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Polyaenus

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For other uses, see Polyaenus (disambiguation).
Polyaenus, Stratagems in War, 1821
Polyaenus, Stratagems in War, 1821

Polyaenus or Polyenus (/ˌpɒliˈiːnəs/ POL-ee-EE-nəs; see ae (æ) vs. e; Greek: Πoλύαινoς, translit. Polyainos, "much-praised") was a 2nd-century CE Greek author, known best for his Stratagems in War (Greek: Στρατηγήματα, translit. Strategemata), which has been preserved. He was born in Bithynia. The Suda[1] calls him a rhetorician, and Polyaenus himself writes that he was accustomed to plead causes before the Roman emperor.[2] Polyaenus dedicated Stratagems in War to the two emperors Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) and Lucius Verus (r. 161–169), while they were engaged in the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166, about 163, at which time he was too old to accompany them in their campaigns.[3]

Discover more about Polyaenus 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.

Romanization of Greek

Romanization of Greek

Romanization of Greek is the transliteration (letter-mapping) and/or transcription (sound-mapping) of text from the Greek alphabet into the Latin alphabet.

Suda

Suda

The Suda or Souda is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas (Σουίδας). It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic, is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. Aristotle defines rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion" and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he calls it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Rhetoric typically provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations, such as Aristotle's three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric or phases of developing a persuasive speech were first codified in classical Rome: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.

Roman emperor

Roman emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler and monarchial head of state of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history. Often when a given Roman is described as becoming "emperor" in English it reflects his taking of the title augustus. Another title often used was caesar, used for heirs-apparent, and imperator, originally a military honorific. Early emperors also used the title princeps civitatis. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably princeps senatus, consul, and pontifex maximus.

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calmness and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

Lucius Verus

Lucius Verus

Lucius Aurelius Verus was Roman emperor from 161 until his death in 169, alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Verus' succession together with Marcus Aurelius marked the first time that the Roman Empire was ruled by more than one emperor simultaneously, an increasingly common occurrence in the later history of the Empire.

Roman–Parthian War of 161–166

Roman–Parthian War of 161–166

The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into Lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital.

Stratagems

This work is divided into eight books: the first six contain accounts of the stratagems of the most celebrated Greek generals, the seventh book contains stratagems of non Greeks and Romans, and the eighth book those of the Romans and of illustrious women. Parts, however, of the sixth and seventh books are lost, so that of the 900 stratagems which Polyaenus described, 833 have survived.

The book has survived in a single copy made in the 13th century, although there exist five abridged versions, which will be discussed below. The full copy once belonged to Michel Apostolios and is now in the Laurentian Library in Florence. The work is written in a clear and pleasing style, though somewhat tinged with the artificial rhetoric of the age. It contains a vast number of anecdotes respecting many of the most celebrated men in antiquity, and has uniquely preserved many historical facts.

There are no less than five Byzantine abridgments of this work, the most important one of which is held in the same library of the original, the Laurentian. This compendium, titled Ὑπoθέσεις ἐκ τῶν στρατηγικῶν πράξεων, contains 58 chapters and 354 stratagems, and is useful to elucidate and explain many passages of the original, lost or not. Despite the existence of the abridgements, Polyaenus' treatise was not popular in the Middle Ages. The original is rarely cited by Byzantine sources, which suggests that it had ceased to circulate, and that the abridgements had replaced it. To this it must be added that only the Ὑπoθέσεις derives directly from the original, while the other four versions seem to be summaries of the first.

Polyaenus was first printed in a Latin translation, executed by Justus Vulteius, at Basel, 1549. The first edition of the Greek text was published by Isaac Casaubon, Lyon, 1589; the next by Pancratius Maasvicius, Leyden, 1690; the third by Samuel Mursinna, Berlin, 1756; the fourth by Adamantios Korais, Paris, 1809.[4] The work has been translated into English by R. Shepherd, London, 1793; into German by Seybold, Frankfurt, 1793–94, and by Blume, Stuttgart, 1834.

