Nicanor

• A grammarian, Suet. Gram. 5.—
• II A ceiebrated painter, Plin. 35, 11, 39, § 122.—
• III A roman surname, Inscr. Murat. 26, 3.

(Νικάνωρ).

1. Son of Parmenion, a distinguished officer in the service of Alexander. He is first mentioned at the passage of the Danube, in the expedition of Alexander against the Getae, B. C. 335, on which occasion he led the phalanx. (Arr. Anab. 1.4.3.) But during the expedition into Asia he appears to have uniformly held the chief command of the body of troops called the Hypaspists (ὑπασπισταί) or foot-guards, as his brother Philotas did that of the ἑταῖροι, or horseguards. We find him mentioned, as holding this post, in the three great battles of the Granicus, of Isstui, and of Arbela. He afterwards accompanied Alexander with a part of the troops under his command, during the rapid march of the king in pursuit of Dareius (B. C. 330); which was probably his last service, as he died of disease shortly afterwards, during the advance of Alexander into Bactria. His death at this juncture was probably a fortunate event, as it saved him from participating either in the designs or the fate of his brother Philotas. (Arrian, Anab. i. 14, 2.8, 3.11, 21, 25; Curt. 3.24.7, 4.50.27, 5.37.19, 6.22.18; Diod. 17.57.)

2. Father of Balacrus, the satrap of Cilicia. [Balacrus.] It is probably this Nicanor who is alluded to in an anecdote related by Plutarch of Philip of Macedon, as a person of some distinction during the reign of that monarch. (Plut. Apophth. p. 177.)

3. Son of Balacrus, and grandson of the preceding. (Harpocration, s. v. Νικάνωρ.)

4. Of Stageira, was despatched by Alexander to Greece to proclaim, at the Olympic games of the year B. C. 324. the decree for the recall of the exiles throughout the Greek cities. (Diod. 18.8; Deinarch. ad v. Demosth. p. 199, ed. Bekk.) It is perhaps the same person whom we find at an earlier period entrusted with the command of the fleet during the siege of Miletus (Arr. Anab. 1.18, 19); at least it seems probable that the Nicanor there mentioned is not the son of Parmenion; he may, however, be identical with the following.

5. A Macedonian officer of distinction, who, in the division of the provinces at Triparadeisus, after the death of Perdiccas (B. C. 321), obtained the important government of Cappadocia. (Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 72a.; Diod. 18.39; App. Mith. 8.) He attached himself to the party of Antigonus, whom he accompanied in the war against Eumenes, and when, after the second battle in Gabiene, the mutinous Argyraspids consented to surrender their general into the hands of Antigonus [Eumenes], it was Nicanor who was selected to receive their prisoner from them. (Plut. Einn. 17.) After the defeat of Pithon and his associates, B. C. 316, Nicanor was appointed by Antigonus, governor of Media and the adjoining provinces, commonly termed the upper satrapies, which he continued to hold until the year 312, when Seleucus made himself master of Babylon. Thereupon Nicanor assembled a large force and marched against the invader, but was surprised and defeated by Seleucus at the passage of the Tigris, and his troops were either cut to pieces or went over to the enemy. According to Diodorus, he himself escaped the slaughter, and fled for safety to the desert, from whence he wrote to Antigonums for assistance. Appian, on the contrary, represents him as killed in the battle. It is certain, at least, that we hear no more of him. (Diod. 19.92, 100; Appian, App. Syr. 55.)

6. A Macedonian officer under Cassander, by whom he was secretly despatched immediately on the death of Antipater, B. C. 319, to take the command of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia. Nicanor arrived at Athens before the news of Antipater's death, and thus readily obtained possession of the fortress, which he afterwards refused to give up notwithstanding the orders of Polysperchon. He however entered into friendly relations with Phocion, and through his means began to negotiate with the Athenians, who demanded the withdrawal of the Macedonian garrison from Munychia, according to the decree just issued by Polysperchon. But while he thus deluded them with false hopes, instead of surrendering Munychia, he took the opportunity to surprise the Peiraeeus also, and, having occupied it with a strong garrison, declared his intention to hold both fortresses for Cassander. (Diod. 18.64; Plut. Phoc. 31, 32; Corn. Nep. Phloc. 2.) In vain did Olympias, at this time on friendly terms with the regent, unite in commanding him to withdraw his troops: nor did Alexander, the son of Polysperchon, who arrived in Attica the following spring (a. 100.318) at the head of a considerable army, effect anything more. Shortly after, Cassander himself arrived with a fleet of thirty-five ships, and Nicanor immediately put him in possession of the Peiraeeus, while he himself retained the command of Munychia. He was, however, quickly despatched by Cassander with a fleet to the Hellespont, where he was joined by the naval forces of Antigonus; and though at first defeated by Cleitus, the admiral of Polysperchon, he soon after retrieved his fortune, and gained a complete victory, destroying or capturing almost the whole of the enemy's fleet. On his return to Athens he was received by Cassander with the utmost distinction, and reinstated in his former command of Munychia. But his late successes had so much elated him that he incurred the suspicion of aiming at higher objects, and intending to set up for himself. On these grounds Cassander determined to rid himself of one who was beginning to give him umbrage, and having succeeded by the basest treachery in decoding Nicanor into his power, he caused him to be put to death, after undergoing the form of a trial before the Macedonian army. (Plut. Phoc. 33; Diod. 18.65, 68, 72, 75; Polyaen. 4.6.8, 11.1.; Trog. Pomp. prol. xiv.)

