Aristodemus
(Ἀριστόδημος), a son of Aristomachus, and a descendant of Heracles, was married to Argeia, by whom he became the father of Eurysthenes and Procles. According to some traditions Aristodemus was killed at Naupactus by a flash of lightning, just as he was setting out on his expedition into Peloponnesus (Apollod. 2.8.2, &c.), or by an arrow of Apollo at Delphi because he had consulted Heracles about the return of the Heraclids instead of the Delphic oracle. (Paus. 3.1.5.) According to this tradition, Eurysthenes and Procles were the first Heraclid kings of Lacedaemon; but a Lacedaemonian tradition stated, that Aristodemus himself came to Sparta, was the first king of his race, and died a natural death. (Herod, 6.52; Xenoph. Agesil. 8.7.) Another Heraclid of this name, the grandfather of the former, is mentioned by Euripides. (Ap. Schol. ad Pind. Isth. 4.104.) [L.S]
(Ἀριστόδημος), the Spartan, when the last battle at Thermopylae was expected, was lying with Eurytus sick at Alpeni; or as others related, they were together on an errand from the camp. Eurytus returned and fell among the Three Hundred. Aristodemus went home to Sparta. The Spartans made him ἄτιμος; "no man gave him light for his fire, no man spoke with him; he was called Aristodemus the coward" (ὁ τρέσας seems to have been the legal title; comp. Diod. 19.70). Stung with his treatment, next year at Plataea, B. C. 479, he fell in doing away his disgrace by the wildest feats of valour. The Spartans, however though they removed his ἀτιμία, refused him a share in the honours they paid to his fellows, Poseidonius, Philocyon, and Amompharetus, though he had outdone them. (Hdt. 7.229_231 ; see Valckn. and Bähr, ad loc. ; 9.71; Suidas, s. v. Λυκοῦργος.) [A.H.C]
(Ἀριστόδημος), historical.
1. A Messenian, who appears as one of the chief heroes in the first Messenian war. In the sixth year of that war the Messenians sent to Delphi to consult the oracle, and the ambassador Tisis brought back the answer, that the preservation of the Messenian senian state demanded that a maiden of the house of the Aepytids should be sacrificed to the gods of the lower world. When the daughter of Lyciscus was drawn by lot, the seer Epebolus declared that she was a supposititious child, and not a daughter of Lyciscus. Hereupon Lyciscus left his country and went over to the Lacedaemonians. As, however, the oracle had added, that if, for some reason, the maiden chosen by lot could not be sacrificed, another might be chosen in her stead, Aristodemus, a gallant warrior, who likewise belonged to the house of the Aepytids, came forward and offered to sacrifice his own daughter for the deliverance of his country. A young Messenian, however, who loved the maiden, opposed the intention of her father, and declared that he as her betrothed had more power over her than her father. When this reason was not listened to, his love for the maiden drove him to despair, and in order to save her life, he declared that she was with child by him. Aristodemus, enraged at this assertion, murdered his daughter and opened her body to refute the calumny. The seer Epebolus, who was present, now demanded the sacrifice of another maiden, as the daughter of Aristodemus had not been sacrificed to the gods, but murdered by her father. But king Euphaes persuaded the Messenians, who, in their indignation, wanted to kill the lover, who had been the cause of the death of Aristodemus' daughter, that the command of the oracle was fulfilled, and as he was supported by the Aepytids, the people accepted his counsel. (Paus. 4.9. §§ 2-6; Diodor. Fragm. Vat. p. 7, ed. Dindorf.; Euseb. Praep. Evang. 5.27.) When the news of the oracle and the manner of its fulfilment became known at Sparta, the Lacedaemonians were desponding, and for five years they abstained from attacking the Messenians, until at last some favourable signs in the sacrifices encouraged them to undertake a fresh campaign against Ithome. A battle was fought, in which king Euphaes lost his life, and as he left no heir to the throne, Aristodemus was elected king by the Messenians, notwithstanding the opposition of some, who declared him unworthy on account of the murder of his daughter. This happened about B. C. 729. Aristodemus shewed himself worthy of the confidence placed in him: he continued the war against the Lacedaemonians, and in B. C. 724 he gained a great victory over them. The Lacedaemonians now endeavoured to effect by fraud what they had been unable to accomplish in the field, and their success convinced Aristodemus that his country was devoted to destruction. In his despair he put an end to his life on the tomb of his daughter, and a short time after, B. C. 722, the Messenians were obliged to recognize the supremacy of the Lacedaemonians. (Paus. 4.10-13.)
