This representation chus, and became his
intimate
friend.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
(Paus.
i.
2.
§ 4 ; Diod.
Bacchic orgies are not alluded to in any way: i. 97. ) Respecting his festivals and the mode of
Dionysus is there simply described as the god | their celebration, and especially the introduction
who teaches man the preparation of wine, whence and suppression of his worship at Rome, see Dict.
he is called the “drunken god ” (uauvóuevos), and of Ant. s. vv. Aypovran 'Avõeotípia, 'Alwa,
the sober king Lycurgus will not, for this reason, Aiupa, and Dionysia.
tolerate him in his kingdom. (Hom. I. vi. 132, In the earliest times the Graces, or Charites,
&c. , Od. xviii. 406, comp. xi. 325. ) As the cul- were the companions of Dionysus (Pind. Ol. xiii.
tivation of the vine spread in Greece, the worship 20; Plut. Quuest. Gr. 36 ; Apollon. Rhod. ir.
of Dionysus likewise spread further; the mystic 424), and at Olympia he and the Charites had an
worship was developed by the Orphici, though it altar in common. (Schol
. ad Pind. Ol. v. 10;
probably originated the transfer of Phrygian Paus. 7. 14 in fin. ) This circumstance is of great
and Lydian modes of worship to that of Dionysus. interest, and points out the great change which
After the time of Alexander's expedition to India, took place in the course of time in the mode of his
the celebration of the Bacchic festivals assumed worship, for afterwards we find him accompanied
more and more their wild and dissolute character. in his expeditions and travels by Bacchantic
As far as the nature and origin of the god Diony- women, called Lenae, Maenades, Thyiades, Mimal-
sus is concerned, he appears in all traditions as the lones, Clodones, Bassarae or Bassarides, all of
representative of some power of nature, whereas whom are represented in works of art as raging
A pollo is mainly an ethical deity. Dionysus is with madness or enthusiasm, in vehement motions,
the productive, overflowing and intoxicating power their heads thrown backwards, with dishevelled
of nature, which carries man away from his usual hair, and carrying in their bands thyrsus-statis
quiet and sober mode of living. Wine is the most (entwined with ivy, and headed with pine-cones),
natural and appropriate symbol of that power, and cymbals, swords, or serpents. Sileni, Pans, sa-
it is therefore called “the fruit of Dionysus. " tyrs, centaurs, and other beings of a like kind, are
(Alovúcou Kaptós ; Pind. Fragm. 89, ed. Böckh. ) also the constant companions of the god. (Strai).
Dionysus is, therefore, the god of wine, the in- x. p. 468 ; Diod. iv. 4. &c. ; Catull. 64. 258 ;
ventor and teacher of its cultivation, the giver of | Athen i. p. 33 ; Paus. i. 2. S 7. )
joy, and the disperser of grief and sorrow. (Bac- The temples and statues of Dionysus were very
chyl. up. Alwn. ii. p. 40; Pind. Fraym. 5 ; Eu- numerous in the ancient world. Among the si-
## p. 1049 (#1069) ##########################################
DIOPEITIES.
1349
DIOPILANES.
