Arius Didymus ( ''Areios Didymos''; fl. 1st century BC) was a Stoic philosopher and teacher of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. Fragments of his handbooks summarizing Stoic and Peripatetic doctrines are preserved by

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 ...

and

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

Life

Arius was a citizen of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. Areius as well as his two sons, Dionysius and Nicanor, are said to have instructed Augustus himself in philosophy, and Areius for a time resided directly within Augustus's household. He is frequently mentioned by the philosopher

Themistius Themistius ( ; 317 – c. 388 AD), nicknamed Euphrades (, "''eloquent''"), was a statesman, rhetorician and philosopher. He flourished in the reigns of Constantius II, Julian, Jovian, Valens, Gratian and Theodosius I, and he enjoyed the favo ...

, who says that Augustus valued Areius not less than

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. Agrippa is well known for his important military victories, notably the B ...

, who is commonly thought of as Augustus's confidant and right-hand man (though it must be mentioned that Themistius was writing four hundred years after the fact).

esteemed him so highly, that after the conquest of Alexandria, he declared that he spared the city chiefly for the sake of Arius. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, Arius advised Augustus to execute

Caesarion Ptolemy XV Caesar (; , ; 47 BC – late August 30 BC), nicknamed Caesarion (, , "Little Caesar"), was the last pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, reigning with his mother Cleopatra VII from 2 September 44 BC until her death by 10 or 12 ...

, the son of

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

and

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, with the words "ouk agathon polukaisarie" ("it is not good to have too many Caesars"), a pun on a line in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

. Modern scholars disagree over whether this was the actual reason Augustus spared the city, as at the same time Augustus claimed he was also doing it to honor the memory of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, and some scholars also suggest that he did it to curry favor with that city's elite. Arius as well as his two sons, Dionysius and Nicanor, are said to have instructed Augustus in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He is frequently mentioned by

, who says that Augustus valued him not less than Agrippa. He is presumably the "Arius" whose ''Life'' was among those in the missing final section of book VII of the ''

Lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a ''life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * ''Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...

'' of

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

. Others sources state that he was offered the post of ''

Praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

'' or governor of Egypt, but that Areius turned Augustus down in order to take a post in the province of Sicilia, though modern scholars have some doubt about this anecdote (primarily because there are no other examples of anyone being "offered" a post by Augustus and having turned him down). It has been suggested that this story was state propaganda to justify Augustus's removal of Areius from the province of Egypt and installation of Cornelius Gallus as Praefectus. Areius was succeeded as "personal philosopher" of Augustus by the philosopher Theon. From

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

it appears that Areius also taught or wrote on rhetoric.

Philosophy

Arius Didymus is usually identified with the Arius whose works are quoted at length by

, summarising Stoic, Peripatetic and

Platonist Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary Platonists do not necessarily accept all doctrines of Plato. Platonism has had a profound effect on Western thought. At the most fundam ...

philosophy. That his full name is ''Arius Didymus'' we know from

, who quotes two long passages of his concerning Stoic views on

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

; the conflagration of the Universe; and the

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

.Eusebius, '' Praeparatio Evangelica'', xv. 15, 18–20.

Notes

External links

* Eusebius of Caesarea
''Praeparatio Evangelica'', Book XV
15, 18–20. * Joannes Stobaeus
''Anthology'', Book II
7.5–12. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arius Didymus 1st-century BC Greek philosophers Roman-era Stoic philosophers Roman-era Alexandrians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Philosophers in ancient Alexandria

Life

Philosophy

Notes

Further reading

External links