It seems
as the true ratio is about twenty times as great, the therefore probable, that Aristarchus adopted it ra-
distances being to one another nearly as 400 to 1.
as the true ratio is about twenty times as great, the therefore probable, that Aristarchus adopted it ra-
distances being to one another nearly as 400 to 1.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
7 ; Plut.
Aler.
the life of Dionysius, the Areiopagite.
(Hildui-
25; Aelian, V. II. xii. 64 ; Artemid. i. 31, iv. nus, Ep. ad Ludovicum, quoted by Vossius, Hist.
24. ) The work of Aristander on prodigies, which Graec. p. 400, &c. ed. Westermann. )
is referred to by Pliny (H. N. xvii
. 25. &. 38 ; ARISTARCHUS ('Apiotapxos), the most
Elenchus, lib. viii. x. xiv. xv. xviii. ) and Lucian celebrated GRAMMARIAN and critic in all antiquity,
(Philopat. c. 21), was probably written by the was a native of Samothrace. He was educated at
Boothsayer of Alexander.
Alexandria, in the school of Aristophanes of By-
ARISTANDER, of Paros, was the sculptor of zantium, and afterwards founded himself a gram-
one of the tripods which the Lacedaemonians made matical and critical school, which flourished for a
out of the spoils of the battle of Aegospotami (H. C. long time at Alexandria, and subsequently at Rome
405), and dedicated at Amyclae. The two tripods also. Ptolemy Philopator entrusted to Aristarchus
had statues beneath them, between the feet : that the education of his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and
of Aristander had Sparta holding a lyre ; that of Ptolemy Physcon too was one of his pupils.
Polycleitus had a figure of Aplırodite. (Paus. iii. (Athen. ii. p. 71. ). Owing, however, to the bad
18. & 5. )
(P. S. ] treatment which the scholars and philosophers of
ARISTARCHUS (Aplotapxos). 1. Is named | Alexandria experienced in the reign of Physcon,
with Peisander, Phrynichus, and Antiphon, as a Aristarchus, then at an advanced age, left Egypt
principal leader of the “Four Hundred” (B. C. 411) and went to Cyprus, where he is said to have died
at Athens, and is specified as one of the strongest at the age of seventy-two, of voluntary starvation,
anti-democratic partisans. (Thuc. viii. 90. ) On because he was suffering froin incurable dropsy.
the first breaking out of the counter-revolution we He left behind him two sons, Aristagoras and
find him leaving the council-room with Theramenes, Aristarchus, who are likewise called grammarians,
and acting at Peiraeeus at the head of the young but neither of them appears to have inherited any-
oligarchical cavalry (ib. 92); and on the downfall thing of the spirit or talents of the father.
of his party, he took advantage of his office as The numerous followers and disciples of Aris-
strategus, and rode off with a party of the most tarchus were designated by the names of oi
barbarous of the foreign archers to the border fort 'Aplotáp Xelou or o an' 'Apotápxou. Aristarchus,
of Oenoë, then besieged by the Boeotians and his master Aristophanes, and his opponent Crates
Corinthians. In concert with them, and under of Mallus, the head of the gramınatical school at
cover of his command, he deluded the garrison, by Pergamus, were the most eminent grammarians of
a statement of terms concluded with Sparta, into that period; but Aristarchus surpassed them all in
surrender, and thus gained the place for the enemy. knowledge and critical skill. His whole life was
(16. 98. ) He afterwards, it appears, came into the devoted to grammatical and critical pursuits, with
hands of the Athenians, and was with Alexicles the view to explain and constitute correct texts of
brought to trial and punished with death, not later the ancient poets of Greece, such as Homer, Pindar,
than 406. (Xen. Hell. i. 7. $ 28 ; Lycurg. c. Leocr. Archilochus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes,
p. 164; Thirlwall, ir. pp. 67 and 73. ) [A. H. C. ] lon, and others. His grammatical studies embraced
2. There was an Athenian of the name of everything, which the term in its widest sense then
Aristarchus (apparently a different person from the comprised, and he together with his great contem-
oligarchical leader of that name), a conversation poraries are regarded as the first who established
between whom and Socrates is recorded by Xeno- fixed principles of grammar, though Aristarchus
phon. (Mem. ii. 7. )
himself is often called the prince of grammarians
3. A Lacedaemonian, who in B. C. 400 was kopupalos tâv ypaupatikwv, or o ypappatika-
1
3
1
## p. 291 (#311) ############################################
ARISTARCHUS.
291
ARISTARCHUS.
TATOS). Suidas ascribes to him more than 800 balanced by others. A Scholiast on Homer (Il.
commentaries (Urouerfuata), while from an expres iv. 235) declares, that Aristarchus must be followed
sion of a Scholiast on Hornce (Epist
. ii. 1. 257) in preference to other critics, even if they should
some writers have inferred, that Aristarchus did be right; and Panaetius (Athen. xiv. p. 634)
not write anything at all. Besides these trouv”- called Aristarchus a uávtis, to express the skil
mata, we find mention of a very important work, and felicity with which he always hit the truth in
tepl dvakoylas, of which unfortunately a very few his criticisms and explanations. (For further in-
fragments only are extant. It was attacked by formation see Matthesius, Dissertatio de Aristarcho
Crates in a work nepi dvwuarlas. (Gellius, ii. 25. ) Grammatico, Jena, 1725, 4to. ; Villoison, Proleg.
