Timon (philosopher)
Encyclopedia
Timon of Phlius was a Greek
skeptic
philosopher, a pupil of Pyrrho
, and a celebrated writer of satirical
poems called Silloi
. He was born in Phlius
, moved to Megara
, and then he returned home and married. He next went to Elis
with his wife, and heard Pyrrho
, whose tenets he adopted. He also lived on the Hellespont, and taught at Chalcedon
, before moving to Athens
, where he lived until his death. His writings were said to have been very numerous. He composed poetry, tragedies, satiric dramas, and comedies, of which very little remains. His most famous composition was his Silloi, a satirical account of famous philosophers, living and dead, in hexameter verse. The Silloi has not survived intact, but it is mentioned and quoted by several ancient authors.
, from the first book of a work on the Silloi by Apollonides of Nicaea; and some particulars are quoted by Diogenes from Antigonus of Carystus
, and from Sotion
. He was a native of Phlius
, and was the son of Timarchus. Being left an orphan while still young, he was at first a dancer in the theatre, but he abandoned this profession for the study of philosophy, and, having moved to Megara
, he spent some time with Stilpo
, and then he returned home and married. He next went to Elis
with his wife, and heard Pyrrho
, whose tenets he adopted, so far at least as his restless genius and satirical scepticism permitted him to follow any master. During his residence at Elis, he had children born to him, the eldest of whom, named Xanthus, he instructed in the art of medicine
and trained in his philosophical principles. Driven again from Elis by straitened circumstances, he spent some time on the Hellespont and the Propontis, and taught at Chalcedon
as a sophist with such success that he made a fortune. He then moved to Athens
, where he lived until his death, with the exception of a short residence at Thebes
. Among the great men with whom he became personally acquainted in the course of his travels were the kings Antigonus
and Ptolemy II Philadelphus
. He was also linked to several literary figures such as: Zopyrus of Clazomenae; Alexander Aetolus
and Homerus
, whom he is said to have assisted in the composition of their tragedies; and Aratus
, whom he is said to have taught. He died at an age of almost ninety.
. Some other examples of his bitter sarcasms are recorded by Diogenes; one of which is worth quoting as a maxim in criticism: being asked by Aratus how to obtain the pure text of Homer, he replied, "If we could find the old copies, and not those with modern emendations." He is also said to have been fond of retirement, and of gardening; but Diogenes introduces this statement and some others in such a way as to suggest a doubt whether they ought to be referred to our Timon or to Timon of Athens
, or whether they apply equally to both.
, may be referred to this class; unless it was in prose. It appears probable that his Funeral Banquet of Arcesilaus was a satirical poem in epic verse. He also wrote parodies on Homer
, and some lines from a scepticism-themed poem in elegiac
verse have been preserved, as well as one or two fragments which cannot be with certainty assigned to any of his poems.
The most celebrated of his poems, however, were the satiric compositions called Silloi
, a word of somewhat uncertain etymology, but which undoubtedly describes metrical compositions, of a character at once ludicrous and sarcastic. The invention of this species of poetry is ascribed to Xenophanes of Colophon
. The Silloi of Timon were in three books, in the first of which he spoke in his own person, and the other two are in the form of a dialogue between the author and Xenophanes, in which Timon proposed questions, to which Xenophanes replied at length. The subject was a sarcastic account of the tenets of all philosophers, living and dead; an unbounded field for scepticism and satire. They were in hexameter verse, and, from the way in which they are mentioned by the ancient writers, as well as from the few fragments of them which have survived, it is evident that they were admirable productions of their kind. Commentaries were written on the Silloi by Apollonides of Nicaea, and also by Sotion of Alexandria
. The poem entitled Images in elegiac verse, appears to have been similar in its subject to the Silloi. Diogenes Laërtius also mentions Timon's iamboi
, but perhaps the word is here merely used in the sense of satirical poems in general, without reference to the metre. According to Timon, philosophers are "excessively cunning murderers of many wise saws" (v. 96); the only two whom he spares are Xenophanes, "the modest censor of Homer's lies" (v. 29), and Pyrrho, against whom "no other mortal dare contend" (v. 126).
ultimately originated with Timon. His work is frequently quoted by Sextus Empiricus
, also a follower of Pyrrho
. Apart from the fragments of the Silloi, most of what survives of Timon's work is what Sextus chose to quote.
is based on another figure who lived much earlier, Timon of Athens
, some of Timon's philosophies influenced Shakespeare's presentation of him.
Hellenistic Greece
In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...
skeptic
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BCE and recorded by Sextus Empiricus in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century CE. It was named after Pyrrho, a philosopher who lived from c. 360 to c. 270 BCE, although the relationship...
philosopher, a pupil of Pyrrho
Pyrrho
Pyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea...
, and a celebrated writer of satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
poems called Silloi
Silloi
Silloi is a term for a form of philosophical satire or parody in ancient Greek. Silloi are poems written in hexameter; they originated in this form with Timon of Phlius, circa 250 BC, who composed three books of them...
