Potamo of Mytilene
Potamo or Potamon (Greek: Ποτάμων ὁ Μυτιληναῖος; around 65 BC–around AD 25)[1]) of Mytilene in Lesbos,[2] son of Lesbonax the rhetorician, was himself a rhetorician in the time of the Roman emperor Tiberius, whose favour he enjoyed.[3] He is mentioned by Plutarch as an authority regarding Alexander the Great.[4] It is probably he whom Lucian states to have attained the age of ninety.[5]
When his son was killed, according to Seneca the Elder, he delivered a speech on the suasoria relating to the Spartans deliberating whether to flee Thermopylae wherein he exhorted the Spartans against flight, in contrast to his rival Lesbocles,[1] who shut down his school of rhetoric after the death of his son.[6] His city sent him on embassies to Rome in 45 and 25 BC.[1]
Works
[edit]The Suda informs us that, in addition to his work On Alexander of Macedon (Περὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος), he wrote several other works, namely:
- Annals of the Samians (Ὅρους Σαμίων)
- Encomium of Brutus (Βρούτου ἐγκώμιον)
- Encomium of Caesar (Καίσαρος ἐγκώμιον)
- On the Perfect Orator (Περὶ τελείου ῥήτορος)
To these should perhaps be added On the Different, quoted by Ammonius Grammaticus.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c Edward, William (1928). The Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. xliii.
- ^ Strabo, xiii.
- ^ Suda π 2127, Potamon
- ^ Plutarch, Alex. 61
- ^ Lucian, Macrob. § 23
- ^ Edward, William (1928). The Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Potamon of Mytilene". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. III. p. 513.
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