All the works of Aristarchus are lost, and all that ad Apollon. Lex Hom. p. xv. , &c. , Proleg. ad Hom.
we have of his consists of short fragments, which Iliad. p. xxvi. , &c. ; and more especially F. A.
are scattered through the Scholia on the above Wolf, Prolegom. in Hom. p. ccxvi. , &c. , and Lehrs,
mentioned poets.
These fragments, however, De Aristarchi Studiis Homericis Regimont. Pruss.
would be utterly insufficient to give us any idea of 1833, 8vo. )
(L. S. ]
the immense activity, the extensive knowledge, ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos). . . A Greek
and above all, of the uniform strictness of his PHYSICIAN, of whom no particulars are known, ex-
critical principles, were it not that Eustathius, and cept that he was attached to the court of Berenice,
Btill more the Venetian Scholia on Homer (first the wife of Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, B. C.
published by Villoison, Venice, 1788, fol. ), had 261—246 (Polyaen. Strateg. viii. 50), and per-
preserved such extracts from his works on Homer, suaded her to trust herself in the hands of her
as, notwithstanding their fragmentary nature,
treacherous enemies.
shew us the critic in his whole greatness. As far as 2. Some medical prescriptions belonging to an-
the Homeric poems are concerned, he above all other physician of this name are quoted by Galen
things endeavoured to restore their genuine text, and Aëtius, who appears to have been a native of
and carefully to clear it of all later interpolations Tarsus in Cilicia. (Gal. De Compos. Medicam. ec.
and corruptions He marked those verses which Loc. v. 11, vol. xiii. p. 824. ) [W. A. G. )
he thought spurious with an obelos, and those ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos), of Samos,
which he considered as particularly beautiful with one of the earliest astronomers of the Alexandrian
an asterisk. It is now no longer a matter of doubt school. We know little of his history, except that
that, generally speaking, the text of the Homeric he was living between B. c. 280 and 264. The
poems, such as it has come down to us, and the first of these dates is inferred from a passage in
division of each poem into twenty-four raphsodies, the meyenn cúvražis of Ptolemy (iii. 2, vol. i. p.
are the work of Aristarchus ; that is to say, the 163, ed. Halma), in which Hipparchus is said to
edition which Aristarchus prepared of the Homeric have referred, in his treatise on the length of the
poems became the basis of all subsequent editions. year, to an observation of the summer solstice made
To restore this recension of Aristarchus has been by Aristarchus in the 50th year of the 1st Calippic
more or less the great object with nearly all the period : the second from the mention of him in
editors of Homer, since the days of F. A. Wolf, a Plutarch (de Facie in Orbe Lunae), which makes
critic of a kindred genius, who first shewed the him contemporary with Cleanthes the Stoic, the
great importance to be attached to the edition of successor of Zeno.
Aristarchus. Its general appreciation in antiquity It seems that he employed himself in the deter-
is attested by the fact, that so many other gram. mination of some of the most important elements
marians, as Callistratus, Aristonicus, Didymus, and of astronomy ; but none of his works remain, ex-
Ptolemaeus of Ascalon, wrote separate works upon cept a treatise on the magnitudes and distances of
it. In explaining and interpreting the Homeric the sun and moon (nepi meyebwv Kal ToonMÁTWY
poems, for which nothing had been done before his lov Kal genduns). We do not know whether
time, his merits were as great as those he acquired the method employed in this work was invented
by his critical labours. His explanations as well by Aristarchus (Suidas, s. v. Adcopos, mentions
as his criticisms were not confined to the mere a treatise on the same subject by a disciple of
detail of words and phrases, but he entered also Plato); it is, however, very ingenious, and correct
upon investigations of a higher order, concerning in principle. It is founded on the consideration
mythology, geography, and on the artistic composi- that at the instant when the enlightened part of
tion and structure of the Homeric poems. He was the moon is apparently bounded by a straight line,
a decided opponent of the allegorical interpretation the plane of the circle which separates the dark
of the poet which was then beginning, which some and light portions passes through the eye of the
centuries later became very general, and was per- spectator, and is also perpendicular to the line join-
haps never carried to such extreme absurdities as ing the centres of the sun and moon; so that the dis-
in our own days by the author of " Homerus. " tances of the sun and moon from the eye are at
The antiquity of the Homeric poems, however, as that instant respectively the hypothenuse and side
well as the historical character of their author, of a right-angled triangle. The angle at the eye
seem never to have been doubted by Aristarchus. (which is the angular distance between the sun
He bestowed great care upon the metrical correct and moon) can be observed, and then it is an easy
ness of the text, and is said to have provided the problem to find the ratio between the sides con-
works of Homer and some other poets with ac- taining it. But this process could not, unless by
cents, the invention of which is ascribed to Aristo- accident, lead to a true result; for it would be im-
phanes of Byzantium. It cannot be surprising possible, even with a telescope, to determine with
that a man who worked with that independent much accuracy the instant at which the phaenome-
critical spirit, had his enemies and detractors; but non in question takes place; and in the time of
such isolated statements as that of Athenaeus (v. Aristarchus there were no means of measuring
p. 177), in which Athenocles of Cyzicus is pre- angular distances with sufficient exactness. In
ferred to Aristarchus, are more than counter- fact, he takes the angle at the eye to be 83 degrees
9
U 2
## p. 292 (#312) ############################################
292
ARISTARCHUS.