. He was born in Phlius
Phlius
Phlius was a Greek city in the northwestern Argolid, in the Peloponnese, said to be named after the Greek hero, Phlias. Although geographically close to Argos, the city became a Spartan ally and a member of the Peloponnesian League....
, moved to Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
, and then he returned home and married. He next went to Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...
with his wife, and heard Pyrrho
Pyrrho
Pyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea...
, whose tenets he adopted. He also lived on the Hellespont, and taught at Chalcedon
Chalcedon
Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...
, before moving to 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...
, where he lived until his death. His writings were said to have been very numerous. He composed poetry, tragedies, satiric dramas, and comedies, of which very little remains. His most famous composition was his Silloi, a satirical account of famous philosophers, living and dead, in hexameter verse. The Silloi has not survived intact, but it is mentioned and quoted by several ancient authors.
Life
A fairly full account of Timon's life was given by Diogenes LaërtiusDiogenes 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...
, from the first book of a work on the Silloi by Apollonides of Nicaea; and some particulars are quoted by Diogenes from Antigonus of Carystus
Antigonus of Carystus
Antigonus of Carystus , Greek writer on various subjects, flourished in the 3rd century BC. After some time spent at Athens and in travelling, he was summoned to the court of Attalus I of Pergamum...
, and from Sotion
Sotion
Sotion of Alexandria was a Greek doxographer and biographer, and an important source for Diogenes Laërtius. None of his works survive; they are known only indirectly...
. He was a native of Phlius
Phlius
Phlius was a Greek city in the northwestern Argolid, in the Peloponnese, said to be named after the Greek hero, Phlias. Although geographically close to Argos, the city became a Spartan ally and a member of the Peloponnesian League....
, and was the son of Timarchus. Being left an orphan while still young, he was at first a dancer in the theatre, but he abandoned this profession for the study of philosophy, and, having moved to Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
, he spent some time with Stilpo
Stilpo
Stilpo was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. He was a contemporary of Theophrastus, Diodorus Cronus, and Crates of Thebes. None of his writings survive, he was interested in logic and dialectic, and he argued that the universal is fundamentally separated from the individual and concrete...
, and then he returned home and married. He next went to Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...
with his wife, and heard Pyrrho
Pyrrho
Pyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea...
, whose tenets he adopted, so far at least as his restless genius and satirical scepticism permitted him to follow any master. During his residence at Elis, he had children born to him, the eldest of whom, named Xanthus, he instructed in the art of medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and trained in his philosophical principles. Driven again from Elis by straitened circumstances, he spent some time on the Hellespont and the Propontis, and taught at Chalcedon
Chalcedon
Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...
as a sophist with such success that he made a fortune. He then moved to 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...
, where he lived until his death, with the exception of a short residence at Thebes
Thebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
. Among the great men with whom he became personally acquainted in the course of his travels were the kings Antigonus
Antigonus II Gonatas
Antigonus II Gonatas was a powerful ruler who firmly established the Antigonid dynasty in Macedonia and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had invaded the Balkans.-Birth and family:...
and Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BCE to 246 BCE. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos...
. He was also linked to several literary figures such as: Zopyrus of Clazomenae; Alexander Aetolus
Alexander Aetolus
For other uses, see Alexander and Alexander Alexander Aetolus was a Greek poet and grammarian, the only known representative of Aetolian poetry...
and Homerus
Homerus of Byzantium
Homerus from Byzantium was an ancient Greek grammarian and tragic poet. He was also called ho Neoteros , to distinguish him from the older Homerus ....
, whom he is said to have assisted in the composition of their tragedies; and Aratus
Aratus
Aratus was a Greek didactic poet. He is best known today for being quoted in the New Testament. His major extant work is his hexameter poem Phaenomena , the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cnidus. It describes the constellations and other...
, whom he is said to have taught. He died at an age of almost ninety.
Character
Timon appears to have been endowed by nature with a powerful and active mind, and with a quick perception of the weaknesses of people, which made him a sceptic in philosophy and a satirist in everything. According to Diogenes Laërtius, Timon was a one-eyed man; and he used even to make a jest of his own defect, calling himself CyclopsCyclops
A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
. Some other examples of his bitter sarcasms are recorded by Diogenes; one of which is worth quoting as a maxim in criticism: being asked by Aratus how to obtain the pure text of Homer, he replied, "If we could find the old copies, and not those with modern emendations." He is also said to have been fond of retirement, and of gardening; but Diogenes introduces this statement and some others in such a way as to suggest a doubt whether they ought to be referred to our Timon or to Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens (person)
Timon of Athens was a citizen of Athens whose reputation for misanthropy grew to legendary status. According to the historian Plutarch, Timon lived during the era of the Peloponnesian War .-Overview:...
, or whether they apply equally to both.