2. Tyrant of Cumae in Campania, a contemporary of Tarquinius Superbus. His history is related at great length by Dionysius. He was of a distinguished family, and surnamed Μαλακός,--respecting the meaning of which the ancients themselves are not agreed. By his bravery and popular arts, he gained the favour of the people; and having caused many of the nobles to be put to death, or sent into exile, he made himself tyrant of Cumae, B. C. 502. He secured his usurped power by surrounding himself with a strong body-guard, by disarming the people, removing the male descendants of the exiled nobles from the town, and compelling them to perform servile labour in the country. In addition to this, the whole of the young generation of Cumae were educated in an effeminate and enervating manner. In this way he maintained himself for several years, until at last the exiled nobles and their sons, supported by Campanians and mercenaries, recovered the possession of Cumae, and took cruel vengeance on Aristodemus and his family. (Dionys. vii. p. 418, &c., ed. Sylb.; Diod. Fragm. lib. vii. in the "Excerpt. de Virt. et Vit.;" Suidas, s. v. Ἀριστόδημος.) According to Plutarch (de Virt. Mulier. p. 261), he assisted the Romans against the Etruscans, who endeavoured to restore the Tarquins. According to Livy (2.21), Tarquinius Superbus took refuge at the court of this tyrant, and died there. (Comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, i. p. 553, &c.)
3. Surnamed the Small (ὁ μικρός), a disciple of Socrates, who is reported to have had a conversation with him respecting sacrifices and divination, which Aristodemus despised. (Xen. Memor. Socr. 1.4.2, &c.) He was a great admirer of Socrates, whose society he sought as much as possible. He always walked barefoot, which he seems to have done in imitation of Socrates. (Plat.Sympos. p. 173, Phaed. p. 229.)
4. A tragic actor of Athens in the time of Philip of Macedonia and Demosthenes. He took a prominent part in the political affairs of his time, and belonged to the party who saw no safety except in peace with Macedonia. (Dem. de Coron. p. 232, de Fals. Leg. pp. 344, 371.) Demosthenes (c. Philip. iii. p. 150) therefore treats him as a traitor to his country. He was employed by the Athenians in their negotiations with Philip, who was fond of him on account of his great talent for acting, and made use of him for his own purposes. (Dem. de Fals. Leg. p. 442; comp. Cic. de Re Publ. 4.11 ; Plut. Vit. X. Orat.; Schol. ad Lucian, vol. ii. p. 7.) There was a tragic actor of the same name at Syracuse in the time of the first Punic war. (Liv. 24.24.)
5. Of Miletus, a friend and flatterer of Antigonus, king of Asia, who sent him, in B. C. 315, to Peloponnesus with 1000 talents, and ordered him to maintain friendly relations with Polysperchon and his son Alexander, to collect as large a body of mercenaries as possible, and to conduct the war against Cassander. On his arrival in Laconia, he obtained permission from the Spartans to engage mercenaries in their country, and thus raised in Peloponnesus an army of 8000 men. The friendship with Polysperchon and his son Alexander was confirmed, and the former was made governor of the peninsula. Ptolemy, who was allied with Cassander, sent a fleet against the general and the allies of Antigonus, and Cassander made considerable conquests in Peloponnesus. After his departure, Aristodemus and Alexander at first endeavoured in common to persuade the towns to expel the garrisons of Cassander, and recover their independence. But Alexander soon allowed himself to be made a traitor to the cause he had hitherto espoused, and was rewarded by Cassander with the chief command of his forces in the Peloponnesus. In B. C. 314, Aristodemus invited the Aetolians to support the cause of Antigonus; and having raised a great number of mercenaries among them, he attacked Alexander, who was besieging Cyllene, and compelled him to raise the siege. lHe then restored several other places, such as Patrae in Achaia and Dymae in Aetolia, to what was then called freedom. After this, B. C. 306, Aristodemus occurs once more in history. (Diod. 19.57-66; Plut. Demetr. 16, 17.)