ARISTEAS.
a
whereas its real value is less than a right angle by same theory. (umotletai gap, K. 7. A. ) But the
about half a minute only; and hence he infers that treatise aepi Meycowv contains not a word upon the
the distance of the sun is between eighteen and subject, nor does Ptolemy allude to it when he
twenty times greater than that of the moon, where maintnins the immobility of the earth.
It seems
as the true ratio is about twenty times as great, the therefore probable, that Aristarchus adopted it ra-
distances being to one another nearly as 400 to 1. ther as a hypothesis for particular purposes than as
The ratio of the true diameters of the sun and a statement of the actual system of the universe.
moon would follow immediately from that of their In fact, Plutarch, in another place (Plat. Quaest.
distances, if their apparent (angular) diameters p. 1006) expressly says, that Aristarchus caught it
were known. Aristarchus assumes that their ap- only hypothetically. On this question, see Schau-
parent diameters are equal, which is nearly true; bach. (Gesch. d. Griech. Astronoinie, p. 468, &c. )
but estimates their common value at two degrees, It appears from the passage in the vauuitos allud-
which is nearly four times too great. The theory, ed to above, that Aristarchus had much juster
of parallax was as yet unknown, and hence, in views than his predecessors concerning the extent
order to compare the diameter of the earth with of the universe. He maintained, namely, that the
the magnitudes already mentioned, he compares sphere of the fixed stars was so large, that it bore
the diameter of the moon with that of the earth's to the orbit of the earth the relation of a sphere to
shadow in its neighbourhood, and assumes the its centre. What he meant by the expression, is
latter to be twice as great as the former. (Its not clear : it may be interpreted as an anticipation
mean value is about 81') Of course all the nuine- of modern discoveries, but in this sense it could
rical results deduced from these assumptions are, express only a conjecture which the observations
like the one first mentioned, very erroneous. The of the age were not accurate enough either to con-
gec trical processes employed shew that nothing | firin or refute-a remark which is equally applica-
like trigonometry was known. No attempt is ble to the theory of the earth's motion. Whatever
made to assign the absolute values of the magni- may be the truth on these points, it is probable
tudes whose ratios are investigated; in fact, ihis that even the opinion, that the sun was nearly
could not be done without an actual measurement twenty times as distant as the moon, indicates a
of the earth-an operation which seems to have great step in advance of the popular doctrines.
been first attempted on scientific principles in the Censorinus (de Die Natali, c. 18) attributes to
next generation. [ERATOSTHENES. ] Aristarchus Aristarchus the invention of the magnus annus of
does not explain his method of determining the 2484 years.
apparent diameters of the sun and of the earth's A Latin translation of the treatise Tepi yeyebav
shadow ; but the latter must have been deduced was published by Geor. Valla, Venet. 1498, and
from observations of lunar eclipses, and the former another by Commandine, Pisauri, 1572. The
may probably have been observed by means of the Greek text, with a Latin translation and the com-
skaphium method described by Macrobius. mentary of Pappus, was edited by Wallis, Oxon.
(Somn. Scip. i. 20. ) This instrument is said to 1688, and reprinted in vol. iii. of his works.
have been invented by Aristarchus (Vitruv. ix. 9): There is also a French translation, and an edition
it consisted of an improved gnomon (ANAXIMAN of the text, Paris, 1810. (Delambre, Hist. de
DER], the shadow being received not upon a hori- | l'Astronomie Ancienne, liv. i. chap. 5 and 9; La.
zontal plane, but upon a concave hemispherical place, Syst. du Monde, p. 381; Schaubach in Ersch
surface haring the extremity of the style at its and Gruber's Encyclopadie. ) (W. F. D. )
centre, so that angles might be measured directly ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos) of Tegra, a
by arcs instead of by their tangents. The gross tragic poet at Athens, was contemporary with
crror in the value attributed to the sun's apparent Euripides, and fourished about 454 B. C. He
diameter is remarkable; it appears, however, that lived to the age of a hundred. Out of seventy
Aristarchus must afterwards have adopted a much tragedies which he exhibited, only two obtained
more correct estimate, since Archimedes in the the prize. (Suidas, s. r. ; Euseb. Chron. Armen. )
Yapuitns (Wallis, Op. vol. iii. p. 515) refers to a Nothing remains of his works, except a few lines
treatise in which he made it only half a degree. (Stobaeus, Tit. 63. § 9, tit. 120. § 2; Athen.
