Hippon

(Ἵππων), tyrant of Messana at the time that Timoleon landed in Sicily. After the defeat of Mamercus of Catana (B. C. 338), that tyrant took refuge with Hippon; Timoleon followed him, and besieged Messana so vigorously both by sea and land, that Hippon, despairing of holding out, attempted to escape by sea, but was seized on board ship, and executed by the Messanians in the public theatre. (Plut. Tim. 34.) [E.H.B]

(Ἵππων), of Rhegium, a philosopher, whom Aristotle (Aristot. Met. 1.3) considers as belonging to the Ionian school, but thinks unworthy to be reckoned among its members, on account of the poverty of his intellect. Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 658) considers him the same as Hippon of Metapontum, who is called a Pythagorean, while some assign Samos as his birthplace. He was accused of Atheism, and so got the surname of the Melian, as agreeing in sentiment with Diagoras. Work

As his works have perished, we cannot judge of the truth of this accusation, which Brucker thinks may have arisen from his holding the theory (easily deducible from the views of Pythagoras) that the gods were great men, who had been invested with immortality by the admiration and traditions of the vulgar. He is said to have written an epitaph to be placed on his own tomb after his death, expressing his belief that he had become a divinity.

Some of his philosophical principles are preserved by Sextus Empiricus, Simplicius, Clemens Alexandrinus, and others. He held water and fire to be the principles of all things, the latter springing from the former, and then developing itself by generating the universe. He considered nothing exempt from the necessity of ultimate destruction. Further Information

Brucker, Hist. Crit. Phil. 1.1103 ; Brandis, Gesch. d. Phil. 1.121. [G.E.L.C]