Ariston
(Ἀρίστων), king of Sparta, 14th of the Eurypontids, son of Agesicles, contemporary of Anaxandrides, ascended the Spartan throne before B. C. 560, and died somewhat before (Paus. 3.7), or at any rate not long after, 510. He thus reigned about 50 years, and was of high reputation, of which the public prayer for a son for him, when the house of Procles had other representatives, is a testimony. Demaratus, hence named, was borne him, after two barren marriages, by a third wife, whom he obtained, it is said, by a fraud from her husband, his friend, Agetus. (Hdt. 1.65, 6.61-66 ; Paus. 3.7.7; Plut. Apophth. Lac.) [A.H.C]
(Ἀρίστων), son of Pyrrhichus, a Corinthian, one of those apparently who made their way into Syracuse in the second year of the Sicilian expedition, 414 B. C., is named once by Thucydides, in his account of the sea-fight preceding the arrival of the second armament (413 B. C.), and styled the most skilful steersman on the side of the Syracusans. He suggested to them the stratagem of retiring early, giving the men their meal on the shore, and then renewing the combat unexpectedly, which in that battle gave them their first naval victory. (7.39; comp. Polyaen. 5.13.) Plutarch (Nicias, 20, 25) and Diodorus (13.10) ascribe to him further the invention or introduction at Syracuse of the important alterations in the build of their galleys' bows, mentioned by Thucydides (7.34), and said by him to have been previously used by the Corinthians in the action off Erineus. Plutarch adds, that he fell when the victory was just won, in the last and decisive sea-fight. [A.H.C]
(Ἀρίστων), historical.
1. Was sent out by one of the Ptolemies of Egypt to explore the western coast of Arabia, which derived its name of Poseideion from an altar which Ariston had erected there to Poseidon. (Diod. 3.41.)
2. A strategus of the Aetolians in B. C. 221, who, labouring under some bodily defect, left the command of the troops to Scopas and Dorimachus, while he himself remained at home. Notwithstanding the declarations of the Achaeans to regard every one as an enemy who should trespass upon the territories of Messenia or Achaia, the Aetolian commanders invaded Peloponnesus, and Ariston was stupid enough, in the face of this fact, to assert that the Aetolians and Achaeans were at peace with each other. (Plb. 4.5, 9, 17.)
3. The leader of an insurrection at Cyrene in B. C. 403, who obtained possession of the town and put to death or expelled all the nobles. The latter however afterwards became reconciled to the popular party, and the powers of the government were divided between the two parties. (Diod. 14.34; comp. Paus. 4.26.2.)
4. Of Megalopolis, who, at the outbreak of the war of the Romans against Perseus in B. C. 170, advised the Achaeans to join the Romans, and not to remain neutral between the two belligerent parties. In the year following, he was one of the Achaean ambassadors, who were sent to bring about a peace between Antiochus III. and Ptolemy Philopator. (Plb. 28.6, 29.10.)
5. A Rhodian, who was sent, in the spring of B. C. 170, with several others as ambassador to the Roman consul, Q. Marcius Philippus, in Macedonia, to renew the friendship with the Romans, and clear his countrymen from the charges which had been brought against them by some persons. (Plb. 28.14.)
6. Of Tyre, who appears to have been a friend of Hannibal. When the latter was staying at the court of Antiochus and meditated a fresh war against the Romans, he despatched Ariston to Carthage to rouse his friends there. Hannibal, however, lest the messenger should be intercepted, gave him nothing in writing. On Ariston's arrival at Carthage, the enemies of Hannibal soon conjectured the object of his presence from his frequent interviews with the men of the other party. The suspicions were at last loudly expressed, and Ariston was summoned to explain the objects of his visit. The explanations given were not very satisfactory, and the trial was deferred till the next day. But in the night Ariston embarked and fled, leaving behind a letter which he put up in a public place, and in which he declared that the communications he had brought were not for any private individual, but for the senate. Respecting the consequences of this stratagem, see Liv. 34.61, 62. Compare Appian, App. Syr. 8; Justin, 31.4. [L.S]
1. A son of Sophocles by Theoris. (Suidas, s. v. Ἰοφῶν.) He had a son of the name of Sophocles, who is said to have brought out, in B. C. 401, the Oedipus in Colonus of his grandfather Sophocles. (Argum. ad Soph. Oed. Col. p. 12, ed. Wonder.) Whether he is the same as the Ariston who is called a writer of tragedies (D. L. 7.164), and one of whose tragedies was directed against Mnesthenus, cannot be said with any certainty, though Fabricius (Bibl. Gr. ii. p. 287) takes it for granted.