Pappus, whose commentary on the book tepi meye xi. p. 612, f. ), and the titles of three of his plays,
owv, &c. is extant, does not notice this emendation, namely, the 'AOxAnalós, which he is said to have
whence it has been conjectured, that the other written and named after the god in gratitude for
works of Aristarchus did not exist in his time, his recovery from illness (Suidas), the 'AxeAlevs,
haring perhaps perished with the Alexandrian which Ennius translated into Latin (Festus, s. r.
library.
prolato aere), and the Távtalos. (Stobaeus, ii.
It has been the common opinion, at least in mo- 1. $ 1. )
[P. S. ]
dern times, that Aristarchus agreed with Philolaus ARISTARETE, a painter, the daughter and
and other astronomiers of the Pythagorean school pupil of Nearchus, was celebrated for ber picture
in considering the sun to be fixed, and attributing of Aesculapius. (Plin. xxxv. 40. & 43. ) [P. S. ]
a motion to the earth. Plutarch (de fuc. in orb. lun. ARI'STEAS ('Aplotéas), of Proconnesus, a son
p. 92:2) sars, that Cleanthes thought that Aristar- of Carstrobius or Demochares, was an epic poet,
chus ought to be accused of impiety for supposing who fourished, according to Suidas, about the
(ÚTOTIDéuevos), that the heavens were at rest, and time of Croesus and Cyrus. The accounts of his
that the earth moved in an oblique circle, and also life are as fabulous as those about Abaris the Hyper-
about its own axis (the true reading is evidently borean. According to tradition, which Herodo-
Κλεάνθης ώετο δείν 'Αρίσταρχον, κ. τ. λ. ); and tus (iv. 15) heard at Metapontum, in southern
Diogenes Laërtius, in his list of the works of Cle- | Italy, he re-appeared there among the living 340
anthes mentions one προς 'Αρίσταρχον. (See also years after his death, and according to this tradi-
Sext. Empir. adv. Math. p. 410, c. ; Stobaeus, i. 26. ) tion Aristeas would belong to the eighth or ninth
Archimedes, in the vauuítas (1. c. ), refers to the century before the Christian era ; and there are
## p. 293 (#313) ############################################
ARISTEAS.
293
ARISTEIDES.
sure.
other traditions which place him before the time of | number of the translators, natá Tous bounkorta
Homer, or describe him as a contemporary and teach- (the Septuagint), and the same name was extend-
er of Homer. (Strab. xiv. p. 639. ) In the account of ed to the Greek version of the whole of the Old
llo-odotus (iv. 13-16), Tzetzes (Chil. ii. 724, Testament, when it had been completed under the
& ? and Suidas (s. v. ), Aristcas was a magician, auspices of the Ptolemies. The above account is
who rose after his death, and whose soul could given in a Greek work which professes to be a
leave and re-enter its body according to its plea- letter from Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, but
lle was, like Abaris, connected with the which is generally admitted by the best critics to
wojship of Apollo, which he was said to have in- be spurious. It is probably the fabrication of au
troduccu il ietapontum. Herodotus cills him Alexandrian Jew shortly before the Christian
the favourite an inspired bard of Apollo (pon-aera. The fact seems to be, that the version of the
Chauntos). He is said to have travelled through Pentateuch was made in the reign of Ptolemy
the countries north ani cast of the Euxine, and io Soter, between the years 290 and 285 B. c. for the
have visited the countries of the Issedoncs, Ari Jews who had been brought into Egypt by that
maspne, Cimmerii, Hyperborci, and other mythical king in 320 B. C. It may have obtained its name
nations, and after his return to have written an from its being adopted by the Sanhedrim (or
epic poem, in three books, called td’Apudoteca, in council of seventy) of the Alexandrian Jews. The
which he seems to have described all that he had other books of the Septuagint version were trans-
seen or pretended to have seen. This work, which lated by different persons and at various times.
was unquestionably full of marvellous stories, was The letter ascribed to Aristeas was first printed
nevertheless looked upon as a source of historical and in Greck and Latin, by Simon Schard, Basil. 1561,
geographical information, and some writers reckoned 8vo. , and reprinted at Oxford, 1692, 8vo. ; the
Aristeas among the logographers. But it was best edition is in Gallandi Biblioth. Patr. ii. p.
nevertheless a poetical production, and Strabo (i. p. 771. (Fabric. Bib. Gracc. iii. 660. )
21, xiii. p. 589) seems to judge too harshly of The story about Aristcas and the seventy inter-
him, when he calls him an arrip guns ež tis årlos. preters is told, chiefly on the authority of the let-
The
poem
“ Arimaspeia”
” is frequently mentioned ter but differing from it in some points, by Aristo-
by the ancients (Paus. i. 24. § 6, v. 7. & 9; Pol bulus, a Jewish philosopher (ap. Euscó. Praep.
lux, ix. 5; Gellius, ix. 4 ; Plin. H. Ñ. vii. 2), Evan. xiii. 12), Philo Judaeus (Vit
. Mos. 2), Jo-
and thirteen hexameter verses of it are preserved sephus (Ant. Jud. xii. 2), Justin Martyr (Cohort.
in Longinus (De Sullim. x. 4) and Tzetzes (Chil. ad Graec. p. 13, Apol. p. 72, Dial. cum Tryph. p.
vii. 687, &c. ). The existence of the poem is thus 297), Irenaeus (Adv. Huer. iii. 25), Clemens
attested beyond all doubt; but the ancients them- Alexandrinus (Strom. i. p. 250), Tertullian
selves denied to Aristeas the authorship of it.
