Lacydes of Cyrene

Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

, Greek philosopher

Greek philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued through the Hellenistic period, at which point Ancient Greece was incorporated in the Roman Empire...

, was head of the Academy

Platonic Academy

The Academy was founded by Plato in ca. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC...

 at Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 in succession to Arcesilaus

Arcesilaus

Arcesilaus was a Greek philosopher and founder of the Second or Middle Academy—the phase of Academic skepticism. Arcesilaus succeeded Crates as the sixth head of the Academy c. 264 BC. He did not preserve his thoughts in writing, so his opinions can only be gleaned second-hand from what is...

 from 241 BC. He was forced to resign c. 215 BC due to ill-health, and he died c. 205 BC. Nothing survives of his works.

Life

He was born in Cyrene, the son of Alexander. In his youth he was poor, but remarkable for his industry, as well as for his affable and engaging manners. He moved to Athens, and attached himself to the Middle Academy, according to a silly story quoted by Eusebius from Numenius

Numenius of Apamea

Numenius of Apamea was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Apamea in Syria and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists.- Philosophy :...

, because the ease with which his servants robbed him without being detected, convinced him that no reliance could be placed on the evidence of the senses. He was a disciple of Arcesilaus

Arcesilaus

Arcesilaus was a Greek philosopher and founder of the Second or Middle Academy—the phase of Academic skepticism. Arcesilaus succeeded Crates as the sixth head of the Academy c. 264 BC. He did not preserve his thoughts in writing, so his opinions can only be gleaned second-hand from what is...

, and succeeded him as head (scholarch

Scholarch

A scholarch is the head of a school. The term was especially used for the heads of schools of philosophy in ancient Athens, such as the Platonic Academy, whose first scholarch was Plato himself...

) of the school in 241 BC, over which he presided for 26 years. The place where his instructions were delivered was a garden, named the Lacydeum , provided for the purpose by his friend Attalus I

Attalus I

Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis , first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC...

 of Pergamon

Pergamon

Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...

. He resigned his position in 216/5 BC, because of ill-health, and for the final ten years of his life the Academy was run by a council led by Evander

Evander (philosopher)

Evander , born in Phocis or Phocaea, was the pupil and successor of Lacydes, and was joint leader of the Academy at Athens together with Telecles....

 and Telecles

Telecles

Telecles , of Phocis or Phocaea, was the pupil and successor of Lacydes, and was joint leader of the Academy at Athens together with Evander....

, who succeeded him to jointly run the Academy after his death in 206/5 BC. According to Diogenes Laërtius

Diogenes Laertius

Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...

 he died from excessive drinking, but the story is discredited by the eulogy of Eusebius

Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...

that he was in all things moderate.

Philosophy

In his philosophical views he followed Arcesilaus closely. He is said to have written treatises, including one entitled On Nature, but nothing survives. Apart from a number of anecdotes distinguished for their sarcastic humour, Lacydes exists for us as a man of refined character, a hard worker and an accomplished orator.