Writings
The writings of Timon are represented as very numerous. According to Diogenes Laërtius, he composed "lyric and epic poems, and tragedies and satiric dramas, and thirty comedies, and sixty tragedies and the Silloi and amatory poems."Poetry
No remains of his dramas have survived. Of his epic poems little is known, but it may be presumed that they were chiefly ludicrous or satirical poems in the epic form. Possibly his Python , which contained a long account of a conversation with Pyrrho, during a journey to the Delphic oraclePythia
The Pythia , commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, was the priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo. The Delphic oracle was established in the 8th century BC...
, may be referred to this class; unless it was in prose. It appears probable that his Funeral Banquet of Arcesilaus was a satirical poem in epic verse. He also wrote parodies on Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, and some lines from a scepticism-themed poem in elegiac
Elegiac
Elegiac refers either to those compositions that are like elegies or to a specific poetic meter used in Classical elegies. The Classical elegiac meter has two lines, making it a couplet: a line of dactylic hexameter, followed by a line of dactylic pentameter...
verse have been preserved, as well as one or two fragments which cannot be with certainty assigned to any of his poems.
The most celebrated of his poems, however, were the satiric compositions called Silloi
Silloi
Silloi is a term for a form of philosophical satire or parody in ancient Greek. Silloi are poems written in hexameter; they originated in this form with Timon of Phlius, circa 250 BC, who composed three books of them...
, a word of somewhat uncertain etymology, but which undoubtedly describes metrical compositions, of a character at once ludicrous and sarcastic. The invention of this species of poetry is ascribed to Xenophanes of Colophon
Xenophanes
of Colophon was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic. Xenophanes life was one of travel, having left Ionia at the age of 25 he continued to travel throughout the Greek world for another 67 years. Some scholars say he lived in exile in Siciliy...
. The Silloi of Timon were in three books, in the first of which he spoke in his own person, and the other two are in the form of a dialogue between the author and Xenophanes, in which Timon proposed questions, to which Xenophanes replied at length. The subject was a sarcastic account of the tenets of all philosophers, living and dead; an unbounded field for scepticism and satire. They were in hexameter verse, and, from the way in which they are mentioned by the ancient writers, as well as from the few fragments of them which have survived, it is evident that they were admirable productions of their kind. Commentaries were written on the Silloi by Apollonides of Nicaea, and also by Sotion of Alexandria
Sotion
Sotion of Alexandria was a Greek doxographer and biographer, and an important source for Diogenes Laërtius. None of his works survive; they are known only indirectly...
. The poem entitled Images in elegiac verse, appears to have been similar in its subject to the Silloi. Diogenes Laërtius also mentions Timon's iamboi
Iambus (genre)
Iambus was a genre of ancient Greek poetry that included but was not restricted to the iambic meter and whose origins modern scholars have traced to the cults of Demeter and Dionysus. The genre featured insulting and obscene language...
, but perhaps the word is here merely used in the sense of satirical poems in general, without reference to the metre. According to Timon, philosophers are "excessively cunning murderers of many wise saws" (v. 96); the only two whom he spares are Xenophanes, "the modest censor of Homer's lies" (v. 29), and Pyrrho, against whom "no other mortal dare contend" (v. 126).
Prose
He also wrote in prose, to the quantity, according to Diogenes Laërtius, of twenty thousand lines. These works were no doubt on philosophical subjects, and Diogenes mentions On Sensations, On Inquiries, and Towards Wisdom. Also among his lost works is Against the Physicists, in which he questioned the legitimacy of making hypotheses. It has been suggested that Pyrrhoniam scepticismPyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism, or Pyrrhonian skepticism, was a school of skepticism founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BCE and recorded by Sextus Empiricus in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century CE. It was named after Pyrrho, a philosopher who lived from c. 360 to c. 270 BCE, although the relationship...
ultimately originated with Timon. His work is frequently quoted by Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus , was a physician and philosopher, and has been variously reported to have lived in Alexandria, Rome, or Athens. His philosophical work is the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman skepticism....
, also a follower of Pyrrho
Pyrrho
Pyrrho , a Greek philosopher of classical antiquity, is credited as being the first Skeptic philosopher and the inspiration for the school known as Pyrrhonism, founded by Aenesidemus in the 1st century BC.- Life :Pyrrho was from Elis, on the Ionian Sea...
. Apart from the fragments of the Silloi, most of what survives of Timon's work is what Sextus chose to quote.
Cultural references
While Shakespeare's Timon of AthensTimon of Athens
The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...
is based on another figure who lived much earlier, Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens (person)
Timon of Athens was a citizen of Athens whose reputation for misanthropy grew to legendary status. According to the historian Plutarch, Timon lived during the era of the Peloponnesian War .-Overview:...
, some of Timon's philosophies influenced Shakespeare's presentation of him.
Further reading
- Dee L. Clayman, Timon of Phlius: Pyrrhonism Into Poetry, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009 (including a new reconstruction of the Silloi, with Greek text and English translation)