Kineas

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Kineas ( Greek  Κινέας Kinéas , Latinized Cineas ; * around 350 BC; † after 278 BC) came from Thessaly and was a diplomat of King Pyrrhos I. He wrote a summary of the works of the Aeneas Tacticus , the earliest surviving European military writer.

Life

Kineas was trained by Demosthenes . Because of his rhetorical skills, it was said that he "won more cities with words than Pyrrhus with weapons". After completing his training, he entered the service of the King of the Molossians , Pyrrhus , as a diplomat . He advised this against the Italian campaign , but took over in the winter of 281/280 BC. The leadership of an advance detachment of 3,000 men, with whom he received Pyrrhus in Taranto . During the war with Rome he was sent several times as envoy to Rome. After the victory of Pyrrhus at Heraclea , Kineas recommended that the prisoners be handed over without a ransom. So he was sent to Rome with the prisoners to make a peace offer, which the Senate rejected. Plutarch and Pliny emphasize that Kineas addressed the senators and knights by name and gave gifts for their wives and children. After the victory at Ausculum ( Pyrrhic victory ) he was sent to Rome again, but could not achieve anything for his king. The following year, 278 BC BC, he conducted negotiations with the cities of Sicily with some success.

The sources are the Naturalis historia of Pliny and the biography of Pyrrhus of Plutarch.

Works

Kineas summarized the military writings of Aeneas Tacticos , presumably for Pyrrhus, and wrote a history of Thessaly.

Afterlife

The excerpts of the KIneas were still noticed at the time of Cicero. In one of his letters he reports that he has read the scriptures.

With reference to the diplomatic achievements of Kineas and his commitment to peaceful solutions, which was reflected in the advising against the Italian campaign and the renunciation of ransom demands, Émeric Crucé wrote the book The New Kineas in 1623 , in which he proposed a kind of League of Nations with a permanent meeting of ambassadors.

literature

  • Michèle Ducos: Cinéas. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , p. 399
  • Johannes Engels : Kineas. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 6, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01476-2 , column 470.
  • Pierre Lévêque: Pyrrhos. De Boccard, Paris 1957

Remarks

  1. ↑ The dates of life result from the fact that Kineas was a student of Demosthenes and led an embassy to Rome after the battle of Ausculum .
  2. ↑ Plutarch, Pyrrhos 14,1.
  3. ↑ Plutarch, Pyrrhos 14.3.
  4. ↑ Plutarch, Pyrrhos 15: 1.
  5. ↑ The number and timing of its negotiations are controversial. Some researchers, including Pierre Lévêque: Pyrrhos. Paris 1957, p. 407 accept only one delegation.
  6. ↑ Plutarch, Pyrrhos 18.4; Pliny 7.24.
  7. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 7.24 ( online as an excerpt under 7, § 88 ).
  8. ↑ Cicero Epistulae ad Fam. IX 25.1.
personal data
SURNAME Kineas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Diplomat of King Pyrrhus
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: between 350 BC BC and 300 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 278 BC Chr.