Theocles
(Θεοκλῆς).
1. A Pythagorean philosopher. (Iamblich. Vit. Pyth. 27.)
2. Of Naxos or Eretria, a poet of unknown time, to whom some ascribed the invention of the elegiac metre; but there can be little doubt that the tradition is as untrustworthy, as the etymology, in connection with which it is mentioned, is absurd. (Suid. and Etym. Mag. s. v. ἐλεγείνειν). His verses appear to have been of a licentious character, and it is most probable that he is the same person as the Theocles from whose Ithyphallics Athenaeus (xi. p. 497c.) quotes three fines. [P.S]
(Θεοκλῆς), the son of Hegylus, was a Lacedaemonian statuary, and one of the disciples of Dipoenus and Scyllis. He therefore flourished about B. C. 550. He wrought in wood and in ivory and gold. Two of his works are apparently mentioned by Pausanias; but they were only separate parts of one and the same group, representing Hercules preparing to carry off the golden apples of the Hesperides. This group consisted of a celestial hemisphere (πόλος, see Dict. of Antiq. s. v. 2d ed.) upheld by Atlas, with Hercules, and the tree which bore the golden apples of the Hesperides, and the dragon coiled around the tree, all carved out of cedar wood. An inscription on the πόλος stated that the work was executed by Theocles and his son. It stood at Olympia, in the treasury of the Epidamnians; but, in the time of Pausanias, the figures of the Hesperides had been removed from it by the Eleians, and placed in the temple of Hera. (Paus. 6.19.5. s. 8.) In his description of the temple of Hera (5.17.1), Pausanias mentions these statues, five in number, as being of gold and ivory, which is not inconsistent with the other statement, that they were of cedar-wood; for the two accounts can easily be reconciled by supposing that they were of cedar-wood gilt, and the faces, hands, and feet covered with plates of ivory. Possibly the ivory may have been added to the statues when they were transferred to the temple of Hera. [P.S]
- son of Hegylus: Paus. 5.17.2, Paus. 6.19.8
- Paus. 3.13.3