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Laurentian Library

Laurentian Library

The Laurentian Library is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope Clement VII, the library was built to emphasize that the Medici were no longer just merchants but members of intelligent and ecclesiastical society. It contains the manuscripts and books belonging to the private library of the Medici family. The library building is renowned for its architecture that was designed by Michelangelo and is an example of Mannerism.

Florence

Florence

Florence is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient Rome as it was centred on Constantinople instead of Rome, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

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.

Basel

Basel

Basel, also known as Basle, is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine, at the tripoint of France, Germany, and Switzerland. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city, with 175,000 inhabitants within the city municipality limits, and 830,000 inhabitants in the Trinational Eurodistrict of Basel metropolitan area. The official language of Basel is German, but the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect.

Editio princeps

Editio princeps

In classical scholarship, the editio princeps of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand.

Isaac Casaubon

Isaac Casaubon

Isaac Casaubon was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England.

Lyon

Lyon

Lyon, also spelt in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, 391 km (243 mi) southeast of Paris, 278 km (173 mi) north of Marseille, 113 km (70 mi) southwest of Geneva, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Saint-Étienne.

Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Adamantios Korais

Adamantios Korais

Adamantios Korais or Koraïs was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War of Independence and the emergence of a purified form of the Greek language, known as Katharevousa. Encyclopædia Britannica asserts that "his influence on the modern Greek language and culture has been compared to that of Dante on Italian and Martin Luther on German".

London

London

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which since 1965 has largely comprised Greater London, which is governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.

Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main, is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its namesake Main River, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main and its urban area has a population of over 2.3 million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region. Frankfurt's central business district, the Bankenviertel, lies about 90 km (56 mi) northwest of the geographic center of the EU at Gadheim in Lower Franconia. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area.

Other works

Polyaenus also wrote several other works, all of which have perished. The Suda has preserved the titles of two, On Thebes (Περὶ Θηβῶν) and Tactics, in three books (Τακτικά). Stobaeus makes a quotation from a work of Polyaenus, Ὑπὲρ τoῦ κoινoῦ τῶν Mακεδόνων[5] (For the koinon of Macedonians), and from another entitled Ὑπὲρ τoῦ Συνεδρίoυ[6] (For the Synedrion). Polyaenus likewise mentions his intention of writing a work on the memorable actions of M. Aurelius and L. Verus.[7]

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

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Further Reading

Marcus Aurelius

Suda

Lucius Verus

Corpus Hermeticum

Artemisia I of Caria

Iamblichus

Aurelia gens

Pittacus of Mytilene

Byzantine military manuals

Augustus (title)

Reign of Marcus Aurelius

Sohaemus of Armenia
Notes
  1. ^ Suda π 1955, Πολύαινος
  2. ^ Polyaenus, praef. lib. ii, praef. lib. viii
  3. ^ Polyaenus, praef. lib. i
  4. ^ Polyaenus’ Stratagems, ELINEPA, 2019
  5. ^ Stobaeus, xlviii. 43
  6. ^ Stobaeus, xlviii. 53
  7. ^ Polyaenus, praef. lib. vi
Further reading
  • Bayle, Pierre (1740). "Polyænus". Dictionnaire historique et critique. Amsterdam.
  • Brodersen, Kai, ed. (2010). Polyainos. Neue Studien. Polyaenus. New Studies. Berlin: Verlag Antike. ISBN 978-3-938032-39-8.
  • Brodersen, Kai (2017). Polyainos: Strategika (in Greek and German). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-053664-5.
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Polyaenus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 17.
  • Dain, A. "Les Cinq adaptations Byzantines de les Stratagèmes de Polyen". Revue des études anciennes: 321–346.
  • "Polyen: Ruses de guerre". Site de Philippe Remacle (in French). Retrieved 9 October 2018. — Gui-Alexis Lobineau (traducteur), Paris, (1840)
  • Seyffert, Oskar (1894). "Polyænus". Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.
  • Public Domain Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Polyaenus (4) the Macedonian". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3.
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