News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Life
Culture & Art
Hobbies
News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Culture & Art
Hobbies
A Solid Gold Colossus: Why Tyrants Spend Other Peoples’ Money – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Suda, Κυψελιδῶν ἀνάθημα At Olympia. Plato claims in the Phaedrus that a metal Colossos was set up next to the dedication of the Kypselids at Olympia. But they claim that this from Kypselos himself and not the Kypselids. Agaklutos speaks about this in his On Olympia. “An ancient temple of Hera, dedicated by the Skillians.…
Presocratic Healthcare Plan: Everyone a Doctor, Everyone a Sage – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
A Letter to Hippocrates: Ps.-Hipp. Epist. 23 (9.392–93 Littré) “Democritus writes to Hippocrates on the nature of human beings: “Hippocrates, all people should know the art of medicine, since it it is noble and also advantageous for life and it is a special possession of those people who have deep experience in education and argumentation. I think…
Don’t Blackmail Sick People for Money, A Healthcare Plan – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Corpus Hippocratica, Precepts 4.10 “The way you address a patient requires some kind of a theory too. For, if you begin talking about payment, then something else occurs in every situation. You will leave the sick person with the kind of impression that you will abandon him and leave if there is no agreement and…
On (the many) Signs of Rain – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Lykophron, Alexandra 79-82 "That was the time when Zeus rained over the whole earth and his flood destroyed everything. Their towers were thrown to the ground and the people started to swim once they saw their own destruction." ὅτ᾿ ἠμάθυνε πᾶσαν ὀμβρήσας χθόνα Ζηνὸς καχλάζων νασμός· οἱ δὲ πρὸς πέδῳ πύργοι κατηρείποντο, τοὶ δὲ λοισθίαν νήχοντο…
Death, Sleep, and Our Bodies’ Recyclable Clay – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plutarch, Moralia. A Letter of Condolence to Apollonius, 106e-f “For when is death not present among us? Truly, as Heraclitus says, “living and dying is the same and so is being awake and asleep or youth and old age. For each turns back into the other again.” Just as someone can make shapes of living…
The Worst Part of a Plague: Despair – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Thucydides 2.48 "Let each person who understands something about this, whether a doctor or a private citizen, speak about what its likely origin was and whatever causes he believes likely of such a great change. I will only say what kind of a disease it was and how someone might recognize it and be able…
Death, A Pre-existing Condition – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 3.1076-1094 “Finally, what great and vile desire for life compels us To quake so much amidst doubts and dangers? Mortals have an absolute end to our lives: Death cannot be evaded—we must leave. Nevertheless, we move again and still persist— No new pleasure is procured by living; But while what we…
The Injustice of Justice’s “Slow Grind” – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plutarch, On Divine Vengeance (Moralia 549c-e) “Just as a lash or a prod that immediately follows a stumble or a misdirection straightens out a horse and compels it to the right path, but if you annoy the creature and pull on the reins or flick the whip later on and at length, such an action…
A Many-Headed Song and Human Happiness – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Pindar, Pythian 12.17-32 “Yet when the maiden [Athena] rescued that dear man [Perseus] From his labors, she composed a song with every note of the pipes, So she might recall the resounding wail elicited from *Euryale’s Gasping cheeks with musical instruments. The goddess created this, but she made it for mortal men to possess And…
Poems on Hangovers and the Cures – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Crapulous: def. 2: Sick from excessive indulgence in liquor. From the Suda: “Kraipalê: The pounding that comes from drinking too much wine. We also have the participle “carousing” which is when someone acts poorly because of drinking, or just being drunk. It derives from the word “head” (kara) and “pound” (pallein). Or, it could also come…
Instead of Shopping, Read Some More Lucretius – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Favorinus, [According to Aulus Gellius] “It is impossible for someone who has fifteen thousand cloaks not to want more.” τὸν γὰρ μυρίων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων χλαμύδων δεόμενον οὐκ ἔστι μὴ πλειόνων δεῖσθαι· Lucretius De Rerum Natura, 3.970-971 “Thus one thing never ceases to arise from another, and life is given to no one for ownership, but to…
“Like the Full Moon…” Some Greek Proverbs on Gratitude – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Arsenius, 6.38b “If you are able to give thanks, don’t tarry, but give it—since you know that things are not everlasting.” Δυνάμενος χαρίζεσθαι, μὴ βράδυνε, ἀλλὰ δίδου, ἐπιστάμενος μὴ εἶναι τὰ πράγματα μόνιμα. Arsenius, 6.95c "Humans have greater thanks for the unexpected" ᾿Εκ τῶν ἀέλπτων ἡ χάρις μείζων βροτοῖς Arsenius 8.42p “Just like food for…
Get the Best of Every Thanksgiving Dish With this One Simple Trick! – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
The training regimen of Philoxenus of Leucus (Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 1.9.1-19) “Certain flat-cakes were eventually named ‘Philoxenian’ from a man named Philoxenus. Chrysippus says of him: ‘I know of a certain foodie who fell so far from worrying about what people thought of his actions that he publicly tried to get used to heat in the…
