Nicomachus (mythology)
Nicomachus ( Greek Νικόμαχος ) is a hero of Greek mythology .
He is the son of Machaon , a son of Asclepius who learned about healing , and Antikleia , the daughter of Diocles . After the death of his grandfather Diocles, he and his twin brother Gorgasus took control of the Messenian Pharai . Pausanias reports that the twins were worshiped as heroes in Pharai in his time (2nd century AD). They owned a shrine there and received consecration gifts for the healing of the sick. The sanctuary is said to have been donated by the Messenian king Isthmios .
In ancient times, the family of the philosopher Aristotle was traced back to Nicomachus, as his father Nicomachus was the personal physician of the Macedonian king Amyntas II and was considered to be the author of medical works. In addition, the name is often found in the broader family of Aristotle.
It is possible that the cult of the twins is a pre-Greek cult of gods, which with the spread of the cult of Asklepios sank to the cult of heroes. The sunken gods were included in the genealogy of the city rulers and as the original healing gods among the descendants of Asclepius.
literature
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Nicomachus . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.1, Leipzig 1902, column 361 ( digitized version ).
Remarks
- ↑ Pausanias 4:30, 3.
- ^ Pausanias 4, 3, 10.
- ↑ Hermippos in Diogenes Laertios 5, 1, 1.
- ↑ Suda , keyword Νικόμαχος , Adler number: nu 399 , Suda-Online
- ^ Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen : Gorgasos. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 2, Stuttgart 1912, Sp. 1596.