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Nicolaus of Damascus

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Nicolaus of Damascus
Νικόλαος Δαμασκηνός
نقولا الدمشقي
Born
Νικόλαος Δαμασκηνός

c. 64 BC
Damascus
Diedafter 4 AD
Rome

Nicolaus of Damascus (Greek: Νικόλαος Δαμασκηνός, Nikolāos Damaskēnos; Latin: Nicolaus Damascenus) was a Greek historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustan age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus. He was born around 64 BC.[1] Nicolaus is known to have had a brother named Ptolemy, who served in the court of Herod as a type of book-keeper or accountant.

He was an intimate friend of Herod the Great, whom he survived by a number of years. He was also the tutor of the children of Mark Antony and Cleopatra (born in c.68 BC), according to Sophronius.[2] He went to Rome with Herod Archelaus, to defend the young man's claim to the throne upon the death of his father Herod the Great.[3]

Given that Book 4 of his History was on Abraham, Nicolaus was most likely a Jew, though one who had been thoroughly Hellenised. As such, he may well have known his contemporary Philo of Alexandria. Since Nicolaus wrote a work On the Psyche, he may well have been, like Philo, in the school of the Pythagoreans or Platonists and been part of the syncretisation of Judaic monotheism with the monotheism (the Monad/The Good) of those two schools.

His output was vast, but is nearly all lost. His chief work was a universal history in 144 books. He also wrote an autobiography, a life of Augustus, a life of Herod, some philosophical works, and some tragedies and comedies.

There is an article on him in the Suda.[4]

Discover more about Nicolaus of Damascus related topics

Greek language

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy, southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

Latin

Latin

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition.

Historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. Some historians are recognized by publications or training and experience. "Historian" became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany and elsewhere.

Philosopher

Philosopher

A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term philosopher comes from the Ancient Greek: φιλόσοφος, romanized: philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. In the classical sense, a philosopher was someone who lived according to a certain way of life, focusing upon resolving existential questions about the human condition; it was not necessary that they discoursed upon theories or commented upon authors. Those who most arduously committed themselves to this lifestyle would have been considered philosophers.

Augustus

Augustus

Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.

Damascus

Damascus

Damascus is the capital of Syria, the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth holiest city in Islam. Known colloquially in Syria as aš-Šām and dubbed, poetically, the "City of Jasmine", Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world.

Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod I, also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of the Temple Mount towards its north, the enclosure around the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima, the fortress at Masada, and Herodium. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.

Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius, commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Although her first language was Koine Greek, she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn and use the Egyptian language.

Herod Archelaus

Herod Archelaus

Herod Archelaus was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for nine years. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samaritan, brother of Herod Antipas, and half-brother of Herod II. Archelaus came to power after the death of his father Herod the Great in 4 BC, and ruled over one-half of the territorial dominion of his father. Archelaus was removed by the Roman emperor Augustus when Judaea province was formed under direct Roman rule, at the time of the Census of Quirinius.

Philo

Philo

Philo of Alexandria, also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.

Autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written biography of one's own life.

Universal History

Towards the end of his life he composed a Universal History in 144 books,[5] although the Suda mentions only 80 books. But references to books 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, (8), 96, 103, 104, 107, 108, 110, 114, 123 and 124 are known.[6]

Extensive fragments of the first seven books are preserved in quotation in the Constantinian Excerpts, compiled at the order of Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.[7] These cover the history of the Assyrians, Medes, Greeks, Lydians, and Persians, and are important also for Biblical history.

Josephus probably used this work for his history of Herod in his Antiquities of the Jews (Ant. 15–17) because where Nicolaus stops, in the reign of Herod Archelaus, the account of Josephus suddenly becomes more cursory.[8]

For portions dealing with Greek myth and oriental history he was dependent on other, now lost works, of variable quality. Where he relied on Ctesias, the value of his work is slim. Robert Drews has written:

Classical scholars are agreed that Nicolaus's history of the East, and especially his story of Cyrus, was taken from Ctesias's Persica, a work written early in the fourth century B.C. This work has with justification been denounced by both Assyriologists and classicists as a totally unreliable guide to Mesopotamian history.[9]

Discover more about Universal History related topics

Universal history

Universal history

A universal history is a work aiming at the presentation of a history of all of mankind as a whole, coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle typically traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to the present. Therefore, any work classed as such purportedly attempts to embrace the events of all times and nations in so far as scientific treatment of them is possible.

Constantinian Excerpts

Constantinian Excerpts

The Constantinian Excerpts was a 53-volume Greek anthology of excerpts from at least 25 historians. It was commissioned by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (945–959), but probably not completed until after his death. Today only two volumes survive complete plus fragments of three others. The titles of 21 other volumes are known. The volumes are typically known by their Latin titles. The title of the whole, Excerpts, is also conventional.

Constantine VII

Constantine VII

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor Alexander.

Josephus

Josephus

Flavius Josephus was a 1st-century Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

Antiquities of the Jews

Antiquities of the Jews

Antiquities of the Jews is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around CE 93 or 94. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of the history of the Jewish people for Josephus' gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve.

