Theodotus

(Θεόδοτος), historical.

1. A Macedonian in the service of Antigonus, king of Asia. In B. C. 315 he commanded a fleet with which he was preparing to join Antigonus, when be was surprised by Polycleitus, the admiral of Ptolemy, on the coast of Lycia, all his ships captured, and he himself mortally wounded. (Diod. 19.64.)

2. An officer who was entrusted by Lysimachus with the important charge of the citadel of Sardes, in which he for a time defied all the efforts of Seleucus. But that monarch, having at length proclaimed a reward of 100 talents for the head of Theodotus, rendered the latter so suspicious of his own followers, that he himself secretly opened the gates of the fortress to Seleucus. (Polyaen. 4.9.4.)

3. A Rhodian to whose judicious advice in regard to the management of his elephants Antiochus I. The king of Syria was mainly indebted for the great victory over the Gauls, to which he owed the security of his throne and kingdom (Lucian, Zeuxis, 9, 10 ; Droysen, Hellenism. vol. ii. p. 232.)

4. Surnamed Hemiolius (Ἡμιόλιος, probably as suggested by Schweighäuser from his unusual stature), was a general in the service of Antiochus the Great, by whom he was sent in B. C. 222 together with Xenon against Molon, who had raised the standard of revolt in the eastern provinces of the monarchy [Molon]. The two generals were however unable to cope with the rebel satrap, and withdrew within the walls of the cities, leaving him in possession of the open country. (Plb. 5.42, 43.) After the final defeat of Molon by Antiochus himself, Theodotus was selected by that monarch to take the command in Coele Syria, while he himself undertook to reduce Seleucia. What Theodotus accomplished at this time we know not, but the next year (B. C. 219) we find him serving under the immediate command of Antiochus himself, and bearing an important share in the action against Nicolaus the general of Ptolemy, near Porphyreon, as well as shortly after at the siege of Rabbatamana. On both these occasions he was associated with Nicarchus, with whom he also shared in the command of the phalanx at the memorable battle of Raphia, B. C. 217. After that great defeat he was chosen by Antiochus as one of the ambassadors whom he sent to Ptolemy to sue for peace. (Id. 5.59, 68, 69, 71, 79. 83, 87.)

5. An Aetolian, who at the accession of Antiochus the Great (B. C. 223) held the command of the important province of Coele Syria for Ptolemy Philopator king of Egypt. He was an able general, and repulsed with ease the first attack made by the king of Syria upon his government, but instead of being rewarded by Ptolemy for his services, he was recalled to Alexandria, where he nearly fell a victim to the intrigues of some of the courtiers and favourites of the king. Disgusted with this treatment, and despising the vices and luxury of Ptolemy, when he was again suffered to resume the command in Coele Syria (B. C. 219) he conceived the design of betraying that province into the hands of Antiochus. His overtures were readily welcomed, and lie surrendered the two important fortresses of Tyre and Ptolemais to the Syrian monarch, whom lie immediately joined with the forces under his command. Nicolaus however prevented his design from taking full effect, and retained a part of the Syrian provinces under the allegiance of Egypt. (Plb. 5.40, 46, 61, 62.) From this time Theodotus enjoyed a high place in the favour of the Syrian king. In the campaign of B. C. 217 we find him commanding a body of 10,000 select troops, and just before the battle of Raphia he gave a singular proof of daring by penetrating with only two companions into the heart of the Egyptian camp, in order to assassinate Ptolemy himself. Mistaking the king's tent, he slew his physician instead, but effected his escape in safety, and returned to the Syrian camp. (Id. 5.66, 79, 81.) Again in B. C. 215 we find him exhibiting equal audacity in supporting the daring project of Lagoras to scale the walls of the city of Sardes, the success of which seems to have been in great measure owing to his skill and ability. (Id. 7.16-18.)

6. A Syracusan who joined in a conspiracy against the life of the tyrant Hieronymus. Being seized and put to the torture, he concealed the names of all his real accomplices, and accused Thrason, the leader of the opposite party, who was put to death in consequence. (Liv. 24.7.) It is difficult to conceive that the life of Theodotus himself would be spared, but we find him (or another person of the same name) mentioned shortly after among the conspirators who assassinated Hieronymus at Leontini, B. C. 214. On that occasion casion he hastened with Sosis to Syracuse (Id. 24.21), and his name is associated with the latter during the transactions that followed [Sosis]. His subsequent fate is unknown.

7. A Thessalian of the city of Pherae, who was an exile from his native country and settled at Stratus in Aetolia. He was one of the deputies sent by the Aetolians to Rome in B. C. 198. (Plb. 17.10.)

