Hermippus

• a Greek proper name, Cic. Fl. 19 sq.; id. Q. Fr. 1, 2, 2, § 4 al.

(Ἕρμιππος).

1. An Athenian comic poet of the old comedy, was the son of Lysis and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was a little younger than Telecleides, but older than Eupolis and Aristophanes (Suid. s. v.). He vehemently attacked Pericles, especially on the occasion of Aspasia's acquittal on the charge of ἀσέβεια, and in connection with the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. (Plut. Per. 32, 33.) He also attacked Hyperbolus. (Aristoph. Cl. 5.553, and Schol.) Works Comedies

According to Suidas, he wrote forty plays, and his chief actor was Simermon (Schol. in Aristoph. Nub. 535, 537, 542). There are extant of his plays several fragments and nine titles; viz. Ἀθηνᾶς γοναί Ἀρτοπώλιδες Δημόται Εὐρώπη Θεοί Κέρκωπες Μοῖραι Στρατιῶται, Φορμοφόροι.

The statement of Athenaeus (xv. p. 699a.) that Hermippus also wrote parodies, seems to refer not to any separate works of his, but to parodies contained in his plays, of which there are examples in the extant fragments, as well as in the plays of other comic poets. Other Poetic Works

Besides the comedies of Hermippus, several of the ancient writers quote his Iambics, Trimeters, and Tetrameters. Meineke's analysis of these quotations leaves little room to doubt that Hermippus published scurrilous poems, like those of the old iambic poets, partly in Iambic trimeters, and partly in trochaic tetrameters. Edition

Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. 90-99, vol. ii. pp. 380-417. Further Information

Bergk, Comment. de Reliq. Com. Att. Ant. 100.3.

2. Of Smyrna, a distinguished philosopher, surnamed by the ancient writers the Callimacheian (ὁ Καλλιμάχειος). From this title it may be inferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus about the middle of the third century B. C., while the fact of his having written the life of Chrysippus proves that he lived to about the end of the century. His writings seem to have been of very great importance and value. (Joseph. c. Apion. 1.22; Hieronym. de Vir. Illustr. Praef.) They are repeatedly referred to by the ancient writers, under many titles, of which, however, most, if not all, seem to have been chapters of his great biographical work, which is often quoted under the title of Βίοι. It can scarcely be doubted that the following were portions of that work: Περὶ τῶν ἐν Παιδείᾳ λαμψάντων (Westermann believes this to have been the title of the whole work),--Περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ Σοφῶν,--Περὶ τῶν Νομοθετῶν,--Βίοι τῶν Φιλοσόφων, of which a great portion was occupied with the life of Pythagoras, and which also contained lives of Empedocles, Heracleitus, Democritus, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus, Theophrastus, Heracleides, Demetrius Phalereus, Chrysippus, and others,--Βίοι τῶν Ῥητόρων, under which, again, may be included the titles Περὶ Γοργίον, Περὶ Ἰσοκράτους, Περὶ τῶν Ἰσοκράτους Μαθητῶν. The work seems aiso to have contained lives of historians (Marcell. Vit. Thuc. 18), and of poets, for we have the title Περὶ Ἱππώνακτος. It is not improbable that the treatise Περὶ τῶν διαπρεψάντων ἐν Παιδείᾳ Δούλων also belonged to the same great work, but the subject creates a suspicion that it may belong to Hermippus of Berytus. There is more uncertainty about the work Περὶ Μάγων, and about several miscellaneous quotations on points of geography, music, and astronomy. If the Hermippus whom Athenaeus quotes under the surname of ὁ ἀστρολογικός (xi. p. 478a.) be a different person, the work Περὶ Μάγων and the astronomical quotations would naturally be referred to him. Lastly, Stobaeus (Serm. 5) quotes from the work of a certain Hermippus, Συναγωγὴ τῶν καλῶς ἀναφωνηθέντων ἐξ Ὁμήρου. Perhaps this work should be assigned to Hermippus of Berytus. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 138-140, ed. Westermann; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 495; Lozynski, Hermippi Smyrnaei Peripatetici Fragmenta, Bonn, 1832, 8vo.; Preller, in Jahn's Jahrbücher für Philologie, vol. xvii. p. 159; Clinton, Fast. Hellen. vol. iii. p. 518.)

3. Of Berytus, a grammarian, who flourished under Trajan and Hadrian. By birth he was a slave, but having become the disciple of Philo Biblius, he was recommended by him to Herennius Severus, and attained to great eminence by his eloquence and learning. He wrote many works, among which were an account of dreams in five books (Tertull. De Anim. 46), and a book Περὶ Ἑβδομάδος (Clem. Al. Strom. vi. p. 291). He is also quoted again by Clemens (Strom. i. p. 132), and by Stephanus Byzantinus, s. v. Πάβεννα. (Suid. s. vv. Ἕρμιππος, Νικαγόρας; Vossius, De Hist. Graec. pp. 262, 263, ed. Westermann.)

4. There is a dialogue on astrology, in two books, under the name of Ἕρμιππος, which is not the name of the author but of the principal speaker. Editions

It was printed by Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. xii. p. 261, old edition; comp. vol. iv. p. 159, ed. Harless), and has been re-edited by O. D. Bloch. (Hermippus, incerti auctoris Christiani Dialogus s. de Astrologia Libri II. Gr. ex apog. cod. Vatic. Havniae, 1830, 8vo.) [P.S]

(Ἕρμιππος). (1) A Greek poet of the Old Comedy, an elder contemporary of Aristophanes and a bitter opponent of Pericles ( Pericl. 32, 33), whose mistress, Aspasia, he prosecuted on a charge of atheism. Only a few fragments of his dramas, as also of his libellous iambic poems, after Archilochus's manner, have been preserved. They are remarkable for the cleverness of their style. They are collected by Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 90-99; ii. 380-417.

(2) Of Smyrna, a distinguished philosopher, the author of a great biographical work (Βίοι) frequently quoted by later writers. He flourished about the year B.C. 200.

• an emissary from Histiaeus: Hdt. 6.4