Herod Archelaus

Herod Archelaus

Herod Archelaus was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for nine years. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samaritan, brother of Herod Antipas, and half-brother of Herod II. Archelaus came to power after the death of his father Herod the Great in 4 BC, and ruled over one-half of the territorial dominion of his father. Archelaus was removed by the Roman emperor Augustus when Judaea province was formed under direct Roman rule, at the time of the Census of Quirinius.

Ctesias

Ctesias

Ctesias, also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire.

Robert Drews

Robert Drews

Robert Drews is an American historian who is Professor of Classical Studies Emeritus at Vanderbilt University. He received his B. A. from Northwestern College, his M. A. from University of Missouri and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Drews specializes in ancient history and prehistory, in particular the evolution of warfare and of religion.

Persica (Ctesias)

Persica (Ctesias)

Persica is a lost Ancient Greek text, divided in 23 books, on Assyrian, Median and Persian history written by Ctesias of Cnidus, a physician at the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II. The work's style and value for the study of the Achaemenid history have been a subject of much controversy among modern scholars.

Life of Augustus

There exist considerable remains of two works of his old age; a life of Augustus, and his own life.

He wrote a Life of Augustus (Bios Kaisaros), which seems to have been completed after the death of the emperor in AD 14, when Nicolaus was 78. Two long excerpts remain, the first concerning Octavius' youth, the second Caesar's assassination; both survive because they are quoted in the Constantinian Excerpts, a Greek anthology of excerpts commissioned under Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.[8]

Autobiography

He also wrote an autobiography, the date of which is uncertain. It mentions that he wanted to retire, in 4 BC, but was persuaded to travel with Herod Archelaus to Rome.

The fragments that remain deal mainly with Jewish history, focusing on the events at the court of Herod the Great and the succession crisis involving Herod's sons and sister.[8]

Compendium on Aristotle

He composed commentaries on Aristotle. A compendium of excerpts from these is extant in a Syriac manuscript discovered in Cambridge in 1901, (shelfmark Gg. 2. 14). This dates later than 1400, was acquired by Cambridge in 1632, and is very tatty and disarranged. The majority of the manuscript is a work by Dionysius Bar Salibi.[10] The work was probably written in Rome ca. AD 1, when he attracted criticism for being too involved in philosophy to court the wealthy and powerful.[11]

On the Psyche

Porphyrius in On the Faculties of the Soul mentions that Nicolaus of Damascus wrote a book On the Psyche, which stated that the division of the psyche-soul was not founded on quantity, but on quality, like the division of an art or a science. Clearly, by ‘parts’ of the psyche-soul, Nicolaus meant its different faculties.[12]

On Plants

Main article: On Plants

An Arabic translation of his work De Plantis, once attributed to Aristotle, was discovered in Istanbul in 1923. It also exists in a Syriac manuscript at Cambridge.[13]

Discover more about On Plants related topics

On Plants

On Plants

On Plants is a botanical treatise included in the Corpus Aristotelicum but usually regarded as Pseudo-Aristotle. In 1923, a manuscript containing the original Arabic translation from Greek, as done by Ishaq ibn Hunayn, was discovered in Istanbul, which led scholars to conclude the work was likely an exegesis/commentary by philosopher Nicolaus of Damascus on a treatise by Aristotle which is now lost. On Plants describes the nature and origins of plants.

Arabic

Arabic

Arabic is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world. Having emerged in the 1st century, it is named after the Arab people; the term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula, as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece.

Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, drama, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology, and government. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

Syriac language

Syriac language

The Syriac language, also known as Syriac Aramaic and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ, is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, it gained a prominent role among Eastern Christian communities that used both Eastern Syriac and Western Syriac rites. Following the spread of Syriac Christianity, it also became a liturgical language of eastern Christian communities as far as India and China. It flourished from the 4th to the 8th century, and continued to have an important role during the next centuries, but by the end of the Middle Ages it was gradually reduced to liturgical use, since the role of vernacular language among its native speakers was overtaken by several emerging Neo-Aramaic dialects.

Other works

He composed some tragedies and comedies, which are now lost.[7]

The Embassy of an Indian King to Augustus

One of the most famous passages is his account of an embassy sent by an Indian king "named Pandion (Pandyan kingdom) or, according to others, Porus" to Augustus around AD 13. He met with the embassy at Antioch. The embassy was bearing a diplomatic letter in Greek, and one of its members was a sramana who burnt himself alive in Athens to demonstrate his faith. The event made a sensation and was quoted by Strabo[14] and Dio Cassius.[15] A tomb was made to the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch, which bore the mention "ΖΑΡΜΑΝΟΧΗΓΑΣ ΙΝΔΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΒΑΡΓΟΣΗΣ" (Zarmanochēgas indos apo Bargosēs – Zarmanochegas, Indian from Bargosa):