25; Aelian, V. II. xii. 64 ; Artemid. i. 31, iv. nus, Ep. ad Ludovicum, quoted by Vossius, Hist.
24. ) The work of Aristander on prodigies, which Graec. p. 400, &c. ed. Westermann. )
is referred to by Pliny (H. N. xvii
. 25. &. 38 ; ARISTARCHUS ('Apiotapxos), the most
Elenchus, lib. viii. x. xiv. xv. xviii. ) and Lucian celebrated GRAMMARIAN and critic in all antiquity,
(Philopat. c. 21), was probably written by the was a native of Samothrace. He was educated at
Boothsayer of Alexander.
Alexandria, in the school of Aristophanes of By-
ARISTANDER, of Paros, was the sculptor of zantium, and afterwards founded himself a gram-
one of the tripods which the Lacedaemonians made matical and critical school, which flourished for a
out of the spoils of the battle of Aegospotami (H. C. long time at Alexandria, and subsequently at Rome
405), and dedicated at Amyclae. The two tripods also. Ptolemy Philopator entrusted to Aristarchus
had statues beneath them, between the feet : that the education of his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and
of Aristander had Sparta holding a lyre ; that of Ptolemy Physcon too was one of his pupils.
Polycleitus had a figure of Aplırodite. (Paus. iii. (Athen. ii. p. 71. ). Owing, however, to the bad
18. & 5. )
(P. S. ] treatment which the scholars and philosophers of
ARISTARCHUS (Aplotapxos). 1. Is named | Alexandria experienced in the reign of Physcon,
with Peisander, Phrynichus, and Antiphon, as a Aristarchus, then at an advanced age, left Egypt
principal leader of the “Four Hundred” (B. C. 411) and went to Cyprus, where he is said to have died
at Athens, and is specified as one of the strongest at the age of seventy-two, of voluntary starvation,
anti-democratic partisans. (Thuc. viii. 90. ) On because he was suffering froin incurable dropsy.
the first breaking out of the counter-revolution we He left behind him two sons, Aristagoras and
find him leaving the council-room with Theramenes, Aristarchus, who are likewise called grammarians,
and acting at Peiraeeus at the head of the young but neither of them appears to have inherited any-
oligarchical cavalry (ib. 92); and on the downfall thing of the spirit or talents of the father.
of his party, he took advantage of his office as The numerous followers and disciples of Aris-
strategus, and rode off with a party of the most tarchus were designated by the names of oi
barbarous of the foreign archers to the border fort 'Aplotáp Xelou or o an' 'Apotápxou. Aristarchus,
of Oenoë, then besieged by the Boeotians and his master Aristophanes, and his opponent Crates
Corinthians. In concert with them, and under of Mallus, the head of the gramınatical school at
cover of his command, he deluded the garrison, by Pergamus, were the most eminent grammarians of
a statement of terms concluded with Sparta, into that period; but Aristarchus surpassed them all in
surrender, and thus gained the place for the enemy. knowledge and critical skill. His whole life was
(16. 98. ) He afterwards, it appears, came into the devoted to grammatical and critical pursuits, with
hands of the Athenians, and was with Alexicles the view to explain and constitute correct texts of
brought to trial and punished with death, not later the ancient poets of Greece, such as Homer, Pindar,
than 406. (Xen. Hell. i. 7. $ 28 ; Lycurg. c. Leocr. Archilochus, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes,
p. 164; Thirlwall, ir. pp. 67 and 73. ) [A. H. C. ] lon, and others. His grammatical studies embraced
2. There was an Athenian of the name of everything, which the term in its widest sense then
Aristarchus (apparently a different person from the comprised, and he together with his great contem-
oligarchical leader of that name), a conversation poraries are regarded as the first who established
between whom and Socrates is recorded by Xeno- fixed principles of grammar, though Aristarchus
phon. (Mem. ii. 7. )
himself is often called the prince of grammarians
3. A Lacedaemonian, who in B. C. 400 was kopupalos tâv ypaupatikwv, or o ypappatika-
1
3
1
## p. 291 (#311) ############################################
ARISTARCHUS.
291
ARISTARCHUS.
TATOS). Suidas ascribes to him more than 800 balanced by others. A Scholiast on Homer (Il.
commentaries (Urouerfuata), while from an expres iv. 235) declares, that Aristarchus must be followed
sion of a Scholiast on Hornce (Epist
. ii. 1. 257) in preference to other critics, even if they should
some writers have inferred, that Aristarchus did be right; and Panaetius (Athen. xiv. p. 634)
not write anything at all. Besides these trouv”- called Aristarchus a uávtis, to express the skil
mata, we find mention of a very important work, and felicity with which he always hit the truth in
tepl dvakoylas, of which unfortunately a very few his criticisms and explanations. (For further in-
fragments only are extant. It was attacked by formation see Matthesius, Dissertatio de Aristarcho
Crates in a work nepi dvwuarlas. (Gellius, ii. 25. ) Grammatico, Jena, 1725, 4to. ; Villoison, Proleg.