crifices which were offered to him in the earliest | the latter were supported, but not with arms in the
tiines, human sacrifices are also mentioned. (Piulis. first instance, by Philip of Macedon, who, when
vii. 21. $ 1 ; Porphyr. de Austin. ji. 55. ) Subse the Athenians remonstrated, proposed that their
quently, however, this barbarous custom was sof- quarrel with Cardia should be referred to arbitrit-
tened down into a symbolic scourging, or animals tion. This proposal being indignantly rejected,
were substituted for men, as at Potniae. (Paus, viii. Philip sent troops to the assistance of the Cardians,
23. Ⓡ 1, ix. 8. § 1. ) The animal most commonly and Diopeithes retaliated by ravaging the maritime
sacrificed to Dionysus was a ram. (Virg. Georg. district of Thrace, which was subject to the Mace-
ii. 380, 395 ; Ov. Fast. i. 357. ) Among the things donians, while Philip was absent in the interior of
sacred to him, we may notice the vine, ivy, lau- the same country on his expedition against Teres
rel, and asphodel; the dolphin, serpent, tiger, lynx, and Cersobleptes. Philip sent a letter of remoji-
panther, and ass ; but he hated the sight of an strance to Athens, and Diopeithes was arraigned
owl. (Paus. viii
. 39. 4 ; Theocrit. xxvi. 4 ; by the Macedonian party, not only for hvis aggres-
Plut. Sympos. iii. 5; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 87; Virk. sion on the king's territory, but also for the incans
Edog. v. 30 ; Hygin. Poët. Astr. ii. 23 ; Philostr. (unjust doubtless and violent, but common enough
I may. ii. 17 ; Vit. Apollon. iii. 40. ) The earliest with all Athenian generals at the time,) to which
images of the god were mere Hermae with the he resorted for the support of his mercenaries. He
phallus (Paus. ix. 12. $ 3), or his head only was was defended by Demosthenes in the oration, still
represented. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1964. ) In extant, on the Chersonese, B. C. 341, and the de-
later works of art he appears in four different fence was successful, for he was permitted to retain
forms: 1. As an infant handed over by Hermes to his command. After this, and probably during
his nurses, or fondled and played with by satyrs the war of Philip with Byzantium (B. C. 340),
and Bacchae. 2. As a manly god with a beard, Diopeithes again invaded the Macedonian territory
commonly called the Indian Bacchus. He there in Thrace, took the towns of Crobyle and Tiristasis
appears in the character of a wise and dignified and enslaved the inhabitants, and when an ambas-
oriental monarch ; his features are expressive of sador, named Amphilochus, came to negotiate for
sublime tranquillity and mildness ; his beard is the release of the prisoners, he seized his person in
long and soft, and his Lydian robes (Baoodpa) defiance of all international law, and compelled him
are long and richly folded. His hair sometimes to pay nine talents for his ransom. (Arg. ad Dem.
floats down in locks, and is sometimes neatly wound de Chers. ; Dem. de Chers. passim ; Phil. Ep. ad
around the head, and a diadem often adorns his Ath. pp. 159, 160, 161. ) The enmity of Diopei-
forehead. 3. The youthful or so-called Theban thes to Philip appears to have recommended him
Bacchus, was carried to ideal beauty by Praxiteles. to the favour of the king of Persia (Artaxerxes
The form of his body is manly and with strong III. ), who, as we learn from Aristotle, sent him
outlines, but still approaches to the female form some valuable presents, which did not arrive, how-
by its softness and roundness. The expression of ever, till after his death. (Arist. Rhet. ii. 8. $ 11;
the countenance is languid, and shews a kind of comp. Phil. Ep. ad Ath. p. 160; Dem. Philipp. iii.
dreamy longing ; the head, with a diadem, or a p. 129, in Ep. Phil. p. 153; Pseudo-Dem. Philipp.
wreath of vine or ivy, leans somewhat on one iv. p. 140; Diod. xvi. 75; Art. Anab. ii. 14;
side ; his attitude is never sublime, but easy, like Paus. i. 29. )
(E. E. ]
that of a man who is absorbed in sweet thoughts, DIOʻPHANES (Alopávns). 1. Of Mytilene,
or slightly intoxicated. He is often seen leaning one of the most distinguished Greek rhetoricians
on his companions, or riding on a panther, ass, of the time of the Gracchi. For reasons unknown
tiger, or lion. The finest statue of this kind is in to us, he was obliged to quit his native place, and
the villa Ludovisi. 4. Bacchus with horns, either went to Rome, where he instructed Tiberius Grac-
those of a ram or of a bull.
This representation chus, and became his intimate friend. After T.
occurs chiefly on coins, but never in statues. Gracchus had fallen a victim to the oligarchical
(Welcker, Zeitschrift, p. 500, &c. ; Hirt. Mythol. faction, Diophanes and many other friends of
Bilderb. i. p. 76, &c. )
(L. S. ] Gracchus were also put to death. (Cic. Brut. 27;
DIOPEITHES (Alonelons). 1. A half-fanatic, Strab. xiii. p. 617; Plut. T. Gracch. 8, 20. ) An-
half-impostor, who made at Athens an apparently other much later rhetorician of the same name oc-
thriving trade of oracles. He was much satirized curs in Porphyry's life of Plotinus.
by the comic poets, and may perhaps be identified 2. Is quoted as the author of a history of Pon-
with the Locrian juggler mentioned in Athenaeus. tus, in several books. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod.