2. A friend of Aristotle, the philosopher, to whom he is said to have addressed some letters. (D. L. 5.27.)
3. A Peripatetic philosopher and a native of the island of Ceos, where his birthplace was the town of Julis, whence he is sometimes called Κεῖος and sometimes Ἰουλιήτης. He was a pupil of Lycon (D. L. 5.70, 74), who was the successor of Straton as the head of the Peripatetic school, about B. C. 270. After the death of Lycon, about B. C. 230, Ariston succeeded him in the management of the school. Ariston, who was, according to Cicero (de Fin. 5.5), a man of taste and elegance, was yet deficient in gravity and energy, which prevented his writings acquiring that popularity which they otherwise deserved, and may have been one of the causes of their neglect and loss to us. In his philosophical views, if we may judge from the scanty fragments still extant, he seems to have followed his master pretty closely. Works Works mentioned by Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius (7.163), after enumerating the works of Ariston of Chios, says, that Panaetius and Sosicrates attributed all those works, except the letters, to the Peripatetic Ariston (of Ceos). How far this opinion is correct, we cannot, of course, say; at any rate, however, one of those works, Ἐρωτικαὶ διατριβαί, is repeatedly ascribed to the Cean by Athenaeus (x. p. 419, xiii. p. 563, xv. p. 674), who calls it Ἐρωτικὰ ὁμοῖα. One work of the Cean not mentioned by Diogenes, was entitled Λύκων (Plut. de Aud. poet. 1), in gratitude to his master. Epigrams in the Greek Anthology
There are also two epigrams in the Greek Anthology (6.303, and 7.457), which are commonly attributed to Ariston of Ceos, though there is no evidence for it. Further Information
Compare J. G. Hubmann, Ariston von Keos, der Peripatetiker, in Jahn's Jahrb. für Philol. 3d supplementary vol. Leipz. 1835; Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. iii. p. 467, &c. ; Jacobs, ad Anthol. xiii. p. 861.
4. Of Alexandria, likewise a Peripatetic philosopher, was a contemporary of Strabo, and wrote a work on the Nile. (D. L. 7.164; Strab. xvii. p.790.) Eudorus, a contemporary of his, wrote a book on the same subject, and the two works were so much alike, that the authors charged each other with plagiarism. Who was right is not said, though Strabo seems to be inclined to think that Eudorus was the guilty party. (Hubmann, l.c. p. 104.)
5. Of Pella in Palestine, lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian or shortly after. Works διάλεξις Παπίσκου καὶ Ἰάσονος
His date is inferred from his writing a work on the insurrection of the Jews, which broke out in the reign of this emperor. (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.6; Niceph. Callist. Hist. Eccl. 3.24.) He also wrote a work entitled διάλεξις Παπίσκου καὶ Ἰάσονος, that is, a dialogue between Papiscus, a Jew, and Jason, a Jewish Christian, in which the former became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. (Origen. c. Cels. iv. p. 199; Hieronym. Epist. ad Galat. 3.13.) Editions
It was translated at an early time into Latin by one Celsus, but, with the exception of a few fragments, it is now lost. The introduction written to it by the translator is still extant, and is printed in the Oxford edition of the " Opuscula" of Cyprian (p. 30) and elsewhere. Further Information
Hubmann, l.c. p. 105.
6. Of Alaea (Ἀλαιεύς), a Greek rhetorician who wrote, according to Diogenes Laertius (7.164) scientific treatises on rhetoric. Another rhetorician of the same name, a native of Gerasa, is mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium. (s. v. Γέρασα.)
The name of Ariston occurs very frequently in ancient writers, and it has been calculated that about thirty persons of this name may be distinguished ; but of most of them we know nothing but the name. They have often been confounded with one another both by ancient and modern writers, particularly Ariston of Chios and Ariston of Ceos. (Sintenis, ad Plut. Themist. 3, and especially the treatise of Hubmann referred to above.) [L.S]
(Ἀρίστων), son of Miltiades, born in the island of Chios, a Stoic and disciple of Zeno, flourished about B. C. 260, and was therefore contemporary with Epicurus, Aratus, Antigonus Gonatas, and with the first Punic war. Though he professed himself a Stoic, yet he differed from Zeno in several points; and indeed Diogenes Laertius (7.160, &c.) tells us, that he quitted the school of Zeno for that of Polemo the Platonist. He is said to have displeased the former by his loquacity,--a quality which others prized so highly, that he acquired the surname of Siren, as a master of persuasive eloquence. He was also called Phalancus, from his baldness. He rejected all branches of philosophy but ethics, considering physiology as beyond man's powers, and logic as unsuited to them. Even with regard to ethics, Seneca (Ep. 89) complains, that he deprived them of all their practical side, a subject which he said belonged to the schoolmaster rather than to the philosopher. The sole object, therefore, of ethics was to shew wherein the supreme good consists, and this he made to be ἀδιαφορία, i. e. entire indifference to everything except virtue and vice. (Cic. Ac. 2.42.) All external things