The Laws and the Soul of the State – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Solon, Fragment 4. 30-33. Lawlessness brings a city nothing but evil. But upholding law makes things orderly and sound, And, time and again, it locks up crooks. ὡς κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομίη παρέχει, εὐνομίη δ᾽ εὔκοσμα καὶ ἄρτια πάντ᾽ ἀποφαίνει, καὶ θαμὰ τοῖς ἀδίκοις ἀμφιτίθησι πέδας. The follwoing sayings come from the Gnomologium Vaticanum 112…
Disrupt This! Bronze-Guts and Endless Books – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
"New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone" You don't need computers to do this. you just need a colon made of bronze From the Suda “Didymus, son of Didymus the fishmonger. He was an Aristarchian grammarian in Alexandria. He lived around the time of Antony…
A Handy Rejoinder if You’re Drinking – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
From the Gnomologium Vaticanum 371 “Kleostratos the drunk, when someone asked him in admonishment “Aren’t you ashamed to be drunk?”, responded “Aren’t you ashamed of admonishing a drunk?” Κλεόστρατος ὁ φιλοπότης, ὡς μεθύοντά τις αὐτὸν ἐνουθέτει λέγων· „οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ μεθύων”; ἔφη· „σὺ δὲ οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ μεθύοντα νουθετῶν”. And, whether dry or wet, the following saying might be…
Happiness Can’t Make You Happy! – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Seneca, Moral Epistle 98.1-2 "You don't ever need to believe that anyone who relies on happiness is really happy. Whoever delights in things outside of their control leans on brittle supports: external happiness will go away. But the feeling that rises from oneself is legit and strong--it grows and stays with us to our final moment. Everything…
Retreat or Resist? Seneca and Plutarch Disagree on Peace of Mind – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
How do we maintain equanimity in the midst of chaos? Seneca, Moral Epistle 94.68-69 "Don’t believe it is possible for anyone to be happy because of someone else’s unhappiness. These examples placed before our ears and ears, must be taken apart—we have to empty our hearts of the corrupting tales that fill them. Virtue must…
Becoming a Person and the Search for Happiness – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Dio Chrysostom, Discourse 24, On Happiness “Most people don’t really think at all about what kinds of people they should be nor what is best for a person, what goal they should do everything else in pursuing. But individually, some work at becoming equestrians, leading armies, becoming athletes, or musicians, or farmers, or orators. Yet,…
Let Nothing External Spark Joy, the Stoic Way – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Seneca, Moral Epistles 23.1-2 "Do you think that I am going to write about how mild our winter has been, since it is over and was brief, or how terrible the spring is with its prolonged cold and all those foolish things people write when they're grasping for words? Nope. I will write you something else…
Distracted from Justice by Profit – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Plutarch, Life of Brutus 29 “Faith in his sense of principle provided was the foundation of his great good will and fame. For Pompey the Great was not expected—should he overcome Caesar—to put down his power in deference to the laws, but people thought he would keep his political control, smooth-talking the people with the…
A Good Shared by the State and the People – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Tyrtaeus 12 [= Stob. 4.10.1 (vv. 1–14) + 6 (vv. 15–44)] “I wouldn’t celebrate or even mention a man For the strength of his feet or his wrestling, Not even if he had a Cyclopean size and strength And could conquer the gods’ Thracian Northwind And not even if he were better looking than Tithonos…
Banning the Freedom of the Eyes: The Tale of the Tyrant of Troezen – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Aelian Varia Historia 14.22 “There’s a story of the tyrant of Troezen. Because he wanted to get rid of any plots and conspiracies against him, he ordered that no one could talk to anyone else in public or private. This was an impossible and harsh matter. But the people circumvented the tyrant’s command: they were nodding…
“An Equal Amount is Better than More” – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Diodorus Siculus, History 9.12 “There is also the story that when the people of Mitylene allowed Pittacus to have half the land over which he fought in single combat, he would not take it. Instead, he assigned an equal portion to each man, saying that an “equal amount is greater than more”. For, since he took…
A Tyranny is Our Fault Too – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Anonymous of Iamblichus 12-14 "Tyranny happens—even though it is so great an evil in scope and kind—from nothing else but lawlessness. All people who think incorrectly believe that tyranny develops from some other cause and that people lose their freedom without being responsible for it because they were forced by the tyrant who came to…
Tyranny, Terror, and Mutilation – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
CW: Violence, torture, killing Homer, Odyssey 22.474-477 “They took Melanthios out through the hall and into the courtyard. They cut off his nose and ears with pitiless bronze. Then they cut off his balls and fed them raw to the dogs; And they cut off his hands and feet with an enraged heart.” ἐκ δὲ…
A Failsafe for Democracy – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Lycurgus, Against Leocrates 124 “These examples are enough I think to understand the opinion your forefathers had against those who broke the laws. I still want to remind you of the monument in the Senate house which recalls traitors and those who destroy the democracy. For I make your judgement easy if I provide you…