8. An Epeirot, who during the war between the Romans and Perseus, king of Macedonia, zealously espoused the cause of the latter, and in conjunction with Antinous succeeded in inducing his countrymen the Molossians to abandon the Roman alliance for that of Perseus. In B. C. 170 he conceived the design, which was only frustrated by accident, of intercepting the consul A. Hostilius Mancinus on his passage through Epeirus. and betraying him into the hands of the Macedonian king. After the defeat of Perseus, when the Roman praetor L. Anicius invaded the Molossian territories, Theodotus and Antinous shut themselves up in the fortress of Passaron, but finding the inhabitants disposed to surrender, they sallied forth, attacked the Roman outposts, and perished fighting bravely. (Plb. 27.14, 30.7; Liv. 45.26.)

9. A rhetorician of Samos, or, according to others, of Chios, who was the preceptor of the infant king of Egypt, Ptolemy XII. He appears to have exercised much political influence, and when after the battle of Pharsalia (B. C. 48), Pompey sought refuge in Egypt, it was Theodotus who was the first to suggest that the illustrious fugitive should be put to death. By this base advice he hoped to gain the favour of Caesar, and when the conqueror arrived in Egypt, hastened to meet him, bearing the head and signet ring of his rival. But Caesar turned from him with disgust, and would have put him to death, had he not succeeded in making his escape. At a subsequent period he was less fortunate tunate, being apprehended and executed in Asia, by order of M. Brutus in B. C. 43. (Liv. Epit. cxiii.; Plut. Pomp. 77, 80 ; Appian. B. C. 2.84, 90). [E.H.B]

I. and II., kings of Bactria. [Diodotus.]

(Θεόδοτος), literary.

1. A disciple of Socrates, who, in his Defence, according to Plato, speaks of him as already dead. He was the son of Theosdotides, and the brother of Nicostratus. (Plat. Apol. p. 33e.)

2. A Phoenician historian, who lived before Josephus, and wrote a history of his native country, in the Phoenician tongue, which was translated into Greek by a certain Laetus, if we adopt the correction of Reinesius in the passage of Tatian, where the MSS. give Χαῖτος or Ἄσιτος (Tatian. ad v. Graec. 58. p. 128, ed. Worth; Joseph. c. Apion. 1.23; Euseb. Praep. Ev. 10.11; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 504.)

3. A poet. from whose poem upon the Jews (ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰουδαίων) same verses respecting the city of Sichem are quoted by Eusebius. (Praep. Ev. 9.22.)

According to a scholiast on Ovid (Ib. 407) there was a poet of this name who was cruelly put to death by the tyrant Mnesarchus. and to whose fate Ovid alludes (l.c.); but this is evidently mere guess-work. (See Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 324, vol. x. p. 516.)

4. A sophist and rhetorician, who flourished under M.Aurelius Antoninus, by whom he is spoken of as ἀγωνιστὴς τῶν πολιτικὼν λόγων καὶ ῥητορικῆς ὄφελος. He was at first a hearer of Lollianus and Herodes Atticus, and afterwards their rival. He taught at Athens by the express appointment of M. Antoninus, from whom also he received 10,000 drachmae as his remuneration.. His life is related by Philostratus. (Vit. Soph. 2.2, pp. 566, foll.)

5. A grammarian, cited in the Etymologieum Magnum, s. v. Ὀρίγανον.

6. Of Byzantium. a tanner and heresiarch, in the second century of our era. from whom the sect of the Theodotiani took their name. The heresy of Theodotus related to the person of Christ. For particulars respecting him and his followers, see Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 124, foll., pp. 149, 180, vol. x. p. 515), Cave (Hist Litt. s. a. 192, p. 87, ed. Basil.), and the authors quoted by those writers.

7. Bishop of Antioch, from A. D. 423-427, celebrated by Theodoret (H. E. 5.38) as " the pearl of self-command," and distinguished in church history for his success in bringing back the majority of the Apollinarists to orthodoxy. He wrote a book against those heretics, entitled κατὰ Συνουσιαστῶν, of which a fragment exists in MS. (Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 423, p. 405; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ix. p. 211, vol. x. p. 515.)

8. Bishop of Ancyra, in Galatia, an ecclesiastic of some distinction in the fifth century. He was present at the council of Ephesus, in A. D. 431, and vehemently supported Cyril in his attacks upon Nestorius. Works

He was the author of numerous homilies and controversial works, the titles of which it is not worth while to insert here; they are fully given by Fabricius. Of these works some are published in the Acts of the Councils. some exist in MS., and others are wholly lost. Cave praises the ease and clearness of his style, and his controversial powers. Further Information

Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 430, p. 415 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. pp. 512, foll.