(i. p. 20, a. ) If so, he must be distinguished from iii. 241; Eudoc. p. 31. )
[L. S. ]
the Diopeithes of whom we read in Suidas as the DIO'PHANES (Alopávns) a native of Nicaea,
author of a law which made it a capital offence for in Bithynia, in the first century B. C. , who abridged
an inhabitant of the city to spend the night in the the agricultural work of Cassius Dionysius for the
Peiraeus, and who was brought to trial for an in- use of king Deiotarus. (Varr. De Re Rust. i. 1. 20;
voluntary breach of his own enactment. (Aristoph. Colum. De Re Rust. i. 1. 10 ; Plin. H. N. Index to
Eq. 1081, Vesp. 380, Av. 988; Schol. ad ll. cc. ; lib. viii. ) His work consisted of six books, and
Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. p. 154, ii. pp. 36-4, was afterwards further abridged by Asinius Pollio.
583, 704 ; Suid. 8. ου. Γοργών, Διοπείθης, Επιτή- (Suid. S. 1. Πωλίων. ) Diophanes is quoted severall
δευμα, 'Ωψίσθη. )
times in the Collection of Greek Writers, De Re
2. An Athenian general, father of the poet Rustica.
(W. A. G. ]
Menander, was sent out to the Thracian Cherso- DIOʻPHANES MYRINAEUS, the author of
nesus about B. C. 344, at the head of a body of a worthless epigram in the Greek Anthology.
Athenian settlers or kampouxoi. (Dem. de Chers. | (Brunck, Anal. ii
. 259; Jacobs, ii. 236. ) Jacobs
p. 91, Philipp. 1. p. 114 ; Pseud. -Dem. de Hulonu. thinks, that he is a late writer, and ought not to
pp. 86, 87. ) Disputes having arisen about their be identified with the Diophanes who is mentioned
boundaries between these settlers and the Cardians, by Cicero and Plutarch as the instructor of Tibe-
## p. 1050 (#1070) ##########################################
1050
DIOPIIANTUS.
DIOPIIANTUS.
rius Gracchus, nor with the Diophanes whom Varro It is singular that, though his date is uncerta::1
mentions. (Jacobs, xiii. p. 886. ) [P. S. ) to a couple of centuries at least, we have some rea-
DIOPIIANTUS (Abqavtos). 1. A native of son to suppose that he married at the age of 33, and
Arabia, who however lived at Athens, where lie that in five years a son was born of this marriage,
was at the head of the sophistical school. He who died at the age of 42, four years before his
was a contemporary of Proaeresius, whom he sur- father: so that Diophantus lived to 84. Bachet,
vived, and whose funeral oration he delivered in his editor, found a problem proposed in verse, in an
A. D. 368. (Eunapius, Diophant. p. 127, &c. , unpublished Greek anthology, like some of those
Proucres. p. 109. )
which Diophantus himself proposed in verse, and
2. An Attic orator and contemporary of Demos- composed in the manner of an epitaph. The un-
thenes, with whom he opposed the Macedonian known quantity is the age to which Diophantus
party. He is mentioned as one of the most emi- lived, and tne simple equation of condition to which
nent speakers of the time. (Dem. de Fals. Leg. it leads gives, when solved, the preceding informa-
pp. 368, 403, 436, c. Lept. p. 498; Harpocrat. tion. But it is just as likely as not that the maker
and Suid. s. v. Menávumos. ) Reiske, in the Index of the epigram invented the dates.
to Demosthenes, believes him to be the same as the When the manuscripts of Diophantus came to
author of the psephisma mentioned by Demosthenes light in the 16th century, it was said that there were
(de Fals. Leg. p. 368), and also identical with the thirteen books of the · Arithmetica :' but no more
one who, according to Diodorus (xvi. 48), assisted than six have ever been produced with that title ;
the king of Persia in his Egyptian war, in B. C.
besides which we have one book, ‘De Multangulis
350.
