Hippias
Could not find Hippian in Logeion dictionaries.
Hippian Proper-name noun: masculine accusative singular of Hippias
- A son of Pisistratus tyrant of Athens, and brother of Hipparchus, after whose assassination he fled to the Persians; he fell in the battle of Marathon, Cic. Att. 9, 10, 3; Gell. 9, 2, 10.—
- II A famous sophist of Elis in the time of Socrates, Cic. Brut. 8, 30; 85, 292; id. de Or. 3, 32, 127 al.—
- III A famous painter, Plin. 35, 11, 40, § 141.
(Ἱππίας), captain of a company of Arcadian mercenaries in the service of Pissuthnes, is named by Thucydides in the story of the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War, B. C. 427. A faction of the Colophonians of Notium dependent on Persian aid introduced him into a fortified quarter of the town; and here, after the surrender of Mytilene, he was found and besieged by Paches, whose succour was demanded by the exiles of the other party. Paches, under a promise of a safe return into the fortification if no terms should be agreed on, drew Hippias out to a conference; retained him, while, by a sudden attack, the place was carried; and satisfied the letter of his promise by bringing him back into the fortress, and there shooting him to death. (Thuc. 3.34.) [A.H.C]
(Ἱππίας).
1. [Peisistratus and Peisistratidae.]
2. The Sophist, was a native of Elis, and a son of Diopeithes. He was a disciple of Hegesidamus (Suid. s. v.), and the contemporary of Protagoras and Socrates. Owing to his talent and skill, his fellow-citizens availed themselves of his services in political matters, and in a diplomatic mission to Sparta. (Plat. Hipp. maj. pp. 281. a, 286. a; Philostr. Vit. Soph. 1.11.) But he was in every respect like the other sophists of the time: he travelled about in various towns and districts of Greece for the purpose of acquiring wealth and celebrity, by teaching and public speaking. His character as a sophist, his vanity, and his boastful arrogance, are well described in two dialogues of Plato, the Ἱππίας μείζων and the Ἱππίας ἐλάττων (Hippias major and Hippias minor). The former treats of the question about the beautiful, and in a manner which gives ample scope for putting the knowledge and presumption of Hiippias in a ludicrous light; the other handles the deficiency of our knowledge, and exposes the ridiculous vanity of the sophist. The latter dialogue is considered by Schleiermacher and Ast to be spurious. Ast even goes so far as to reject the Hippias major also; but it is not easy to get over the difficulty which arises from the fact of Aristotle (Aristot. Met. 5.29) and Cicero (Cic. de Orat. 3.32) mentioning it, though without expressly ascribing it to Plato; but however this may be, the dialogues must at any rate have been written by a person and at a time when there was no difficulty in forming a correct estimate of the character of Hippias. If we compare the accounts of Plato with those given by other writers, it cannot be denied that Hippias was a man of very extensive knowledge, that he occupied himself not only with rhetorical, philosophical, and political studies, but was also well versed in poetry, music, mathematics, painting and sculpture, nay, that to a certain extent he had a practical skill in the ordinary arts of life, for he used to boast of wearing on his body nothing that he had not made himself with his own hands, such as his seal-ring, his cloak, and shoes. (Plat. Hipp. maj. p. 285. c, Hipp. min. p. 368. b, Protag. p. 315. c; Philostr. l.c.; Themist. Orat. xxix. p. 345. d.) But it is at the same time evident that his knowledge of all these things was of a superficial kind, that he did not enter into the details of any particular art or science, and that he was satisfied with certain generalities, which enabled him to speak on everything without a thorough knowledge of any. This arrogance, combined with ignorance, is the main cause which provoked Plato to his severe criticism of Hippias, in which he is the more justified, as the sophist enjoyed a very extensive reputation, and thus had a proportionate influence upon the education of the youths of the higher classes. Works Show Speeches
Hippias' great forte seems to have consisted in delivering extempore show speeches; and once his sophistic vanity led him to declare that he would travel to Olympia, and there deliver before the assembled Greeks an oration on any subject that might be proposed to him (Plat. Hipp. min. p. 363); and Philostratus in fact speaks of several such orations delivered at Olympia, and which created great sensation. Such speeches must have been published by Hippias, but no specimen has come down to us.