To these accounts may be added that of Nicolaus Damascenus. This writer states that at Antioch, near Daphne, he met with ambassadors from the Indians, who were sent to Augustus Caesar. It appeared from the letter that several persons were mentioned in it, but three only survived, whom he says he saw. The rest had died chiefly in consequence of the length of the journey. The letter was written in Greek upon a skin; the import of it was, that Porus was the writer, that although he was sovereign of six hundred kings, yet that he highly esteemed the friendship of Cæsar; that he was willing to allow him a passage through his country, in whatever part he pleased, and to assist him in any undertaking that was just. Eight naked servants, with girdles round their waists, and fragrant with perfumes, presented the gifts which were brought. The presents were a Hermes (i. e. a man) born without arms, whom I have seen, large snakes, a serpent ten cubits in length, a river tortoise of three cubits in length, and a partridge larger than a vulture. They were accompanied by the person, it is said, who burnt himself to death at Athens. This is the practice with persons in distress, who seek escape from existing calamities, and with others in prosperous circumstances, as was the case with this man. For as everything hitherto had succeeded with him, he thought it necessary to depart, lest some unexpected calamity should happen to him by continuing to live; with a smile, therefore, naked, anointed, and with the girdle round his waist, he leaped upon the pyre. On his tomb was this inscription:
ZARMANOCHEGAS, AN INDIAN, A NATIVE OF BARGOSA, HAVING IMMORTALIZED HIMSELF ACCORDING TO THE CUSTOM OF HIS COUNTRY, HERE LIES.[16]

This accounts suggests that it may not have been impossible to encounter an Indian religious man in the Levant during the time of Jesus.

The Jewish historian Josephus references the fourth book of Nicolaus' history concerning Abram. Josephus also references Nicolaus’ history of the Jewish King David in book 7 of Antiquities of the Jews.[17]

Discover more about The Embassy of an Indian King to Augustus related topics

Augustus

Augustus

Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.

Antioch

Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was a Hellenistic city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. The city served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades, Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch, one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant. Its inhabitants were known as Antiochenes. The modern city of Antakya, in Hatay Province of Turkey, was named after the ancient city, which lies in ruins on the Orontes River and did not overlap in habitation with the modern city.

Athens

Athens

Athens is a major coastal city in the Mediterranean and is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With its surrounding urban area’s population numbering over three million, it is also the seventh largest urban area in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE.

Strabo

Strabo

Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and Moralia, a collection of essays and speeches. Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was possibly named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus.

India

India

India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area and the second-most populous country. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

Bharuch

Bharuch

Bharuch, formerly known as Broach, is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District.

Zarmanochegas

Zarmanochegas

Zarmanochegas or Zarmarus was a gymnosophist, a monk of the Sramana tradition who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius, met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch while Augustus was ruling the Roman Empire, and shortly thereafter proceeded to Athens where he burnt himself to death. He is estimated to have died in 19 BC.

Levant

Levant

The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is equivalent to a stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean in southwestern Asia, i.e. the historical region of Syria, which includes present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates. Its overwhelming characteristic is that it represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the Eastern Mediterranean with its islands; that is, it included all of the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica in eastern Libya.

Jesus

Jesus

Jesus, also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader; he is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion. Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible.

Source: "Nicolaus of Damascus", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 14th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_of_Damascus.

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Further Reading

Herodias

Herod Antipas

Antiquities of the Jews

Herod Archelaus

Judaea (Roman province)

Archelaus of Cappadocia

Buddhism and the Roman world

Tigranes VI of Armenia

Tigranes V of Armenia

Glaphyra

Antipater (son of Herod the Great)

Herodian Tetrarchy

Malthace

Quirinius
References
  1. ^ Nicolaus, Autobiography, Fr.136.8
  2. ^ Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 87, 3. col. 3622D; F.Jacoby, FGrH.90.T2.
  3. ^ Nicolaus, Autobiography, Fr.136.8-11
  4. ^ Suda ν 393, [1].
  5. ^ Athenaeus, vi. 249.
  6. ^ Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller, et al., Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Vol. 3, p. 345.
  7. ^ a b Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 1f.
  8. ^ a b c Jewish Encyclopedia Article
  9. ^ Drews, Robert, "Sargon, Cyrus and Mesopotamian Folk History" Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4, (Oct., 1974), pp. 387-393.
  10. ^ Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 46.
  11. ^ Lulofs, H. J. Drossart. On the Philosophy of Aristotle, by Nicolaus Damascenus. Brill, 1969, p. 5.
  12. ^ On the Faculties of the Soul by Porphyrius
  13. ^ H. J. Drossaart Lulofs & E. L. J. Poortman, Nicolaus Damascenus: De Plantis. Five Translations, Amsterdam 1989.
  14. ^ Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73).
  15. ^ Dio Cassius, liv, 9.
  16. ^ Strabo, xv, 1.73.
  17. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, i.158 (ch.7)
Sources
  • Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1898: "Nicolaus"
  • Lightfoot, J. B. 1875. On Some Points Connected with the Essenes: II."Origin and Affinity of the Essenes", Note
  • Wacholder, B. Z. 1962. Nicolaus of Damascus. University of California Studies in History 75.
  • Yarrow, L. M. 2006. Historiography at the End of the Republic. Oxford University Press, pp. 67–77.
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