Hermodorus

• An Ephesian prince, Cic. Tusc. 5, 36, 105; Plin. 34, 5, 11, § 21.—
• II A famous architect of Salamis, Cic. de Or. 1, 14, 62; cf. Vitr. 3, 2.

(Ἑρμόδωρος). A philosopher of Ephesus, who is said to have assisted, as interpreter, the Roman decemvirs in the composition of the first ten tables of laws which had been collected in Greece (B.C. 451) (Cic. Tusc. v. 36). “An ancient tradition mentions,” says Niebuhr, “as an auxiliary to the Decemviri, in this code, Hermodorus, an Ephesian, the friend of the sage Heraclitus, whom his fellow-citizens had banished because he filled them with shame, and they desired to be all on an equality in profligacy of conduct. It cannot, indeed, be well explained how this story could have been invented, for which nothing but a celebrated name could have given occasion, while that of Hermodorus appears to have been known to the Greeks themselves only by the saying of his friend. On this ground, the naming of the statue, which was inscribed as his at Rome, may pass for genuine.” See Twelve Tables.

(2) A native of Salamis, the architect of the Temple of Mars in the Flaminian Circus at Rome.