He seems to have been especially fond of choosing antiquarian and mythical subjects for his show speeches. Other Works mentioned in Plato
Socrates (apud Plat. Hipp. min. p. 368) speaks of epic poetry, tragedies, dithyrambs, and various orations, as the productions of Hippias; nay, his literary vanity seems not to have scrupled to write on grammar, music, rhythm, harmony, and a variety of other subjects. (Plat. Hipp. naj. p. 285, &c.; comp. Philostr. l.c.; Plat. Num. 1, 23; Dion Chrys. Orat. lxxi. p. 625.) Συναγωγὴ
Athenaeus (xiii. p. 609) mentions a work of Hippias under the title Συναγωγὴ, which is otherwise unknown. Epigram
An epigram of his is preserved in Pausanias (5.25, also in Brunck, Analect. 2.57). Assessment
His style and language are not censured for any thing particular by the ancients. Further Information
Comp. Groen van Prinsterer, Prosop. Platon. p. 91, &c.; Geel, Hist. Crit. Soph. p. 181, &c.; F. Osann, Der Sophist Hippias als Archaeolog, in the Rhein. Mus. for 1843, p. 495, &c.)
3. Of Thasus, one of the earliest Greek grammarians, who occupied himself with the explanation of difficult and obscure passages in the Homeric poems. (Aristot. Poet. 25; Soph. Elench. 1.3 ; Lysias, Orat. 13.54.)
4. Of Delos, a Greek grammarian, probably of a later date than the preceding one, is mentioned as the author of a sort of geographical dictionary (ἐθνῶν ὀνομασίαι, Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1178, Eudoc. p. 248; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 270), but is otherwise unknown.
5. Of Erythrae, an historian, whose age is unknown. He wrote a work on the history of his native city, of which a fragment is quoted by Athenaeus (vi. p. 258). [L.S]
(Ἱππίας), artists.
1. A statuary, mentioned by Dio Chrysostom as the teacher of Phidias. (Orat. lv. vol. ii. p. 282, ed. Reiske.)
2. A statuary, who, according to Pausaniias, made the statue of the Olympic victor Scaeus, the son of Duris of Samos, in the Altis at Olympia, during the time when the Samians were expelled from their island, that is, before B. C. 324. (Paus. 6.13.3, or § 5, ed. Bekker, who restores the name of Scaeus, which is lost or corrupted in the older editions.)
3. A painter of second-rate merit, celebrated for his picture or pictures of Neptune and Victory. (Plin. Nat. 35.11. s. 40.35.)
4. A most skilful mechanician and geometrician, contemporary with Lucian, who describes a bath constructed by him. (Hippias, seu Balneium, vol. iii. pp. 66-74.) [P.S]
(Ἱππίας). (1) A Greek sophist of Elis and a contemporary of Socrates. He taught in the towns of Greece, especially at Athens. He had the advantage of a prodigious memory, and was deeply versed in all the learning of his day. He attempted literature in every form which was then extant. He was among the first to undertake the composition of dialogues. In the two Platonic dialogues named after him (Hippias Maior and Hippias Minor), he is represented as excessively vain and arrogant. See the study by Osann in the Rhein. Museum for 1843, p. 495 foll., and P. Leja, Der Sophist Hippias (1893).
(2) A son of Pisistratus. See Pisistratidae.
- Paus. 6.13.5
- his advice to his father: Hdt. 1.61
- expelled from Athens: Hdt. 5.65
- a refugee in Persia: Hdt. 5.96
- with Datis' army in Attica: Hdt. 6.107
- tortures Leaena: Paus. 1.23.1ff.
- Paus. 5.25.4