therefore were in his view perfectly indifferent; so that he entirely rejected Zeno's distinction between the good and the preferable (τὰ προηγμένα), i. e. whatever excites desire in the individual mind of any rational being, without being in itself desirable or good, and of which the pure Stoical doctrine permitted an account to be taken in the conduct of human life. (Cic. Fin. 4.25.) But this notion of προηγμένα was so utterly rejected by Ariston, that he held it to be quite indifferent whether we are in perfect health, or afflicted by the severest sickness (Cic. Fin. 2.13); whereas of virtue he declared his wish that even beasts could understand words which would excite them to it. (Plut. Maximo c. Princip. Philosopho esse diss. § 1.) It is, however, obvious that those who adopt this theory of the absolute indifference of everything but virtue and vice, in fact take away all materials for virtue to act upon, and confine it in a state of mere abstraction. This part of Ariston's system is purely cynical, and perhaps he wished to shew his admiration for that philosophy, by opening his school at Athens in the Cynosarges, where Antisthenes had taught. [Antisthenes.] He also differed with Zeno as to the plurality of virtues, allowing of one only, which he called the health of the soul (ὑγείαν ὠνόμαζε, Plut. Virt. Mor. 2). This appears to follow from the cynical parts of his system, for by taking away all the objects of virtue, he of course deprives it of variety; and so he based all morality on a well-ordered mind. Connected with this is his paradox, Sapiens non opinatur--the philosopher is free from all opinions (since they would be liable to disturb his unruffled equanimity); and this doctrine seems to disclose a latent tendency to scepticism, which Cicero appears to have suspected, by often coupling him. with Pyrrho. In conformity with this view, he despised Zeno's physical speculations, and doubted whether God is or is not a living Being. (Cic. Nat. Deor. 1.14.) But this apparently atheistic dogma perhaps only referred to the Stoical conception of God, as of a subtle fire dwelling in the sky and ditlusing itself through the universe. [Zeno.] He may have meant merely to demonstrate his position, that physiology is above the human intellect, by shewing the impossibility of certainly attributing to this pantheistic essence, form, senses, or life. (Brucker, Hist. Crit. Phil. 2.2, 9; Ritter, Geschichte der Phil. 11.5, 1.)
Ariston is the founder of a small school, opposed to that of Herillus, and of which Diogenes Laertius mentions Diphilus and Miltiades as members. We learn from Athenaeus (vii. p. 281), on the authority of Eratosthenes and Apollophanes, two of his pupils, that in his old age he abandoned himself to pleasure. He is said to have died of a coup de soleil. Works
Diogenes (l.c.) gives a list of his works, but says, that all of them, except the Letters to Cleanthes, were attributed by Panaetius (B. C. 143) and Sosicrates (B. C. 200-128) to another Ariston, a Peripatetic of Ceos, with whom he is often confounded. Nevertheless, we find in Stobaeus (Serm. 4.110, &c.) fragments of a work of his called ὁμοιώματα. [G.E.L.C]
(Ἀρίστων), a physician, of whose life no particulars are known, but who probably lived in the fifth century B. C., as Galen mentions him (Comment. in Hippocr. " De Rat. Vict. in Morb. Acut." 1.17, vol. xv. p. 455) with three other physicians, who all (he says) lived in old times, some as contemporaries of Hippocrates, and the others before him. Galen also says that he was by some persons supposed to be the author of the work in the Hippocratic Collection entitled Περι Διαίτης Ὑγιεινῆς, de Salubri Victus Ratione. (l.c.; De Aliment. Facult. 1.1, vol. vi. p. 473; Comment. in Hippocr. " Aphor." 6.1, vol. xviii. pt.i. p. 9.) A medical preparation by a person of the same name is quoted by Celsus (De Medic. 5.18. p. 88) and Galen. (De Compos. Medicam. sec. Locos, 9.4. vol. xiii. p. 281.) The Ariston of (Chios, mentioned by Galen (De Hippocr. et Plat. Decret. 5.5, 7.1, 2, vol. v. pp. 468, 589, 596), is a different person. [W.A.G]
1. A celebrated silver-chaser and sculptor in bronze, born at Mytilene. His time is unknown. (Plin. Nat. 33.55, 34.19.25.)
2. A painter, the son and pupil of Aristeides of Thebes [Aristeides], painted a satyr holding a goblet and crowned with a garland. Antorides and Euphranor were his disciples. (Plin. Nat. 35.36.23.) [P.S]
(Ἀρίστων) and TELESTAS (Τελεστὰς), brothers, were the sculptors of a colossal statue of Zeus which the Cleitorians dedicated at Olympia from the spoils of many captured cities. The statue with its pedestal was about eighteen Greek feet high. It bore an inscription, which is given by Pausanias, but in a mutilated state. (Paus. 5.23.6.) [P.S]
ARISTON[PRANDIUM]
(Ἀρίστων). (1) Of Chios, a Stoic philosopher, and a disciple of Zeno, who flourished about B.C. 260.
(2) A Peripatetic philosopher of Iulis, in the island of Ceos, who succeeded Lycon as head of the Peripatetic school, about B.C. 230.
- Paus. 4.32.4
- brother of Telestas: Paus. 5.23.7
- king of Sparta, denies that Demaratus is his son: Paus. 3.4.4, Paus. 3.7.7ff., Paus. 3.8.7
- king of Sparta in the time of Croesus: Hdt. 1.67, Hdt. 5.75, Hdt. 6.51, Hdt. 6.61-69