Custom, Violence, and Law – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Pindar fr. 169a [=P. Oxy. 2450 (26, 1961), vv. 6–62; = Plato, Gorg. 484b] “Custom, the king of everything, Of mortals and immortal alike, Guides them with the final hand To the most violent kinds of justice. I’ll prove this With the deeds of Herakles Since he drove the cattle of Geryon To the Cyclopean…
The Allegory of the Ship of State – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Heraclitus the Commentator, in defending the application of allegorical readings to Homer, argues that allegory is of considerable antiquity—used clearly by Archilochus when he compares the troubles of a war (fr. 54) and Alcaeus, who “compares the troubles of a tyranny to the turmoil of a stormy sea.” (τὰς γὰρ τυραννικὰς ταραχὰς ἐξ ἴσου χειμερίῳ…
Don’t Give up On Being Good – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.47 “Always keep in mind that all sorts of people from all kinds of occupations and from every country on earth have died. And take this thought to Philistion and Phoibos and Origanion. Turn to the rest of the peoples on earth too. We have to cross over to the same place…
A Tyrant and A Plague – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
N.B This is a different Pythagoras from the one with the theorem. Suda, s.v. Pythagoras of Ephesos “Pythagoras of Ephesos. Once he overthrew the government called the reign of the Basilidai, Pythagoras became the harshest tyrant. He seemed and sometimes was very kind to the people and the masses, increasing their hopes, but under-delivering on…
Reasons for Revolutions, Wanting To Be Equal Vs. Wanting Just More – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Aristotle, Politics 1302 a “We have already happened to discuss the reason why people are predisposed towards a revolution. People who desire equality rise up in strife when they believe that they have less even though they are allegedly equal to those they oppose. But those who want inequality or their own superiority imagine that…
The Wages of a Wicked Man, Plague, Broken Walls, Fallen Armies – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Hesiod, Works and Days, 101-105 “The land is full of evils; the sea is full of evils. Diseases come to humans at day and at night they come on their own bringing evils to mortals in silence Since devious Zeus took their voices away." πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα· νοῦσοι δ' ἀνθρώποισιν…
Giving The Finger in Ancient Greek – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
In Aristophanes’ Peace a rude hand gesture is mentioned (549): Καὶ τὸν δορυξὸν οἷον ἐσκιμάλισεν. Perseus’ translation (“this sickle-maker is thumbing his nose at the spear-maker?” ) may not do justice to the gesture or its meaning. Ancient commentary glosses this in a slightly different way. (See this site for a reference to the digitus impudicus…
Byzantine Verse on Lycanthropy for Werewolf Week – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
There is a Byzantine didactic poem based on Greek medical treatises. Thankfully, it does not skip the good stuff. The poem is from a collection of didactic verses attributed to Michael Psellos of Constantinople who lived and worked in the 11th century CE. The text comes from the Teubner edition of his poems edited by L. G. Westernik…
Werewolf Week, Religious Returns: St. Augustine on Lycanthropy – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
In discussing tales of Diomedes’ companions being turned into birds, Augustine in De Civitate Dei (City of God) discusses werewolves (18.17, the full text): “In order to make this seem more likely, Varro reports other fantastic tales concerning the infamous witch Circe, who transformed Odysseus’ companions into beasts, and concerning the Arcadians, who were by…
Ritual Sacrifice and Lycanthropy: Pausanias for Werewolf Week – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
In the second century CE, Pausanias composed ten books on the sights and wonders of ancient Greece. His text provides some of the only accounts of architecture, art and culture that have been lost in intervening centuries. In his eighth book, he turns to Arcadia and starts by discussing the rituals performed in honor of Lykian Zeus.…
A Ghost Story from Petronius for Werewolf Week – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
Earlier we saw how Plato makes being a tyrant equivalent to a type of lycanthropy. The Romans were also into that kind of thing. One of our oldest werewolf tales comes from Petronius' Satyricon (61-62): “Trimalchio turned to Niceros and said: “You used to be more pleasant company—I don’t know why you are now so quiet and…
Werewolf Week, JAMA Edition: Diagnosis and Therapy – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
This week in honor of Halloween we are returning to an obsession with lycanthropy. There is a trove of ancient Greek medical treatises on the diagnosing and treatment of the disease. Oribasius (Pergamum, c. 4th Century CE) Oribasius is said to have studied medicine in Alexandria; he later served as the court doctor to Julian the Apostate.…
Don’t Eat Brains: Zombie-Tydeus for Werewolf Week – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
In the spirit of the week before Halloween, below are the major accounts of Diomedes’ father, Tydeus, who was rejected by Athena after eating brains. Hom. Il. 5.801 “Tydeus was a little man, but a fighter.” Τυδεύς τοι μικρὸς μὲν ἔην δέμας, ἀλλὰ μαχητής· Schol. AbT ad Il. 5.126 “They say that when Tydeus was wounded by…