The above are the only persons of this name, who appeared of sufficient importance to be noticed here; but there are several others of less consequence, a list of whom is given by Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. x. pp. 513, 515. [P.S]

(Θεόδοτος).

1. the name of an oculist, who must have lived in or before the first century after Christ, as he is quoted by Celsus (6.6, p. 119).

2. A physician of Athens in the second century after Christ, mentioned several times as a contemporary by Aristides in his Sermones Sacri.

3. A physician, who afterwards succeeded Stephanus as bishop of Laodicea in Syria, in the early part of the fourth century after Christ. He is highly praised by Eusebius (Hist Eeeles. 7.32), who dedicated to him his Praeparatio Evangeliea ; but lie appears to have embraced the Arian heresy, and to have been one of the most active of the Arian bishops. He excommunicated Apollinaris, both father and son, on account of their intimacy with the heathen sophist Epiphanius [Epiphanius, § 10, p. 40]; and is said to have been instrumental in deposing Eustathius, bishop of Antioch. [Eustathius, § 1, p. 119] He held the see of Laodicea for about thirty years, and was succeeded by Georgius [Georgius, § 29, p. 251]. His name is inserted by some of the Martyrologies under the date of Nov. 2, from which it has been copied by Bzovius (Nomenclator Sanctor. Professione Medicor.) and C. B. Carpzov (De Medicis ab Ecclesia pro Sanctis habitis); but this appears to be by mistake, and his name will probably be omitted in the " Acta Sanctorum " when the volumes for November appear. For a further account of this matter the reader may consult Usuardi Martyrol. ed. Soller.; Valesius, De Martyrol. Rom. in his Annotationes in Euseb. Hist. Eecles. p. 317; Baronii Annal. Eccles. vol. iv.; Tillemont, Hist. Ecclés. vol. vi. [W.A.G]

artists.

1. A medallist, whose name is found on some very interesting coins of Clazomenae, which have been recently discovered. They are of silver, of a small size, and of extremely beautiful workmanship, bearing a head of Apollo on the obverse, with the words in minute characters, in two lines, by the side of the head, ΘΕΟΔΟΤΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ. Their discovery was first published by Abeken, in the Bullet. dell' Instit. Archéol. for 1839, Nos 8 and 9, pp. 137, 138, and they afterwards came into the possession of the Duc de Luynes, by whom they were again published in the Nouv. Annal. de l'Instit. Archéol. pl. xxxv. Nos. 25, 26. In style and type they are closely similar to the medals of Mausolus II. prince of Caria, and there can be no doubt that they belong to the same age, namely the middle of the fourth century B. C. They are valuable as affording one among other proofs of the fact, which has been contested, that medallists were sometimes permitted to inscribe their names upon coins executed by them. For this reason, and on account of their great beauty, M. Raoul-Rochette pronounces the opinion that they " ought to be ranked among the most precious archaeological discoveries of our age." Further Information

R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 73, 97, 98, 2d edition. An engraving of the best preserved of these medals is given on the title-page of R. Rochette's work, Vignette 3.

2. A Greek painter, lived at Rome in the time of Naevius, who mentions him in the following lines of his comedy entitled Tunieularia, which are preserved by Festus (s. v. Penem antiqui codam vocabant, p. 250, ed. Müller, p. 204, ed. Lindemann) : --

" Theodotum appellas, qui aras Compitalibus Sedens in cella circumtectus tegetibus Lares ludentes peni pinxit bubulo."

These verses describe a rude picture of the Lares at play, painted on an altar at the meeting of two streets, with a rude instrument, a brush made from the tail of an ox. The painting must, therefore, have resembled the daubs which are seen on the outer walls of the houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and those to which Juvenal refers in the line (Sat. 8.157) : --

" Eponam et facies olida ad praesepia pictas; "

and the artist may be classed with those painters of vulgar subjects whom the Greeks called ῥυπαρογράφοι or ῥωπογράφοι, or with our sign painters. (See Pyreicus, and Dict. of Antiq. s. v. Pictura, p. 912a. 2d ed.; R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 416, 417; and, especially, the full discussion of this comparatively unnoticed fragment of Naevius, by Panofka, in the Rhein. Mus. for 1846, vol. iv. pp. 133-138 : there is no ground for Bothe's alteration of the painter's name to Theodorus.) [P.S]