Boethus

• nom. prop.
• • A A distinguished sculptor and engraver in silver, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 14, § 32; Plin. 33, 12, 55, §§ 154 and 155.—
  • B A Stoic philosopher, Cic. Div. 1, 8, 13; 2, 21, 47.

(Βοηθός).

1. A Stoic philosopher who perhaps lived even before the time of Chrysippus, and was the author of several works. One of them was entitled περὶφυσεως, from which Diogenes Laertius (7.148) quotes his opinion about the essence of God; another was called περὶεἱμαρμένης, of which the same writer (7.149) mentions the eleventh book. This latter work is, in all probability the one to which Cicero refers in his treatise on Divination (1.8, 2.21). Philo (de Mund. incorrupt. ii. p. 497, ed. Mangey) mentions him together with Posidonius, and it is not improbable that this Boethus is the one mentioned by Plutarch. (De Placit. Philos. 3.2.)

2. An Epicurean philosopher and geometrician, who is mentioned by Plutarch (de Pyth. Orac. p. 396d.), and is introduced by the same writer in the Symposiaca (5.1, p. 673c.); but nothing further is known about him.

3. A Platonic philosopher and grammarian, who wrote a Lexicon to Plato's works (συναγωγὴ λέξεων Πλατωνικῶν), dedicated to Melanthus, which Photius (Phot. Bibl. 154) preferred to the similar work of Timaeus still extant. Another work on the ambiguous words of Plato (περὶ τῶν παρὰ Πλατωνι ἀπορουμένων λέξεων) was dedicated to Athenagoras. (Phot. Bibl. 155.) Whether he is the same as the Boethus who wrote an exegesis to the Phaenomena of Aratus (Geminus, Introd. ad Phaen. 14) is uncertain, and also whether he is the one against whom Porphyrius wrote his work περὶ ψυχῆς. (Euseb. Praep. Evang. 14.10, 15.11, 16; comp. Hesych. s. v. διὰ πάντων κριτής; Aeneas, Gaz. Theophr. p. 16.) [L.S]

(Βόηθος), surnamed SIDONIUS, was born at Sidon in Phoenicia. As he is called a disciple of the Peripatetic Andronicus of Rhodes (Ammon. Herm. Comment. in Aristot. Categ. p. 8, ed. Ald. 1546), he must have travelled at an early age to Rome and Athens, in which cities Andronicus is known to have taught. Strabo (xvi. p.757), who mentions him and his brother Diodotus among the celebrated persons of Sidon, speaks of him at the same time as his own teacher in the Peripatetic philosophy. Among his works, all of which are now lost, there was one on the nature of the soul, and also a commentary on Aristotle's Categories, which is mentioned by Ammonius in his commentary on the same work of Aristotle. Ammonius quotes also an opinion of Boethus concening the study of the works of Aristotle, viz. that the student should begin with the Physics (ἀπὸ τῆς ψυσικῆς), whereas Andronicus had maintained, that the beginning should be made ἀπὸ τῆς λογικῆς, ἥτις περὶ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν γίνεται. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec iii. p. 480; Schneider, Epimetrum III. ad Aristot. Hist. Anim. p. xcv.; Buhle, Aristot. Opera, i. p. 297; Stahr, Aristotelia, ii. p. 129, &c.) [A.S]

(Β̓οηθός), the author of an epigram in the Greek Anthology in praise of Pylades, a pantomime in the time of Augustus, was a native of Tarsus. Strabo (xiv. p.674) describes him as a bad citizen and a bad poet, who gained the favour of Antony by some verses on the battle of Philippi, and was set by him over the gymnasium and public games in Tarsus. In this office he was guilty of peculation, but escaped punishment by flattering Antony. He was afterwards expelled from Tarsus by Athenodorus, with the approbation of Augustus. [P.S]

(Βοηθός), a sculptor and embosser or chaser of Carthage (Paus. 5.17.1) of uncertain age. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 33.12. s. 55) praises his excellence in embossing and (34.8. s. 19) in sculpture. Müller (Handb. d. Arch. § 159. 1) suspects, and not without good reason, that the reading Καρχηδόνιος is corrupted out of Καλχήδονιος. The artist would then not be an inhabitant or even a native of the barbarian Carthage, but of the Greek town of Chalcedon in Asia Minor. [Acragas.] [W.I]

• sculptor: Paus. 5.17.4