Numeris,' on polygonal numbers. These books
3. Of Lacedaemon, is quoted by Fulgentius contain a system of reasoning on numbers by the
( Mythinl. i. 1) as the author of a work on Antiqui- aid of general symbols, and with some use of sym-
ties, in fourteen books, and on the worship of the bols of operation ; so that, though the demonstra-
gods. Whether he is the same as the geographer, tions are very much conducted in words at length,
Diophantus, who wrote a description of the north- and arranged so as to remind us of Euclid, there is
ern countries (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 250, p. 454, b. ), no question that the work is algebraical: not a
which is also quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium treatise on algebra, but an algebraical treatise on
(s. v. "A6101), or the Diophantus who wrote a work the relations of integer numbers, and on the solu-
TOMITIKá (Steph. Byz. s. v. Aibuotivo), cannot be tion of equations of more than one variable in inte-
decided.
gers. Hence such questions obtained the name of
4. A slave of Straton, who was manumitted by Diophantine, and the modern works on that pecu-
the will of his master. (Diog. Laërt. v. 63. ) He culiar branch of numerical analysis which is called
seems to be the same as the Diophantus mentioned the theory of numbers, such as those of Gauss and
in the will of Lycon. (Id. v. 71. )
Legendre, would have been said, a century ago, to
5. Of Syracuse, a Pythagorean philosopher, who be full of Diophantine analysis. As there are many
seems to have been an author, for his opinion on the classical students who will not see a copy of Dio-
origin of the world is adduced by Theodoretus. phantus in their lives, it may be desirable to give
(Therap. iv. p. 795. )
(L. S. ] one simple proposition from that writer in modern
DIOPHANTUS (416 Pavtos), an Athenian co words and symbols, annexing the algebraical phrases
mic poet of the new comedy. (Antiatticista, p. 115, from the original.
21: φέρειν τον οίνον επί του νηφειν. Διόφαντος Book i. qu. 30. Having given the sum of two
Μετοικιζομένω. )
[P. S. ] numbers (20) and their product (96), required the
DIOPHANTUS (A16Pavtos), of Alexandria, numbers. Observe that the square of the half sum
the only Greek writer on Algebra.
Bacchic orgies are not alluded to in any way: i. 97. ) Respecting his festivals and the mode of
Dionysus is there simply described as the god | their celebration, and especially the introduction
who teaches man the preparation of wine, whence and suppression of his worship at Rome, see Dict.
he is called the “drunken god ” (uauvóuevos), and of Ant. s. vv. Aypovran 'Avõeotípia, 'Alwa,
the sober king Lycurgus will not, for this reason, Aiupa, and Dionysia.
tolerate him in his kingdom. (Hom. I. vi. 132, In the earliest times the Graces, or Charites,
&c. , Od. xviii. 406, comp. xi. 325. ) As the cul- were the companions of Dionysus (Pind. Ol. xiii.
tivation of the vine spread in Greece, the worship 20; Plut. Quuest. Gr. 36 ; Apollon. Rhod. ir.
of Dionysus likewise spread further; the mystic 424), and at Olympia he and the Charites had an
worship was developed by the Orphici, though it altar in common. (Schol
. ad Pind. Ol. v. 10;
probably originated the transfer of Phrygian Paus. 7. 14 in fin. ) This circumstance is of great
and Lydian modes of worship to that of Dionysus. interest, and points out the great change which
After the time of Alexander's expedition to India, took place in the course of time in the mode of his
the celebration of the Bacchic festivals assumed worship, for afterwards we find him accompanied
more and more their wild and dissolute character. in his expeditions and travels by Bacchantic
As far as the nature and origin of the god Diony- women, called Lenae, Maenades, Thyiades, Mimal-
sus is concerned, he appears in all traditions as the lones, Clodones, Bassarae or Bassarides, all of
representative of some power of nature, whereas whom are represented in works of art as raging
A pollo is mainly an ethical deity. Dionysus is with madness or enthusiasm, in vehement motions,
the productive, overflowing and intoxicating power their heads thrown backwards, with dishevelled
of nature, which carries man away from his usual hair, and carrying in their bands thyrsus-statis
quiet and sober mode of living. Wine is the most (entwined with ivy, and headed with pine-cones),
natural and appropriate symbol of that power, and cymbals, swords, or serpents. Sileni, Pans, sa-
it is therefore called “the fruit of Dionysus. " tyrs, centaurs, and other beings of a like kind, are
(Alovúcou Kaptós ; Pind. Fragm. 89, ed. Böckh. ) also the constant companions of the god. (Strai).
