Potamo of Mytilene

Potamo or Potamon (Greek: Ποτάμων ὁ Μυτιληναῖος; around 65 BC–around AD 25)[1]) of Mytilene in Lesbos,[2] son of Lesbonax the rhetorician, was himself a rhetorician in the time of the Roman emperor Tiberius, whose favour he enjoyed.[3] He is mentioned by Plutarch as an authority regarding Alexander the Great.[4] It is probably he whom Lucian states to have attained the age of ninety.[5]

When his son was killed, according to Seneca the Elder, he delivered a speech on the suasoria relating to the Spartans deliberating whether to flee Thermopylae wherein he exhorted the Spartans against flight, in contrast to his rival Lesbocles,[1] who shut down his school of rhetoric after the death of his son.[6] His city sent him on embassies to Rome in 45 and 25 BC.[1]

Works

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The Suda informs us that, in addition to his work On Alexander of Macedon (Περὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος), he wrote several other works, namely:

  • Annals of the Samians (Ὅρους Σαμίων)
  • Encomium of Brutus (Βρούτου ἐγκώμιον)
  • Encomium of Caesar (Καίσαρος ἐγκώμιον)
  • On the Perfect Orator (Περὶ τελείου ῥήτορος)

To these should perhaps be added On the Different, quoted by Ammonius Grammaticus.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Edward, William (1928). The Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. xliii.
  2. ^ Strabo, xiii.
  3. ^ Suda π 2127, Potamon
  4. ^ Plutarch, Alex. 61
  5. ^ Lucian, Macrob. § 23
  6. ^ Edward, William (1928). The Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Potamon of Mytilene". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. III. p. 513.

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