6. Tyrant of Megalopolis in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas, and shortly before the formation of the Achaean league. He was a native of Phigalea and a son of Artyla. He was one of those tyrants who were set up at that time in various parts of Greece through Macedonian influence. he was honoured by the surname Χρηστός. In his reign, Cleomenes of Sparta and his eldest son Acrotatus invaded the territory of Megalopolis. A battle was fought, in which Aristodemlus defeated the enemy and Acrotatus was slain. (Paus. 8.27.8.) Aristodemus was assassinated afterwards by the emissaries of Ecdemus and Demophanes, two patriotic citizens of Megalopolis, and friends of young Philopoemen. (Plut. Phil. 1.) His sepulchral mound in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis was seen as late as the time of Pausanias. (8.36.3.) [L.S]
1. Of Nysa in Caria, was a son of Menecrates, and a pupil of the celebrated grammarian, Aristarchus. (Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 7.1; Strab. xiv. p.650.) He himself was a celebrated grammarian, and Strabo in his youth was a pupil of Aristodemus at Nysa, who was then an old man. It is not improbable that the Aristodemus whom the Scholiast on Pindar (Pind. I. 1.11) calls an Alexandrian, is the same as the Nysaean, who must have resided for some time at Alexandria.
2. Of Nysa, a relation (ἀνεψιός) of the former, He was younger than the former, distinguished himself as a grammarian and rhetorician, and is mentioned among the instructors of Pompey the Great. During the earlier period of his life he taught rhetoric at Nysa and Rhodes; in his later years he resided at Rome and instructed the sons of Pompey in grammar. (Strab. xiv. p.650.) One of these two grammarians wrote an historical work (ἱστορίαι), the first book of which is quoted by Parthenius (Erot. 8), but whether it was the work of the elder or the younger Aristodemus, and what was the subject of it, cannot be decided. (Comp. Varr. de Ling. Lat. 10.75, ed. Miller; Schol. ad Hom. Il. 9.354, 13.1.)
3. Of Elis, a Greek writer, who is referred to by Harpocration (s. v. Ἑλλανοδίκαι) as an authority respecting the number of the Hellanodicae. He is probably the same as the one mentioned by Tertullian (de An. 46) and Eusebius. (Chron. i. p. 37; comp. Syncellus, p. 370, ed. Dindorf.) An Aristodemus is mentioned by Athenaeus (xi. p. 495) as the author of a commentary on Pindar, and is often referred to in the Scholia on Pindar, but whether he is the Elean or Nysaean, cannot be decided.
4. Of Thebes (Schol. ad Theocrit. 7.103). Works On Thebes (Θηβαϊκά)
Aristodemus wrote a work on his native city (Θηβαϊκά), which is often referred to by ancient authors, and appears to have treated principally of the antiquities of Thebes. Suidas (s. v. ὁμολάϊος Ζεύς, where the name Ἀριστοφάνης has been justly corrected into Ἀριστόδημος) quotes the second book of this work. Further Information
Compare Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 162, 1120, 1126, 1163; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.906; Valckenaer, ad Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1120, p. 732. Confusion with various writers named Aristodemus
There are many passages in ancient authors in which Aristodemus occurs as the name of a writer, but as no distinguishing epithet is added to the name in those passages, it is impossible to say whether in any case the Aristodemus is identical with any of those mentioned above, or distinct from them.
Author of fables, Plutarch (Parallel. Min. 35) speaks of an Aristodemus as the author of a collection of fables, one of which he relates.
