Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1093

Rh THEON. Scholia to Aristophanes were derived. A Com- mentary on the Odyssey by a certain Theon is quoted in the Etywobjgicum Magnum (s.v. Trveos). In one of the Scholia on Aristophanes (Nttb. 3.97), the genuineness of which, however, is doubtful (see Dindorf, AnnoL ad Inc.)^ Theon is mentioned as one of the commentators on Apollonius Rhodius. It is very possible, however, that one or both of these Commentaries on Homer and Apollonius, should be assigned to Aelius Theon, of Alexandria, No. 5, below. (Fabric. BiU. Graec. vol. i. p. 525, vol. ii. p. 500, vol. vi. p. 380.) 2. A later grammarian, the contemporary and friend of Plutarch, in whose Quaestiones Convivia- les he is often mentioned. 3. Of Alexandria, a Stoic philosopher, who flourished under Augustus, later than Areios, and wrote a Commentary on Apollodorus's Introduction to Physiology, t^s 'AiroWo^copov (pvffLoKoyiKrjs ela- ay(A}yris viT6iJivr]fxa, and three books on Rhetoric, ire/): r^xvuv pr^TopiKoiv fii§ia y'. (Suid. s.v.) 4. Of Antioch, a Stoic philosopher, wrote a De- fence of Socrates, *ATrooyia ^wKparuvs. (Suid. s. V.) 5. Aklius Theon, of Alexandria, a sophist and rhetorician, wrote a treatise on Rhetoric (Texi/rj), a work Trepl -Kpoyvixvaa-ixdruiv (or, as some scholars read the text of Suidas, the words Tfx^V ^^P^ '"'po- yvuuacr/j.dTwu form only one title), Commentaries on Xenophon, Isocrates, and Demosthenes, Rhe- torical Themes {^riTopiKoi un-ofleVets), Questions respecting the Composition of Language (^jjTTj^ara TTfpl avvTci^ecas yov), and numerous other works (Suid. s. V. ; Eudoc. p. 231). The Tlpoyvixvdcr- fxara is still extant. It is an excellent and useful treatise on the proper system of preparation for the profession of an orator, according to the rules laid down by Hermogenes and Aphthonius. It was first printed, in Greek only, by Angelus Bar- batus, Romae, 1520, 4to ; again, with an amended text and a Latin version, by Joachim Camerarius, Basil. 1541, 8vo ; by Dan. Heinsius, from the Elze- vir press, Lugd. Bat.l626,8vo ; byJoan. Scheiferus, with the Progymnasmata of Aphthonius, Upsal. 1670 or 1680, 8vo. ; and recently, with the&AoZ/a, Notes, and Indices, by C. E. Finckh, Stuttgard. 1834, 8vo. and also in Walz's Rlteiores Graeci, vol. i. pp. 137, foil. KUster {ad Suid. s. v.) thinks that Aelius Theon was the author of the Commentary on Apollonius, mentioned above (No. 1), and also of the extant Scholia on Aratus, which others refer to the father of Hypatia. ( Fabric. Bibl. (,'raec. vol. vi. pp. 97, 98 ; Hoffmann, Lexicon Bibliogr. Scriptor. Graecorum, s. v.) 6. Valerius Theon, a sophist, who wrote a Commentary on Andocides (Suid. s. v.), from which the suspicion arises that he is the same per- son as the preceding, and that there is some con- fusion between the names Aelius and Valerius. 7. Of Sidon, a son of the sophist Gymnasius, and himself a sophist, taught in his native city, under Constantino the Great, who conferred upon him the dignities of consul and praefect. (Suid. s.v.) 8. A sophist and rhetorician, who was the in- structor of Damascius in oratory. (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 181, p. 126, b. 40, ed. Bekker.) He must there- fore have flourished at the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth centuries of our era. Some particuhirs respecting him are preserved, from Damascius, by Photius (Cod. 242, p. 339, b. 7), and by Suidas (s. v.), who tells us that Theou was THEON. 1081 the descendant of S. Marcella, and the son and pupil of Ecdicius. The passage of Damascius, quoted by Photius, is to the effect that Theon was naturally somewhat obtuse, but so fond of learning and so laborious was he, that he acquired the most perfect knowledge of the ancient poets and orators, and the most thorough technical acquaintance with the art of both ; but he was never able, though very desirous, to reduce his knowledge to practice, and to write either poems or orations. His only work known to Suidas was a Treatise on Rhetoric, A list of some other persons of this name is given by Fabricius. {Bibl. Gra^c. vol. vi. pp. 98, 99). [P. S.] THEON (©eW), the name of three phy- sicians: — 1. A native of Alexandria (Galen, De San. Tu. iii. 3, vol. vi. p. 182), who was originally an athleta, and afterwards a gyni- nasta {ibid. ii. 4. p. 114); and who wrote two works on the subject of gymnastics, one entitled llipi TcDv KaTO. Mepos rv/xvacriwv, De PariicularibuS Exereitiis, the other IlepI tuv TvfivacrTiKwv^ De Gpymasticis {ibid. iii. 8. pp. 208, 209). These works are several times mentioned by Galen, but are not now extant. With respect to Theon's date, it can only be positively determined that he lived after Hippocrates (ibid. ii. 4. p. 105), and before Galen ; but, as Galen does not speak of hira as having lived shortly before his own time, he may perhaps be placed in the third or second cen- tury B. c. 2. A physician who acquired some reputation in Gaul in the latter half of the fourth century after Christ. (Eunap. Vit. lonici.) 3. A physician of Alexandria, who wrote a comprehensive medical work entitled "AvdpwTvos^ " Man," in which he treated of diseases in a sy- stematic order, beginning with the head, and de- scending to the feet, and also of pharmacy. As Photius calls hira {Biblioth. § 220) by the title of " Archiater," he must have lived after the begin- ning of the Christian era ; and as Galen does not mention him, he may be supposed to have lived later than the second century. If (as is not im- probable) he is the same phj'^sician, one of whose medical formulae is quoted by Aetius (i. 3. 58. p. 127), he must have lived before the sixth century. Haller places him in the reign of Theodosius, that is, in the fourth century {Bibl. Medic. Pract. vol. i. p. 287), which may be quite correct, but he does not state the reason for his assigning so precise a date. Theon, the commentator on Nicander mentioned by Stephanns Byzantinus {s. v. KopcoTn)), is reck- oned as a physician by Fabricius {Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 434) and Haller (1. c. p. 138), but it is per- haps more probable that he was a grammarian by profession, as he appears to have written a com- mentary also on Apollonius Rhodius and on Lyco- phron. _ ^ [W.A.G.] THEON of Samos, is mentioned by Quintilian (xii. 10. § 6) as one of those painters who flourished from the time of Philip to that of the successors of Alexander, the age of Pamphilus and Melanthius, Apelles and Protogenes. The peculiar merit of Theon was his prolific fancy {concipiendis visionibus^ quas (pavraaias vacant)., a characteristic denoting that excessive refinement in which the decline of art was already commencing, and which is still more strongly exhibited in the description given