Simmias

(Σιμμίας), historical.

1. A Macedonian, father of Polysperchon, the general of Alexander. (Arr. Anab. 2.12.)

2. A Macedonian, son of Andromenes, and brother of Attalus and Amyntas, the officers of Alexander. He probably served in the division of the phalanx, commanded by his brother Amyntas, as we find him taking the command of it at the battle of Arbela during his brother's absence. On this occasion his division was one of those which bore the chief brunt of the battle. (Arr. Anab. 3.11, 14.) In B. C. 330 he was accused, together with his brothers, of having been concerned in the conspiracy of Philotas; but the vigorous defence of Amyntas before the Macedonian army procured their joint acquittal. (Arr. 3.27; Curt. 7.1.10, 2.1-10.)

3. An officer in the service of Ptolemy III. (Euergetes), king of Egypt, who was sent by him to explore the shores of the Red Sea and the coasts of Ethiopia. Much of the information recorded by Agatharchides was derived from his authority. (Diod. 3.18.) [E.H.B]

Σιμμίας, (or, in the MSS. of Diog. Laert., Σιμίας) literary.

1. Of Thebes, first the disciple of the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaüs, and afterwards the friend and disciple of Socrates, at whose death he was present, having come from Thebes, with his brother Cebes, bringing with him a large sum of money, to assist in Criton's plan for the liberation of Socrates (Plat. Crit. p. 45b., Phaed. pp. 59, c., 92, a., et passim; comp. Ael. VH 1.16). At this time he and Cebes were both young men (Phaed. p. 89a.). The two brothers are the principal speakers, besides Socrates himself, in the Phaedon ; and the skill with which they argue, and the respect and affection with which Socrates treats them, prove the high place they held among his disciples, not only in the judgment of Plato. but in the general opinion. In the Phaedrus (p. 242. a., b.) also, Socrates is made to refer to Simmias as one of the most powerful reasoners of his day.

According to Plutarch, who introduces Simmias as a speaker in his dialogue de Genio Socratis (p. 578a., &c.), he studied much in Egypt, and became conversant with the mystical religious philosophy of that country.

There is a very brief account of him in Diogenes Laertius (2.124), who states that there was a collection of twenty-three dialogues by him, in one volume. The titles of these dialogues are also given, with a slight variation, by Suidas (s. v.) ; they embrace a large range of philosophical subjects, but are chiefly ethical.

Two epitaphs on Sophocles, in the Greek Anthology, are ascribed to Simmias of Thebes in the Palatine Codex (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 168; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. i. p. 100, Anth. Pal. 7.21, 22, vol. i. p. 312). There is also an epitaph on Aristocles, among the epigrams of Simmias of Rhodes, which Brunck would refer to Simmias of Thebes; probabilis conjectura, says Jacobs. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 204, No. 2; Jacobs, Animadv. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 4.)

2. Of Syracuse, is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (2.113, 114) as a hearer, first of Aristotle the Cyrenaean, and afterwards of Stilpon, the Megaric philosopher, but nothing further is known of him.

3. Of Rhodes, a poet and grammarian of the Alexandrian school, which flourished under the early Ptolemies. He was earlier than the tragic poet Philiscus, whose time is about Ol. 120, B. C. 300, at least if we accept the assertion of Hephaestion (p. 31), that the choriambic hexameter, of which Philiscus claimed the invention, had been previously used by Simmias. Suidas (s. v.) tells us that he wrote three books of γλῶσσαι, and four books of miscellaneous poems (ποιήματα διάφορα : the latter part of the article in Suidas is obviously misplaced, and belongs to the life of Simionides of Amorgus). Of his grammatical works nothing more is known; but his poems are frequently referred to, and some of them seem to have been epic. His Γοργώ is quoted by Athenaeus (xi. p. 491); his Μῆνες and Ἀπόλλων by Stephanus Byzantinus (s. vv. Ἀμυκλαί, (Ἡμικύνες); and a fragment of thirteen lines from the latter poem is preserved by Tzetzes (Chil. 7.144), and has been edited by Brunck (Anal. vol. ii. p. 525, comp. Lect. vol. iii. p. 235).

As an epigrammatist, Simmias had a place in the Garland of Meleager, and the Greek Anthology contains six epigrams ascribed to him, besides three short poems of that fantastic species called griphi or carmina figurata, that is, pieces in which the lines are so arranged as to make the whole poem resemble the form of some object; those of Simmias are entitled, from their forms, the Wings (πτέρυγες), the Egg (ὠόν), and the Hatchet ( πέλεκνς). There are several other poems of the same species in the Anthology, such as the Pan-pipes (σύριγξ) of Theocritus, the Altar of Dosiadas, and the Egg and Hatchet of Besantinus. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. pp. 205-210; Jacobs, Anth, Graec. vol. i. pp. 139-143, vol. xiii. pp. 951, 952; Anth. Pal. 15.21-27, vol. ii. pp. 603-609, ed. Jacobs ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 808, vol. iv. pp. 494. 495.) [P.S]

artist. [Simon.]

(Σιμμίας). (1) Of Thebes, first the disciple of the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaüs, and afterwards the friend and disciple of Socrates, at whose death he was present. Simmias wrote twenty-three dialogues on philosophical subjects, all of which are lost.

(2) Of Rhodes. A poet and grammarian of the Alexandrian School, who flourished about B.C. 300. The Greek Anthology contains six epigrams ascribed to Simmias, besides three short poems of that fantastic species called griphi or carmina figurata—that is, pieces in which the lines are so arranged as to make the whole poem resemble the form of some object; those of Simmias are entitled, from their forms, the Wings (πτέρυγες), the Egg (ὠόν), and the Hatchet (πέλεκυς).