Author of γελοῖα ἀπομνημονεύματα, a second, as the author of γελοῖα ἀπομνημονεύματα, is mentioned by Athenaeus (vi. p. 244, viii. pp. 338, 345, xiii. p. 585).
>Author of a work περὶ εὑρημάτων, a third Aristodemus, occurs in Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom. i. p. 133) as the author of a work περὶ εὑπημάτων.
author of a work περὶ εὑρημάτων, a fourth Aristodemus, is mentioned as the epitomizer of a work of Herodian, which he dedicated to one Danaus. (Suidas, s. v. Ἀριστόδημος.) Aristodemus
A Platonic philosopher of the same name is mentioned by Plutarch (ad v. Colot. init.) as his contemporary. [L.S]
1. A painter, the father and instructor of Nicomachus [Nicomachus], flourished probably in the early part of the fourth century B. C. (Plin. Nat. 35.10. s. 36.)
2. A statuary, who lived after the time of Alexander the Great. Among other works of his Pliny (34.8. s. 19) mentions a statue of king Seleucus. To what country he belonged is uncertain.
3. A painter, a native of Caria, contemporary with Philostratus the elder, with whom he was connected by the ties of hospitality. He wrote a work giving an account of distinguished painters, of the cities in which painting had flourished most, and of the kings who had encouraged the art. (Philostr. Prooem. Icon.p.4, ed. Jacobs.) [C.P.M]
(Ἀριστόδημος). (1) A descendant of Heracles, son of Aristomachus, brother of Temenus and Cresphontes, and father of Eurysthenes and Procles. He was killed at Naupactus by a flash of lightning, just as he was setting out on the expedition into the Peloponnesus, and his two sons obtained Sparta, which would have fallen to him.
(2) A Messenian, the chief hero in the First Messenian War. He sacrificed his own daughter to save his country. He was afterwards elected king in place of Euphaës; and continued the war against the Spartans, till at length, finding resistance hopeless, he put an end to his life on the tomb of his daughter, about B.C. 723.
- son of Aristomachus: Paus. 2.18.7
- father of Eurysthenes and Procles: Apollod. 2.8.2, Apollod. 2.8.3
- husband of Argea: Paus. 4.3.4
- dies at Delphi before return of Dorians: Paus. 3.1.6
- his children Procles and Eurysthenes ancestors of the two royal houses of Sparta: Paus. 3.1.5-9
- his sons return to Peloponnese: Paus. 2.18.7
- his sons are allotted Lacedaemon: Apollod. 2.8.3
- claim of his sons defeated by ruse of Cresphontes: Paus. 4.3.4ff.
- they support restoration of Aepytus to Messenia: Paus. 4.3.8, Paus. 4.5.1
- their wives: Paus. 3.16.6
- their seer: Paus. 4.16.1
- Hdt. 6.52, Hdt. 7.204, Hdt. 8.131
- offers his daughter for sacrifice: Paus. 4.9.6
- slays her: Paus. 4.9.8
- chosen king of Messenia: Paus. 4.10.5
- commands Messenians in war with Lacedaemon: Paus. 4.11.1-3, Paus. 8.5.10
- inquires of Delphic oracle: Paus. 4.12.3ff., Paus. 4.26.4
- dedicates tripods to Zeus: Paus. 4.12.10
- discouraged by evil omens he slays himself: Paus. 4.13.1-4, Paus. 4.23.6
- commands Lacedaemonians at Corinth: Paus. 3.5.7
- Paus. 10.20.5
- Hdt. 7.229-231
- his death at Plataea: Hdt. 9.71
- a Phigalian, tyrant of Megalopolis: Paus. 8.27.11
- surnamed `the Good': Paus. 8.27.11, Paus. 8.36.5
- defeats Lacedaemonians under Acrotatus: Paus. 8.30.7
- dedicates temple of Huntress Artemis: Paus. 8.32.4, also sanctuary of Artemis Sciaditis: Paus. 8.35.5
- his grave: Paus. 8.36.5
- an Elean, Olympic victor: Paus. 6.3.4