Polyaenus or Polyenus ( ; see ae (æ) vs. e; , "much-praised") was a 2nd-century Roman Macedonian author and rhetorician, known best for his ''Stratagems in War'' (), which has been preserved. He was born in

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'' calls him a

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

ian, and Polyaenus himself writes that he was accustomed to plead causes before the Roman emperor. Polyaenus dedicated ''Stratagems in War'' to the two emperors

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

() and

Lucius Verus Lucius Aurelius Verus (; 15 December 130 – 23 January 169) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death in 169, alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Verus' succession together with Ma ...

(), while they were engaged in the

Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 (also called the Parthian War of Lucius Verus) was fought between the Roman Empire, Roman and Parthian Empires over Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in 16 ...

, about 163, at which time he was too old to accompany them in their campaigns.

Stratagems

This work is divided into eight books: the first six contain accounts of the stratagems of the most celebrated

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

generals and rulers, the seventh book contains stratagems of non Greeks and Romans, and the eighth book those of the Romans and of illustrious women. Parts, however, of the sixth and seventh books are lost, so that of the 900 stratagems which Polyaenus described, 833 have survived. The book has survived in a single copy made in the 13th century, although there exist five abridged versions. The full copy once belonged to Michel Apostolios. It contains a vast number of anecdotes respecting many of the most celebrated men in antiquity, and has uniquely preserved many historical facts. Polyaenus was first printed in a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

translation, executed by Justus Vulteius, at

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, 1549. The

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the Greek text was published by

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two F ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, 1589; the next by Pancratius Maasvicius,

Leyden Leiden ( ; ; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 127,046 (31 January 2023), but the city forms one densely connecte ...

, 1690; the third by Samuel Mursinna,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, 1756; the fourth by

Adamantios Korais Adamantios Korais or Koraïs ( ; ; ; 27 April 17486 April 1833) was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War ...

, Paris, 1809.Polyaenus’ Stratagems
ELINEPA, 2019 The work has been translated into English by R. Shepherd,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 1793; into German by Seybold,

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, 1793–94, and by Blume,

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, 1834.

Other works

Polyaenus also wrote several other works, all of which have perished. The ''Suda'' has preserved the titles of two, ''On Thebes'' (Περὶ Θηβῶν) and ''Tactics'', in three books (Τακτικά).

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; ; 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each. The tw ...

makes a quotation from a work of Polyaenus, Ὑπὲρ τoῦ κoινoῦ τῶν Mακεδόνων (''For the

koinon of Macedonians The League of the Macedonians and Koinon of Macedonia (), was a confederationally-organized commonwealth institution regional state or ) consisting of all Macedonian communities united around a monarch.. It can be paralleled from the Epirote Le ...

''), and from another entitled Ὑπὲρ τoῦ Συνεδρίoυ (''For the

Synedrion A synedrion or synhedrion ( Greek: συνέδριον, "sitting together", hence " assembly" or "council"; , ''sanhedrin'') is an assembly that holds formal sessions. The Latinized form is synedrium. Depending on the widely varied constitutions, i ...

''). Polyaenus likewise mentions his intention of writing a work on the memorable actions of M. Aurelius and L. Verus.

Notes

External links

LiviusPolyaenus
by Jona Lendering
Polyaenus, ''Stratagems of War'', Translated by E. Shepherd, 1793
(excerpts: those stratagems concerning Alexander and some of the

Diadochi The Diadochi were the rival generals, families, and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for control over his empire after his death in 323 BC. The Wars of the Diadochi mark the beginning of the Hellenistic period from the Mediterran ...

)
''Stratagems of War''
(complete translation)
Eduard von Woelffin 1887 edition at the Internet Archive
{{Authority control 2nd-century writers 2nd-century historians Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire Ancient Greek military writers Ancient Macedonian historians Ancient Macedonian anthologists Roman-era Macedonians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Phoenicia in ancient sources

Stratagems

Other works

Notes

Further reading

External links