Chaereas
- I A writer on husbandry, Varr. R. R. 1, 1, 8; Col. 1, 1, 8; Plin. 20, 23, 99, § 263.—
- II A sculptor of the time of Alexander the Great, Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 75; Vitr. 10, 13, 3.
(Χαιρέας).
1. An Athenian, son of Archestratus, was sent by the people of Samos and the Athenian armament there stationed (who were ignorant of the overthrow of the democracy at Athens by the Four Hundred) to report the defeat of a late attempt at an oligarchical revolution in the island, B. C. 411. The crew of the ship were arrested, on their arrival at Athens, by the new government; but Chaereas himself escaping, returned to Samos, and, by his exaggerated accounts of the tyranny of the oligarchs, led to the strong measures which ensued in favour of democracy under Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus. (Thuc. 8.74, 86.)
2. A historian, so miscalled, of whom Polybius, speaking of his account of the proceedings at Rome when the news arrived of the capture of Saguntum in u. 100.219, says that his writings contained, not history, but gossip fit for barbers' shops, κουρεακῆς καὶ πανδήμου λαλιᾶς. (Plb. 3.20.) We find no record either of the place of his birth or of the exact period at which he flourished. A writer of this name is mentioned by Athenaeus also (i. p. the 32, d.), but whether he is the same person as the preceding cannot be determined. [E.E]
artists.
1. A statuary in bronze, who made statues of Alexander the Great and his father Philip. (Plin. Nat. 34.8. s. 19.14.)
2. A goldsmith. Χαιρέας ὁ χρυσοτέκτων ὁ κατὰ νώτου ποικίλος. (Lucian, Lexiph. 34.9.) [L.S]
seems from his name to have been of Greek extraction, and was perhaps a freedman of some C. Fannius. He had a slave whom he entrusted to Roscius the actor for instruction in his art, and it was agreed that any profits the man might acquire should be shared between them. The slave was murdered by one Q. Flavius, against whom accordingly an action was brought by Chaereas and Roscius for damages. Roscius obtained a farm for himself from the defendant by way of composition, and was sued by Chaereas, who insisted that he had received it for both the plaintiffs. The matter was at first referred to arbitration, but further disputes arose, and the transaction ultimately gave occasion to the action of Chaereas against Roscius, in which the latter was defended by Cicero in a speech (pro Q. Roscio) partially extant. We must form but a low opinion of the respectability of Chaereas if we trust the testimony of Cicero, who certainly indulges himself in the full license of an advocate, and spares neither the character nor the personal appearance of the plaintiff (See especially 100.7.) [E.E]
- defeated by Cleombrotus: Paus. 9.13.3
- a Sicyonian Olympic victor: Paus. 6.3.1