Hermeias

or Hermias (Ἑρμείας or Ἑρμίας : see concerning the mode of writing this name, Stahr, Aristotelia, vol. i. p. 75).

1. Tyrant or dynast of the cities of Atarneus and Assos, in Mysia, celebrated as the friend and patron of Aristotle. He is said to have been an eunuch, and to have begun life as a slave, but whether he obtained his liberty or not, he appears to have early risen to a confidential position with Eubulus, the ruler of Atarneus and Assos. If, however, Strabo's statement, that he repaired to Athens, and there attended the lectures of both Plato and Aristotle, be correct, we cannot doubt that he had at that time obtained his freedom, though he remained attached to the service of Eubulus, who had raised himself from the situation of a banker to the undisputed government of the two cities already mentioned. In this position Eubulus maintained himself till his death, in defiance, it would appear, of the authority of Persia (see Arist. Pol. 2.4), and on that event Hermias seems to have succeeded to his authority without opposition. The exact period of his accession is unknown, and we know not how long he had held the sovereign power when he invited Aristotle and Xenocrates to his little court, about the year B. C. 347. The long sojourn of Aristotle with him, and the warm attachment which that philosopher formed towards him, are strong arguments in favour of the character of Hermias: yet the relations between them did not escape the most injurious suspicions, for which there was doubtless as little reason as for the obloquy with which Aristotle was loaded when, after the death of Hermias, he married Pythias, the niece, or, according to other accounts, the adopted daughter of his friend and benefactor. (Strab. xiii. p.610; Pseud. Ammon. vit. Aristot.; Aristocles ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. 15.2; D. L. 5.3.)

Of other occurrences under the rule of Hermias we know nothing; but he appears to have maintained himself in the undisputed sovereignty of his little state, and in avowed independence of Persia, until the year 345, when the Greek general, Mentor, who was sent down by the Persian king to take the command in Asia Minor, decoyed him, by a promise of safe conduct, to a personal interview, at which, in defiance of his pledge, he seized and detained him as a prisoner. After making use of his signet to enforce the submission of the governors left in the cities subject to his rule, Mentor sent him as a captive to the court of Artaxerxes, where he was soon after put to death. (Diod. 16.52; Strab. xiii. p.610, 614; D. L. 5.6.)

Aristotle testified his reverence for the memory of his friend, not only by erecting a statue to him at Delphi, but by celebrating his praises in an ode or hymn, addressed to Virtue, which has fortunately been preserved to the present day. (Athen. 15.696; D. L. 5.6, 7.) Concerning the relations of the philosopher with Hermias, and the injurious imputations to which they gave rise, see the article Aristotle [vol. i. p. 318], and Blakesley's Life of Aristotle, p. 35-44.

2. A Carian by birth, who had raised himself to be the favourite and chief minister of Seleucus Ceraunus, and was left at the head of affairs in Syria by that monarch when he set out on the expedition across the Taurus, in the course of which he met with his death, B. C. 223. That event placed Hermeias in the possession of almost undisputed power, the young king, Antiochus III., being then only in his 15th year; and his jealous and grasping disposition led him to remove as far as possible all competitors for power. The formidable revolt of Molon and Alexander in the eastern provinces of the kingdom seemed to demand all the attention of Antiochus, but Hermeias persuaded him to confide the conduct of the army sent against the insurgents to his generals, Xenon and Theodotus, while he advanced in person to attack Coele-Syria. Here, however, the king met with a complete repulse, while the army sent against Molon was totally defeated by that general, who made himself master in consequence of several of the provinces bordering on the Tigris. The opinion of Hermeias, who still opposed the march of Antiochus to the East, was now overruled, and the king took the field in person the ensuing spring. But though the favourite had succeeded in removing his chief opponent, Epigenes, by a fabricated charge of conspiracy, his utter incapacity for military affairs was fully apparent in the ensuing campaign, in which, nevertheless, Antiochus, having followed the advice of Zeuxis, in opposition to that of Hermeias, defeated Molon in a pitched battle, and recovered the revolted provinces. But during the subsequent halt at Seleuceia, Hermeias had again an opportunity of displaying his evil disposition by the cruelties with which, notwithstanding the opposition of Antiochus, he stained the victory of the young king. Meanwhile, the birth of a son of Antiochus, by Laodice, is said to have excited in the mind of this profligate and ambitious minister the project of getting rid of the king himself, in order that he might rule with still more uncontrolled authority under the name of his infant son. This nefarious scheme was fortunately revealed in time to Antiochus, who had long regarded Hermeias with fear as well as aversion, and he now gladly availed himself of the assistance of his physician, Apollophanes, and others of his friends, to rid himself of his minister by assassination. Polybius, who is our sole authority for all the preceding facts, has drawn the character of Hermeias in the blackest colours, and represents his death as a subject of general rejoicing, though he considers his fate as a very inadequate punishment for his misdeeds. (Plb. 5.41-56.) [E.H.B].

(Ἑρμείας).

1. An iambic poet, a native of Curia in Cyprus. He was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but only a few fragments of his productions have come down to us. (Athen. 13.563; Schneidewin, Delectus Poes. p. 242.)

2. Of Methymna in Lesbos, the author of a history of Sicily, the third book of which is quoted by Athenaeus (x. p. 438); but we know from Diodorus Siculus (15.37) that Hermeias related the history of Sicily down to the year B. C. 376, and that the whole work was divided into ten or twelve books. Stephanus Byzantius (s. v. Χαλκίς) speaks of a Periegesis of Hermeias, and Athenaeus (iv. p. 149) quotes the second book of a work Περὶ τοῦ Γρυνείον Ἀπόλλωνος, by one Hermeias, but whether both or either of them is identical with the historian of Sicily is quite uncertain.

3. A Christian writer, who seems to have lived in the latter half of the second century after Christ, and about the time of Tatianus. Works Διασυρμὸς τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων

Respecting his life nothing is known, but we possess under his name a Greek work, entitled Διασυρμὸς τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων, in which the author holds the Greek philosophers up to ridicule. It is addressed to the friends and relations of the author, and is intended to guard them against the errors of the pagan philosophers. The author puts together the various opinions of philosophers on nature, the world, God, his nature, and relation to the world, the human soul, &c.; shows their discrepancies and inconsistencies, and thus proves their uselessness and insufficiency on those important questions. The author is not without considerable wit and talent, and his work is of some importance for the history of ancient philosophy. Structure

It is divided into nineteen chapters. Editions

It was first published with a Latin translation by Seiler at Zurich, 1553, 8vo., and again in 1560, fol. It was subsequently printed in several collections of ecclesiastical writers, e. g. in Morell's Tabul. Compendios. (Basel, 1580, 8vo. p. 189, &c.), in several editions of Justin Martyr, in the edition of Tatianus by W. Worth (Oxford, 1700, 8vo.), in the Auctarium Bibl. Patr. (Paris, 1624, fol.), and in Gallandi's Bibl. Patr. vol. ii. p. 68, &c.

A separate edition, with notes by H. Wolf, Gale, and Worth, was published by J. C. Dommerich, Halle, 1764, 8vo. Further Information

Comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 114, &c.; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 50. Confusion with other figures named Hermeias

This Hermeias must not be confounded with Hermeias Sozomenus, the ecclesiastical historian [Sozomenus], nor with the Hermeias who is mentioned by St. Augustin (De Haeres. 59) as the founder of the heretical sect of the Henneians or Seleucians, who belongs to the fourth century after Christ. A few more persons of this name are mentioned by Fabricius. (Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 114, &c) [L.S]