Dionysus is, therefore, the god of wine, the in- x. p. 468 ; Diod. iv. 4. &c. ; Catull. 64. 258 ;
ventor and teacher of its cultivation, the giver of | Athen i. p. 33 ; Paus. i. 2. S 7. )
joy, and the disperser of grief and sorrow. (Bac- The temples and statues of Dionysus were very
chyl. up. Alwn. ii. p. 40; Pind. Fraym. 5 ; Eu- numerous in the ancient world. Among the si-
## p. 1049 (#1069) ##########################################
DIOPEITIES.
1349
DIOPILANES.
crifices which were offered to him in the earliest | the latter were supported, but not with arms in the
tiines, human sacrifices are also mentioned. (Piulis. first instance, by Philip of Macedon, who, when
vii. 21. $ 1 ; Porphyr. de Austin. ji. 55. ) Subse the Athenians remonstrated, proposed that their
quently, however, this barbarous custom was sof- quarrel with Cardia should be referred to arbitrit-
tened down into a symbolic scourging, or animals tion. This proposal being indignantly rejected,
were substituted for men, as at Potniae. (Paus, viii. Philip sent troops to the assistance of the Cardians,
23. Ⓡ 1, ix. 8. § 1. ) The animal most commonly and Diopeithes retaliated by ravaging the maritime
sacrificed to Dionysus was a ram. (Virg. Georg. district of Thrace, which was subject to the Mace-
ii. 380, 395 ; Ov. Fast. i. 357. ) Among the things donians, while Philip was absent in the interior of
sacred to him, we may notice the vine, ivy, lau- the same country on his expedition against Teres
rel, and asphodel; the dolphin, serpent, tiger, lynx, and Cersobleptes. Philip sent a letter of remoji-
panther, and ass ; but he hated the sight of an strance to Athens, and Diopeithes was arraigned
owl. (Paus. viii
. 39. 4 ; Theocrit. xxvi. 4 ; by the Macedonian party, not only for hvis aggres-
Plut. Sympos. iii. 5; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 87; Virk. sion on the king's territory, but also for the incans
Edog. v. 30 ; Hygin. Poët. Astr. ii. 23 ; Philostr. (unjust doubtless and violent, but common enough
I may. ii. 17 ; Vit. Apollon. iii. 40. ) The earliest with all Athenian generals at the time,) to which
images of the god were mere Hermae with the he resorted for the support of his mercenaries. He
phallus (Paus. ix. 12. $ 3), or his head only was was defended by Demosthenes in the oration, still
represented. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1964. ) In extant, on the Chersonese, B. C. 341, and the de-
later works of art he appears in four different fence was successful, for he was permitted to retain
forms: 1. As an infant handed over by Hermes to his command. After this, and probably during
his nurses, or fondled and played with by satyrs the war of Philip with Byzantium (B. C. 340),
and Bacchae. 2. As a manly god with a beard, Diopeithes again invaded the Macedonian territory
commonly called the Indian Bacchus. He there in Thrace, took the towns of Crobyle and Tiristasis
appears in the character of a wise and dignified and enslaved the inhabitants, and when an ambas-
oriental monarch ; his features are expressive of sador, named Amphilochus, came to negotiate for
sublime tranquillity and mildness ; his beard is the release of the prisoners, he seized his person in
long and soft, and his Lydian robes (Baoodpa) defiance of all international law, and compelled him
are long and richly folded. His hair sometimes to pay nine talents for his ransom. (Arg. ad Dem.