All the works of Aristarchus are lost, and all that ad Apollon. Lex Hom. p. xv. , &c. , Proleg. ad Hom.
we have of his consists of short fragments, which Iliad. p. xxvi. , &c. ; and more especially F. A.
are scattered through the Scholia on the above Wolf, Prolegom. in Hom. p. ccxvi. , &c. , and Lehrs,
mentioned poets.
These fragments, however, De Aristarchi Studiis Homericis Regimont. Pruss.
would be utterly insufficient to give us any idea of 1833, 8vo. )
(L. S. ]
the immense activity, the extensive knowledge, ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos). . . A Greek
and above all, of the uniform strictness of his PHYSICIAN, of whom no particulars are known, ex-
critical principles, were it not that Eustathius, and cept that he was attached to the court of Berenice,
Btill more the Venetian Scholia on Homer (first the wife of Antiochus Theos, king of Syria, B. C.
published by Villoison, Venice, 1788, fol. ), had 261—246 (Polyaen. Strateg. viii. 50), and per-
preserved such extracts from his works on Homer, suaded her to trust herself in the hands of her
as, notwithstanding their fragmentary nature,
treacherous enemies.
shew us the critic in his whole greatness. As far as 2. Some medical prescriptions belonging to an-
the Homeric poems are concerned, he above all other physician of this name are quoted by Galen
things endeavoured to restore their genuine text, and Aëtius, who appears to have been a native of
and carefully to clear it of all later interpolations Tarsus in Cilicia. (Gal. De Compos. Medicam. ec.
and corruptions He marked those verses which Loc. v. 11, vol. xiii. p. 824. ) [W. A. G. )
he thought spurious with an obelos, and those ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos), of Samos,
which he considered as particularly beautiful with one of the earliest astronomers of the Alexandrian
an asterisk. It is now no longer a matter of doubt school. We know little of his history, except that
that, generally speaking, the text of the Homeric he was living between B. c. 280 and 264. The
poems, such as it has come down to us, and the first of these dates is inferred from a passage in
division of each poem into twenty-four raphsodies, the meyenn cúvražis of Ptolemy (iii. 2, vol. i. p.
are the work of Aristarchus ; that is to say, the 163, ed. Halma), in which Hipparchus is said to
edition which Aristarchus prepared of the Homeric have referred, in his treatise on the length of the
poems became the basis of all subsequent editions. year, to an observation of the summer solstice made
To restore this recension of Aristarchus has been by Aristarchus in the 50th year of the 1st Calippic
more or less the great object with nearly all the period : the second from the mention of him in
editors of Homer, since the days of F. A. Wolf, a Plutarch (de Facie in Orbe Lunae), which makes
critic of a kindred genius, who first shewed the him contemporary with Cleanthes the Stoic, the
great importance to be attached to the edition of successor of Zeno.
Aristarchus. Its general appreciation in antiquity It seems that he employed himself in the deter-
is attested by the fact, that so many other gram. mination of some of the most important elements
marians, as Callistratus, Aristonicus, Didymus, and of astronomy ; but none of his works remain, ex-
Ptolemaeus of Ascalon, wrote separate works upon cept a treatise on the magnitudes and distances of
it. In explaining and interpreting the Homeric the sun and moon (nepi meyebwv Kal ToonMÁTWY
poems, for which nothing had been done before his lov Kal genduns). We do not know whether
time, his merits were as great as those he acquired the method employed in this work was invented
by his critical labours. His explanations as well by Aristarchus (Suidas, s. v. Adcopos, mentions
as his criticisms were not confined to the mere a treatise on the same subject by a disciple of
detail of words and phrases, but he entered also Plato); it is, however, very ingenious, and correct
upon investigations of a higher order, concerning in principle. It is founded on the consideration
mythology, geography, and on the artistic composi- that at the instant when the enlightened part of
tion and structure of the Homeric poems. He was the moon is apparently bounded by a straight line,
a decided opponent of the allegorical interpretation the plane of the circle which separates the dark
of the poet which was then beginning, which some and light portions passes through the eye of the
centuries later became very general, and was per- spectator, and is also perpendicular to the line join-
haps never carried to such extreme absurdities as ing the centres of the sun and moon; so that the dis-
in our own days by the author of " Homerus. " tances of the sun and moon from the eye are at
The antiquity of the Homeric poems, however, as that instant respectively the hypothenuse and side
well as the historical character of their author, of a right-angled triangle. The angle at the eye
seem never to have been doubted by Aristarchus. (which is the angular distance between the sun
He bestowed great care upon the metrical correct and moon) can be observed, and then it is an easy
ness of the text, and is said to have provided the problem to find the ratio between the sides con-
works of Homer and some other poets with ac- taining it. But this process could not, unless by
cents, the invention of which is ascribed to Aristo- accident, lead to a true result; for it would be im-
phanes of Byzantium. It cannot be surprising possible, even with a telescope, to determine with
that a man who worked with that independent much accuracy the instant at which the phaenome-
critical spirit, had his enemies and detractors; but non in question takes place; and in the time of
such isolated statements as that of Athenaeus (v. Aristarchus there were no means of measuring
p. 177), in which Athenocles of Cyzicus is pre- angular distances with sufficient exactness. In
ferred to Aristarchus, are more than counter- fact, he takes the angle at the eye to be 83 degrees
9
U 2
## p. 292 (#312) ############################################
292
ARISTARCHUS.
