); Heraklit FVS 22 B 39 (= Diog. Laert. 1.88); on this HUMPHREYS 1983, 249 f. and HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 233; see. as early as VON DER MÜHLL 1965, 178 ff.
  10. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.85; 88; IvPriene 111, line 245; 113, line 88; 117, line 34; on this HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 233.
  11. ↑ Diodorus 9,13,3. Translated from Snell 1971, 27.
  12. ↑ Hipponax frg. 123WEST = 73 DIEHL = 122-123 MASSON = Strab. 14,1,12, p.636 = Diog. Laert. 1.84 in the translation by SNELL, op. O. 25; here A. 13.
  13. ↑ SNELL, op. O. 25.
  14. ↑ Heraklit FVS 22 B 39 from Diog. Laert. 1.88.
  15. ↑ Politics 3.1285a 29.1286 b 38.IV 1295a 14
  16. ↑ CRUSIUS 1897, 383 and 388; SCHOTTLAENDER 1965, 28; on the other hand, WOLF 1965, 186; like Crusius KIECHLE, op. 883, according to which Bias still acted as judge and arbitrator in the Altionic sense, but not in a special official capacity; unclear TRIANTAPHYLLOPOULOS 1985, 57 (note 20); on the research controversy most recently HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 232 f.
  17. ↑ Dikaiarch Frg.30WEHRLI = Diog. Laert. 1.40; on this HÖLKESKAMP, a. O. 233 A. 15.
  18. ↑ HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 233 with A. 15; DERS., 1997, col. 617.
  19. ↑ HEUSS 1962, 163.
  20. ↑ Heraklit Frg. 114 = Diog. Laert. I 88 = FVS 22 B39.
  21. ↑ Heraklit Frg. 113 = DK 22 B 39; see BARCELÓ 1993,103.
  22. ↑ Cf. only Dikaiarch frg. 32WEHRLI (= Diog. Laert. 1.41); Diog. Laert. 1.13; 40-42; 82-88 passim; Strab. 14,1,12; Plut. Mor.146E-147A; 150B; 151A-D; 152A; 155E; see. CRUSIUS 1897, 383 ff .; VON DER MÜHLL 1965, 178 ff .; FEHLING 1985, 11f. 28f .; 49ff. with further references and HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 232.
  23. ↑ Her. 1,27,2-5; Plut., Moralia 151 be; on this HÖLKESKAMP, a. O. 232.
  24. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.82; on this KIECHLE 1964,883.
  25. ↑ Plut. Moralia 154E.
  26. ↑ Diog. Laert 1.85; DK 10.
  27. ↑ see HILLER 1878, 520 f .; 525; KIECHLE, aO883 and HÖLKESKAMP 1999, 233 A. 8 with all sources; DERS., 1997, col. 617.
  28. ↑ Diog. Laertius 1.85 closing lines.
  29. ↑ HILLER, op. Cit. 525; approvingly CRUSIUS, a. O. Sp. 389.
  30. ↑ CRUSIUS, op. O. 389.
  31. ↑ CRUSIUS, op. O. Sp. 389 with the sources; Incomplete excerpt from Diog.Laert. I 86.
  32. ↑ SNELL 1971,100 with the list on p. 107 and FVS 10, vol. 1, p. 65, No. 1–17:
  33. ↑ CRUSIUS, op. O. Sp. 388
  34. ↑ FVS, No. 1 = Snell, op. O. 107, No. 1 = Diog. Laert. 1.87 and 88.
  35. ↑ FVS, No. 2; SNELL, loc. O., No. 2.
  36. ↑ FVS, No. 3 = SNELL, op. O., No. 3; see. also Diog. Laert. 1.87.
  37. ↑ FVS, No. 4; is absent from Snell.
  38. ↑ FVS, No. 5 = Snell, op. O., No. 5.
  39. ↑ FVS, No. 6; is absent from Snell.
  40. ↑ FVS, No. 7 = Diog. Laert. 1.88; is absent from Snell.
  41. ↑ FVS, No. 8 = Snell, op. O. No. 8; see. also Diog. Laert. 1.88.
  42. ↑ FVS, No. 10 = Snell, op. O. No. 10.
  43. ↑ FVS, No. 11 = Snell, op. O. No. 11.
  44. ↑ FVS, No. 13 = Snell, op. O. No. 13 = Diog. Laert. 1.88.
  45. ↑ FVS, No. 14 = Snell, op. O. No. 14 = Diog. Laert. 1.88.
  46. ↑ FVS No. 15 = Snell, op. O. No. 15; accordingly also Diog. Laert. 1.88.
  47. ^ Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum I, 8 in the Latin translation of an original Greek quote. As can be seen from A. 16, it is controversial in research with regard to authenticity and has therefore not been included in the collection of bias sayings by either Snell or Diels-Kranz. SNELL 1971.99 wants to assign the spell to Pittacus from Mytilene. Cicero is not sure either, he just "believes" that it was probably bias. When his hometown Priene had been conquered by the enemy, and the others fled in such a way that they carried away a lot of property, he said when someone asked him to do the same: “I will; because I carry all of mine with me. "
  48. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.88. Like Spruch 16, this is also missing in Snell's collection of sayings 1971, 107 and in FVS p. 65.
  49. ↑ Phanodikos in Diog.Laert. 1.82 = Snell 1971, 119, No. 4; Diod. IX 13.1. For chronological reasons this can be attributed to the legend; for the chronological difficulties see here A. 4.
  50. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.83; historically credible in the core, but designed in a novelistic manner in the details; see. also here A. 14.
  51. ↑ Diog. Laert. 1.84-85. As a legend already from CRUSIUS, a. O. Sp. 388 unmasked.
personal data
SURNAME Bias from Priene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek orator, one of the Seven Wise Men
DATE OF BIRTH around 590 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH around 530 BC Chr.