7. A son of Antipater and brother of Cassander, put to death by Olympias, B. C. 317. (Diod. 19.11.)

8. A friend and general of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, who was despatched by the Egyptian king in B. C. 320, with an army to reduce Syria and Phoenicia; an object which he quickly effected, taking prisoner Laomedon, the governor of those provinces. (Diod. 17.43.)

9. A Syrian Greek, who, together with a Gaul named Apaturius, assassinated Seleucus III. Ceraumus, during his expedition into Asia against Attalus, B. C. 222. He was immediately seized and executed by order of Achaeus. (Plb. 4.48; Euseb. Arm. p. 165, fol. ed.)

10. Surnamed the Elephant, a general under Philip V. king of Macedonia, who invaded Attica with an army shortly before the breaking out of the war between Philip and the Romans, B. C. 200; hut, after laying waste part of the open country, he was induced, by the remonstrances of the Roman ambassadors then at Athens, to withdraw. (Plb. 16.27.) He is again mentioned as commanding the rearguard of Philip's army at the battle of Cynoscephalae, B. C. 197. (Id. 18.7; Liv. 33.8.)

11. An Epeirot, son of Myrton, who united with his father in supporting the oppressive and rapacious proceedings of Charops in the government of their native country. [Charops.] (Plb. 32.21.)

12. Son of Patroclus, was apparently the chief of the three generals who were sent by Lysias, the regent of Syria during the absence of Antiochus IV., to reduce the revolted Jews. They advanced as far as Emmaus, where they were totally defeated by Judas Maccabaeus, B. C. 165. (1 Macc. iii. iv., 2 Macc. viii.; J. AJ 12.7. §§ 3, 4.) He is previously mentioned as holding an administrative office in Palestine. (Joseph. ib. 12.5.5.)

13. A friend of Demetrius I. king of Syria, who had been detained, together with that monarch, as a hostage at Rome, and was one of the companions of his flight. (Plb. 31.22; J. AJ 12.10.4.) When Demetrius was established on the throne of Syria, he despatched Nicanor, whom he had promoted to the dignity of elephantarch, or master of the elephants, with a large army into Judaea to reduce the Jews, who were still in arms under Judas Maccabaeus. Nicanor atfirst attempted to make himself master of the person of the Jewish leader by treachery, under pretence of a peaceful negotiation, but, having failed in this, he gave him battle at Capharsalem, and was defeated with heavy loss. A second action, near Bethoron, proved still more disastrous: Nicanor himself fell on the field, and his whole army was cut to pieces. (J. AJ 12.10. §§ 4, 5; ] Mace. vii., 2 Macc. xiv. xv.) [E.H.B]

(Νικάνωρ).

1. Aristotle's adopted son, repeatedly mentioned in his will, whom the philosopher destined to be his son-in-law. (D. L. 5.12.) [See Vol. I. p. 317.]

2. A person mentioned in the will of Epicurus. (D. L. 10.20.)

3. A celebrated grammarian, who lived during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, A. D. 127. According to Suidas s. v.) he was of Alexandria; according to Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Ἱεράπολις) he was of Hierapolis. His labours were principally directed to punctuation, hence he received the ludicrous name of Ζτιψματίας Suidas, l.c.), and, from his having devoted much of his attention to the elucidation of Homer's writings, through neans of punctuation, he is called by Stephanus I. c.) ὁ νέος Ὅμηρος. He wrote, also, on the punctuation of Callimachus, and a work Περὶ καθόλου στιψμῆς. He is copiously quoted in the Scholia Marciana on Homer. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 368, 517, vol. iii. p. 823, vol. vi. p. 345.)

4. Of Cos. He wrote a commentary on Theocritus, quoted in the Scholia on 7.6. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 781, 798.)

5. Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a writer of this name to whom he adds that of Λέανδρος, as the author of a work called Μετονοομασιας. Athenaeus quotes the same work, but calls the writer a Cyrenian, without giving him the surname. This is probably the same writer with the Nicanor mentioned in connection with the ancient origin of the Egyptians by the Scholiast on Apollonius Ehodius, 4.262. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ρδη; Athen. 7.296d; Apoll. Rhod. p. 160, ed. Wellauer.) [W.M.G]

is celebrated by Suetonius as the first grammarian who acquired fame and honour among the Romans by teaching. He was the author of commentaries, the greater portion of which was said to have been suppressed (isnerccpta dicitur), and of a satire where he declares himself to have been a freedman, and to have been distinguished by a double cognomen,--

Saevins Nicanor, Marci libertus, negabit Saevius Postumius idem, at Marcus docebit.

Suetonius adds, that, according to some accounts, in consequence of reports affecting his character, he retired to Sardinia and there died. (Sueton. de Illustr. Gratst-z. 5.) [W.R]

of Paros, an encaustic painter, of whom we know nothing except that he painted in encaustic before Aristeides. (Plin. Nat. 35.11. s.39.) [P.S]

(Νικάνωρ). (1) A Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great, who, on the death of Perdiccas, received the government of Cappadocia. Antigonus made him governor of Media and its adjacent provinces, but in 312 he was deposed by Seleucus.

(2) A Macedonian officer under Cassander, by whom he was secretly despatched, immediately on the death of Antipater in B.C. 319, to take the command of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia. Nicanor arrived at Athens before the news of Antipater's death, and thus readily obtained possession of the fortress. Soon afterwards he surprised the Piraeus also, and placed both fortresses in the hands of Cassander on the arrival of the latter in Attica in 318. Nicanor was afterwards despatched by Cassander with a fleet to the Hellespont, where he gained a victory over the admiral of Polysperchon. On his return to Athens he incurred the suspicion of Cassander, and was put to death (Diod.xviii. 64 foll.; Plut. Phoc. 33).