ARISTEAS.
a
whereas its real value is less than a right angle by same theory. (umotletai gap, K. 7. A. ) But the
about half a minute only; and hence he infers that treatise aepi Meycowv contains not a word upon the
the distance of the sun is between eighteen and subject, nor does Ptolemy allude to it when he
twenty times greater than that of the moon, where maintnins the immobility of the earth.
It seems
as the true ratio is about twenty times as great, the therefore probable, that Aristarchus adopted it ra-
distances being to one another nearly as 400 to 1. ther as a hypothesis for particular purposes than as
The ratio of the true diameters of the sun and a statement of the actual system of the universe.
moon would follow immediately from that of their In fact, Plutarch, in another place (Plat. Quaest.
distances, if their apparent (angular) diameters p. 1006) expressly says, that Aristarchus caught it
were known. Aristarchus assumes that their ap- only hypothetically. On this question, see Schau-
parent diameters are equal, which is nearly true; bach. (Gesch. d. Griech. Astronoinie, p. 468, &c. )
but estimates their common value at two degrees, It appears from the passage in the vauuitos allud-
which is nearly four times too great. The theory, ed to above, that Aristarchus had much juster
of parallax was as yet unknown, and hence, in views than his predecessors concerning the extent
order to compare the diameter of the earth with of the universe. He maintained, namely, that the
the magnitudes already mentioned, he compares sphere of the fixed stars was so large, that it bore
the diameter of the moon with that of the earth's to the orbit of the earth the relation of a sphere to
shadow in its neighbourhood, and assumes the its centre. What he meant by the expression, is
latter to be twice as great as the former. (Its not clear : it may be interpreted as an anticipation
mean value is about 81') Of course all the nuine- of modern discoveries, but in this sense it could
rical results deduced from these assumptions are, express only a conjecture which the observations
like the one first mentioned, very erroneous. The of the age were not accurate enough either to con-
gec trical processes employed shew that nothing | firin or refute-a remark which is equally applica-
like trigonometry was known. No attempt is ble to the theory of the earth's motion. Whatever
made to assign the absolute values of the magni- may be the truth on these points, it is probable
tudes whose ratios are investigated; in fact, ihis that even the opinion, that the sun was nearly
could not be done without an actual measurement twenty times as distant as the moon, indicates a
of the earth-an operation which seems to have great step in advance of the popular doctrines.
been first attempted on scientific principles in the Censorinus (de Die Natali, c. 18) attributes to
next generation. [ERATOSTHENES. ] Aristarchus Aristarchus the invention of the magnus annus of
does not explain his method of determining the 2484 years.
apparent diameters of the sun and of the earth's A Latin translation of the treatise Tepi yeyebav
shadow ; but the latter must have been deduced was published by Geor. Valla, Venet. 1498, and
from observations of lunar eclipses, and the former another by Commandine, Pisauri, 1572. The
may probably have been observed by means of the Greek text, with a Latin translation and the com-
skaphium method described by Macrobius. mentary of Pappus, was edited by Wallis, Oxon.
(Somn. Scip. i. 20. ) This instrument is said to 1688, and reprinted in vol. iii. of his works.
have been invented by Aristarchus (Vitruv. ix. 9): There is also a French translation, and an edition
it consisted of an improved gnomon (ANAXIMAN of the text, Paris, 1810. (Delambre, Hist. de
DER], the shadow being received not upon a hori- | l'Astronomie Ancienne, liv. i. chap. 5 and 9; La.
zontal plane, but upon a concave hemispherical place, Syst. du Monde, p. 381; Schaubach in Ersch
surface haring the extremity of the style at its and Gruber's Encyclopadie. ) (W. F. D. )
centre, so that angles might be measured directly ARISTARCHUS ('Aplotapxos) of Tegra, a
by arcs instead of by their tangents. The gross tragic poet at Athens, was contemporary with
crror in the value attributed to the sun's apparent Euripides, and fourished about 454 B. C. He
diameter is remarkable; it appears, however, that lived to the age of a hundred. Out of seventy
Aristarchus must afterwards have adopted a much tragedies which he exhibited, only two obtained
more correct estimate, since Archimedes in the the prize. (Suidas, s. r. ; Euseb. Chron. Armen. )
Yapuitns (Wallis, Op. vol. iii. p. 515) refers to a Nothing remains of his works, except a few lines
treatise in which he made it only half a degree. (Stobaeus, Tit. 63. § 9, tit. 120. § 2; Athen.
Pappus, whose commentary on the book tepi meye xi. p. 612, f. ), and the titles of three of his plays,
owv, &c. is extant, does not notice this emendation, namely, the 'AOxAnalós, which he is said to have
whence it has been conjectured, that the other written and named after the god in gratitude for
works of Aristarchus did not exist in his time, his recovery from illness (Suidas), the 'AxeAlevs,
haring perhaps perished with the Alexandrian which Ennius translated into Latin (Festus, s. r.
library.
prolato aere), and the Távtalos. (Stobaeus, ii.
