Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/37

 of the philosophical expressions of Plato. His style, as might have been expected, is marked by- several of the solecisms of his age, but exhibits in the main a constant endeavour after purity and accuracy. His scholia, as we have them, w^ere put into a written form by his pupils, from notes which they took of his lectures, and are distributed into Trpa^ejs, or lessons. The inscriptions which precede the scholia state that they were written diro (pwvTJ^ OXv/jLirioSoopov Tov fxeydkov ov. This will probably account for many of the defects of style observable in Olympiodorus. Of his compositions there have come down to us a life of Plato ; a polemical work against Strato (in MS. at Munich) ; and scholia on the Gorgias, Philebus, Phaedo, and Alcibiades I. of Plato. Whether these were all the works of Plato on which he commented, or not, we do not know. The life of Plato was published in Wetstein's edition of Diogenes Laertius, in 1692, from the posthumous papers of Is. Casau- bon. It was again published by Etvvall, in his edition of three of Plato's dialogues, Lond. 1771 ; and by Fischer, in his edition of some dialogues of Plato, Leipzig, 1783. Some of the more important scholia on the Phaedo were published by Nathan Forster, Oxford, 17.52 ; by Fischer (/. c); and in a more complete form, by Mystoxides and Schinas, in their 'SvWoyrj 'EAt]vik(2v dveKSoTcov, Venice, 1816. The scholia to the Gorgias were published by Routh, in his edition of the Euthy- demus and Gorgias, Oxford, 1784; those to the Philebus by Stallbaum, in his edition of Plato, Leipzig, 1826 ; those on the Alcibiades by Creuzer, Frankfort, 1821. (Fabric. Bibl. Graee, vol. x. p. 631.)

. An Aristotelic philosopher, the author of a commentary on the Meteorologica of Aristotle, which is still extant. He himself (p. 37, 6) speaks of Alexandria as his residence, and (p. 12, 6) men- tions the comet which appeared in the 28 1st year of the Diocletian era (a. d. 565), so that the period when he lived is fixed to the latter half of the sixth century after Christ. His work, like the scholia of the Neo-Platonic philosopher of the same name, is divided into trpd^eis ; from which it would seem that the Aristotelic philosophy was taught at Alexandria even after the Neo-Platonic School had become extinct. Like Simplicius, to whom, however, he is inferior, he endeavours to reconcile Plato and Aristotle. Of Proclus he speaks with great admiration, styling him 6 S-elos ; but his great authority is Ammonius. His commentary was published by the sons of Aldus, at Venice, 1551. (Fabric. Bil>L Graec. vol. x. p. 628, &c., who gives a list of the authors quoted by him.)

. Surnamed Diaconus or Monachus, an eccle- siastic who lived in the sixth century. He sustained the office of diaconus in Alexandria, He is men- tioned with commendation by Anastasius Sinai ta, who flourished not later than A. d. 680—700. He wrote commentaries on the books of Job, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Ecclesiastes. The notes on Job, entitled Hypotheses in Lihrum Jobi, were published in a Latin translation, by Paulus Comitolus, Venice, 1587 ; and, with those on Jeremiah, in the Catenae Patrum Graecorum. The commentary on Eccle- siastes was published in Greek in the Audarium Ducaeanmn DiUiotliecae Patrum^ Paris, 1624. Latin translations of it have been several times published. (Fabric. Bill. Graec. vol. x. p. 627 ; Ho£Fmann, Lex, Bibl. vol. ii. p. 158.) [C. P. M.]

OLYMPIO'STHENES {^OXvtimoaeipris), a sculptor, whose country is unknown, made three of the statues of the Muses, which were set up on Mt. Helicon, and the other six of which were made by Cephisodotus and Strongylion. (Pans. ix. 30. § 1.) It may safely be inferred that the three artists were contemporary ; but, looking only at the passage of Pausanias, it is doubtful whether the elder or the younger Cephisodotus is meant. It appears, however, from other evidence that Strongylion was a contemporary of Praxiteles, and therefore of the elder Cephisodotus. [Strongy- lion.] According to this, the date of Olympios- thenes would be about B. c. 370. [P. S.]

OLY'MPIUS ('OAuiUTrioy), the Olympian, oc- curs as a surname of Zeus (Hom. 11. i. 353), Heracles (Herod, ii. 44), the Muses (Olympiades, II. ii. 491), and in general of all the gods that were believed to live in Olympus, in contradistinction from the gods of the lower world. (//. i. 399 ; comp. Paus. i. 18. § 7, v. 14. § 6, vi. 20. §2.) [L.S.]

OLY'MPIUS ('OAuAtTTJos), a lawyer, born pro- bably at Tralles in Lydia, in the sixth century after Christ. His father's name was Stephanas, who was a physician (Alex. Trail. De Medic, iv. 1, p. 198) ; one of his brothers was the physician Alexander Trallianus ; another the architect and mathematician Anthemius ; and Agathias men- tions {Hist. V. p. 149, ed. 1660) that his other two brothers, Metrodorus and Dioscorus, were both eminent in their several professions. [W. A. G.]

OLY'MPIUS NEMESIA'NUS. [Nemesi-ANUS.]

OLYMPUS fOAuMTTos). 1. A teacher of Zeus, after whom the god is said to have been called the Olympian. (Diod. iii. 73.)

. The father of Marsyas. (Apollod. i. 4. §2.)

. A disciple of Marsyas, and a celebrated flute- player of Phrygia. For a further account of this personage, who is closely connected with the historical Olympus, see the following article.

. The father of Cius, from whom Mount Olym- pus in Mysia was believed to have received its name. (Schol. ad Theocr. xiii. 30.)

. A son of Heracles by Euboea. (Apollod. ii. 7. § 8.)

. Olympus, the abode of the gods also requires a few words of comment in this place. Mount Olympus is situated in the north-east of Thessaly, and is about 6,000 feet high ; on its summit which rises above the clouds of heaven, and is itself cloud- less, Hephaestus had built a town with gates, which was inhabited by Zeus and the other gods. {Od. vi. 42, II. xi. 76.) The palace of Zeus contained an assembly-hall, in which met not only the gods of Olympus, but those also who dwelt on the earth or in the sea. (//. xx. 5.) This celestial moun- tain must indeed be distinguished from heaven ; but as the gods lived in the city which rose above the clouds and into heaven, they lived at the same time in heaven, and the gates of the celestial city were at the same time regarded as the gates of heaven. (//. v. 749, &c.) [L. S.]

OLYMPUS ("OAuMTTOs), the physician in ordi- nary to Cleopatra, queen ot Egypt, who aided her in committing suicide, B. c. 30, and afterwards published an account of her death. (Plut. Anton. c. 82.) [W. A. G.]

OLYMPUS CoXvfXTTos), musicians. Suidas distinguishes three Greek musicians of this name,