floats down in locks, and is sometimes neatly wound de Chers. ; Dem. de Chers. passim ; Phil. Ep. ad
around the head, and a diadem often adorns his Ath. pp. 159, 160, 161. ) The enmity of Diopei-
forehead. 3. The youthful or so-called Theban thes to Philip appears to have recommended him
Bacchus, was carried to ideal beauty by Praxiteles. to the favour of the king of Persia (Artaxerxes
The form of his body is manly and with strong III. ), who, as we learn from Aristotle, sent him
outlines, but still approaches to the female form some valuable presents, which did not arrive, how-
by its softness and roundness. The expression of ever, till after his death. (Arist. Rhet. ii. 8. $ 11;
the countenance is languid, and shews a kind of comp. Phil. Ep. ad Ath. p. 160; Dem. Philipp. iii.
dreamy longing ; the head, with a diadem, or a p. 129, in Ep. Phil. p. 153; Pseudo-Dem. Philipp.
wreath of vine or ivy, leans somewhat on one iv. p. 140; Diod. xvi. 75; Art. Anab. ii. 14;
side ; his attitude is never sublime, but easy, like Paus. i. 29. )
(E. E. ]
that of a man who is absorbed in sweet thoughts, DIOʻPHANES (Alopávns). 1. Of Mytilene,
or slightly intoxicated. He is often seen leaning one of the most distinguished Greek rhetoricians
on his companions, or riding on a panther, ass, of the time of the Gracchi. For reasons unknown
tiger, or lion. The finest statue of this kind is in to us, he was obliged to quit his native place, and
the villa Ludovisi. 4. Bacchus with horns, either went to Rome, where he instructed Tiberius Grac-
those of a ram or of a bull.
This representation chus, and became his intimate friend. After T.
occurs chiefly on coins, but never in statues. Gracchus had fallen a victim to the oligarchical
(Welcker, Zeitschrift, p. 500, &c. ; Hirt. Mythol. faction, Diophanes and many other friends of
Bilderb. i. p. 76, &c. )
(L. S. ] Gracchus were also put to death. (Cic. Brut. 27;
DIOPEITHES (Alonelons). 1. A half-fanatic, Strab. xiii. p. 617; Plut. T. Gracch. 8, 20. ) An-
half-impostor, who made at Athens an apparently other much later rhetorician of the same name oc-
thriving trade of oracles. He was much satirized curs in Porphyry's life of Plotinus.
by the comic poets, and may perhaps be identified 2. Is quoted as the author of a history of Pon-
with the Locrian juggler mentioned in Athenaeus. tus, in several books. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod.
(i. p. 20, a. ) If so, he must be distinguished from iii. 241; Eudoc. p. 31. )
[L. S. ]
the Diopeithes of whom we read in Suidas as the DIO'PHANES (Alopávns) a native of Nicaea,
author of a law which made it a capital offence for in Bithynia, in the first century B. C. , who abridged
an inhabitant of the city to spend the night in the the agricultural work of Cassius Dionysius for the
Peiraeus, and who was brought to trial for an in- use of king Deiotarus. (Varr. De Re Rust. i. 1. 20;
voluntary breach of his own enactment. (Aristoph. Colum. De Re Rust. i. 1. 10 ; Plin. H. N. Index to
Eq. 1081, Vesp. 380, Av. 988; Schol. ad ll. cc. ; lib. viii. ) His work consisted of six books, and
Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. p. 154, ii. pp. 36-4, was afterwards further abridged by Asinius Pollio.
583, 704 ; Suid. 8. ου. Γοργών, Διοπείθης, Επιτή- (Suid. S. 1. Πωλίων. ) Diophanes is quoted severall
δευμα, 'Ωψίσθη. )
times in the Collection of Greek Writers, De Re
2. An Athenian general, father of the poet Rustica.
(W. A. G. ]
Menander, was sent out to the Thracian Cherso- DIOʻPHANES MYRINAEUS, the author of
nesus about B. C. 344, at the head of a body of a worthless epigram in the Greek Anthology.
Athenian settlers or kampouxoi. (Dem. de Chers. | (Brunck, Anal. ii
. 259; Jacobs, ii. 236. ) Jacobs
p. 91, Philipp. 1. p. 114 ; Pseud. -Dem. de Hulonu. thinks, that he is a late writer, and ought not to
pp. 86, 87. ) Disputes having arisen about their be identified with the Diophanes who is mentioned
boundaries between these settlers and the Cardians, by Cicero and Plutarch as the instructor of Tibe-
## p. 1050 (#1070) ##########################################
1050
DIOPIIANTUS.