It has been the common opinion, at least in mo- 1. $ 1. )
[P. S. ]
dern times, that Aristarchus agreed with Philolaus ARISTARETE, a painter, the daughter and
and other astronomiers of the Pythagorean school pupil of Nearchus, was celebrated for ber picture
in considering the sun to be fixed, and attributing of Aesculapius. (Plin. xxxv. 40. & 43. ) [P. S. ]
a motion to the earth. Plutarch (de fuc. in orb. lun. ARI'STEAS ('Aplotéas), of Proconnesus, a son
p. 92:2) sars, that Cleanthes thought that Aristar- of Carstrobius or Demochares, was an epic poet,
chus ought to be accused of impiety for supposing who fourished, according to Suidas, about the
(ÚTOTIDéuevos), that the heavens were at rest, and time of Croesus and Cyrus. The accounts of his
that the earth moved in an oblique circle, and also life are as fabulous as those about Abaris the Hyper-
about its own axis (the true reading is evidently borean. According to tradition, which Herodo-
Κλεάνθης ώετο δείν 'Αρίσταρχον, κ. τ. λ. ); and tus (iv. 15) heard at Metapontum, in southern
Diogenes Laërtius, in his list of the works of Cle- | Italy, he re-appeared there among the living 340
anthes mentions one προς 'Αρίσταρχον. (See also years after his death, and according to this tradi-
Sext. Empir. adv. Math. p. 410, c. ; Stobaeus, i. 26. ) tion Aristeas would belong to the eighth or ninth
Archimedes, in the vauuítas (1. c. ), refers to the century before the Christian era ; and there are
## p. 293 (#313) ############################################
ARISTEAS.
293
ARISTEIDES.
sure.
other traditions which place him before the time of | number of the translators, natá Tous bounkorta
Homer, or describe him as a contemporary and teach- (the Septuagint), and the same name was extend-
er of Homer. (Strab. xiv. p. 639. ) In the account of ed to the Greek version of the whole of the Old
llo-odotus (iv. 13-16), Tzetzes (Chil. ii. 724, Testament, when it had been completed under the
& ? and Suidas (s. v. ), Aristcas was a magician, auspices of the Ptolemies. The above account is
who rose after his death, and whose soul could given in a Greek work which professes to be a
leave and re-enter its body according to its plea- letter from Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, but
lle was, like Abaris, connected with the which is generally admitted by the best critics to
wojship of Apollo, which he was said to have in- be spurious. It is probably the fabrication of au
troduccu il ietapontum. Herodotus cills him Alexandrian Jew shortly before the Christian
the favourite an inspired bard of Apollo (pon-aera. The fact seems to be, that the version of the
Chauntos). He is said to have travelled through Pentateuch was made in the reign of Ptolemy
the countries north ani cast of the Euxine, and io Soter, between the years 290 and 285 B. c. for the
have visited the countries of the Issedoncs, Ari Jews who had been brought into Egypt by that
maspne, Cimmerii, Hyperborci, and other mythical king in 320 B. C. It may have obtained its name
nations, and after his return to have written an from its being adopted by the Sanhedrim (or
epic poem, in three books, called td’Apudoteca, in council of seventy) of the Alexandrian Jews. The
which he seems to have described all that he had other books of the Septuagint version were trans-
seen or pretended to have seen. This work, which lated by different persons and at various times.
was unquestionably full of marvellous stories, was The letter ascribed to Aristeas was first printed
nevertheless looked upon as a source of historical and in Greck and Latin, by Simon Schard, Basil. 1561,
geographical information, and some writers reckoned 8vo. , and reprinted at Oxford, 1692, 8vo. ; the
Aristeas among the logographers. But it was best edition is in Gallandi Biblioth. Patr. ii. p.
nevertheless a poetical production, and Strabo (i. p. 771. (Fabric. Bib. Gracc. iii. 660. )
21, xiii. p. 589) seems to judge too harshly of The story about Aristcas and the seventy inter-
him, when he calls him an arrip guns ež tis årlos. preters is told, chiefly on the authority of the let-
The
poem
“ Arimaspeia”
” is frequently mentioned ter but differing from it in some points, by Aristo-
by the ancients (Paus. i. 24. § 6, v. 7. & 9; Pol bulus, a Jewish philosopher (ap. Euscó. Praep.
lux, ix. 5; Gellius, ix. 4 ; Plin. H. Ñ. vii. 2), Evan. xiii. 12), Philo Judaeus (Vit
. Mos. 2), Jo-
and thirteen hexameter verses of it are preserved sephus (Ant. Jud. xii. 2), Justin Martyr (Cohort.
in Longinus (De Sullim. x. 4) and Tzetzes (Chil. ad Graec. p. 13, Apol. p. 72, Dial. cum Tryph. p.
vii. 687, &c. ). The existence of the poem is thus 297), Irenaeus (Adv. Huer. iii. 25), Clemens
attested beyond all doubt; but the ancients them- Alexandrinus (Strom. i. p. 250), Tertullian
selves denied to Aristeas the authorship of it.