DIOPIIANTUS.
rius Gracchus, nor with the Diophanes whom Varro It is singular that, though his date is uncerta::1
mentions. (Jacobs, xiii. p. 886. ) [P. S. ) to a couple of centuries at least, we have some rea-
DIOPIIANTUS (Abqavtos). 1. A native of son to suppose that he married at the age of 33, and
Arabia, who however lived at Athens, where lie that in five years a son was born of this marriage,
was at the head of the sophistical school. He who died at the age of 42, four years before his
was a contemporary of Proaeresius, whom he sur- father: so that Diophantus lived to 84. Bachet,
vived, and whose funeral oration he delivered in his editor, found a problem proposed in verse, in an
A. D. 368. (Eunapius, Diophant. p. 127, &c. , unpublished Greek anthology, like some of those
Proucres. p. 109. )
which Diophantus himself proposed in verse, and
2. An Attic orator and contemporary of Demos- composed in the manner of an epitaph. The un-
thenes, with whom he opposed the Macedonian known quantity is the age to which Diophantus
party. He is mentioned as one of the most emi- lived, and tne simple equation of condition to which
nent speakers of the time. (Dem. de Fals. Leg. it leads gives, when solved, the preceding informa-
pp. 368, 403, 436, c. Lept. p. 498; Harpocrat. tion. But it is just as likely as not that the maker
and Suid. s. v. Menávumos. ) Reiske, in the Index of the epigram invented the dates.
to Demosthenes, believes him to be the same as the When the manuscripts of Diophantus came to
author of the psephisma mentioned by Demosthenes light in the 16th century, it was said that there were
(de Fals. Leg. p. 368), and also identical with the thirteen books of the · Arithmetica :' but no more
one who, according to Diodorus (xvi. 48), assisted than six have ever been produced with that title ;
the king of Persia in his Egyptian war, in B. C.
besides which we have one book, ‘De Multangulis
350.
Numeris,' on polygonal numbers. These books
3. Of Lacedaemon, is quoted by Fulgentius contain a system of reasoning on numbers by the
( Mythinl. i. 1) as the author of a work on Antiqui- aid of general symbols, and with some use of sym-
ties, in fourteen books, and on the worship of the bols of operation ; so that, though the demonstra-
gods. Whether he is the same as the geographer, tions are very much conducted in words at length,
Diophantus, who wrote a description of the north- and arranged so as to remind us of Euclid, there is
ern countries (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 250, p. 454, b. ), no question that the work is algebraical: not a
which is also quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium treatise on algebra, but an algebraical treatise on
(s. v. "A6101), or the Diophantus who wrote a work the relations of integer numbers, and on the solu-
TOMITIKá (Steph. Byz. s. v. Aibuotivo), cannot be tion of equations of more than one variable in inte-
decided.
gers. Hence such questions obtained the name of
4. A slave of Straton, who was manumitted by Diophantine, and the modern works on that pecu-
the will of his master. (Diog. Laërt. v. 63. ) He culiar branch of numerical analysis which is called
seems to be the same as the Diophantus mentioned the theory of numbers, such as those of Gauss and
in the will of Lycon. (Id. v. 71. )
Legendre, would have been said, a century ago, to
5. Of Syracuse, a Pythagorean philosopher, who be full of Diophantine analysis. As there are many
seems to have been an author, for his opinion on the classical students who will not see a copy of Dio-
origin of the world is adduced by Theodoretus. phantus in their lives, it may be desirable to give
(Therap. iv. p. 795. )
(L. S. ] one simple proposition from that writer in modern
DIOPHANTUS (416 Pavtos), an Athenian co words and symbols, annexing the algebraical phrases
mic poet of the new comedy. (Antiatticista, p. 115, from the original.
21: φέρειν τον οίνον επί του νηφειν. Διόφαντος Book i. qu. 30. Having given the sum of two
Μετοικιζομένω. )
[P. S. ] numbers (20) and their product (96), required the
DIOPHANTUS (A16Pavtos), of Alexandria, numbers. Observe that the square of the half sum
the only Greek writer on Algebra.
