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Hermodike I (Demodike I, Hermodice I, Damodice I)
Hermodike I has been attributed with inventing the Greek written script, i.e. the transfer of earlier technical knowledge from Phrygia into ancient Greek society through Aeolis. She is referred to by Aristotle. The same name was given as Demodike by Pollux. Academics state that Aristotle and Pollux, though ancient commentators, were not historians and so their unsubstantiated opinions may be misleading. Other historians have given the name as Hermodice or Damodice. Hermodike I was the daughter of a dynastic Agamemnon of Cyme and became the wife of Midas, king of Phrygia, who came to the throne in 738 BCE, or alternatively Gyges of Lydia, who was referred to as King Midas (680–644 BCE) after giving the Oracle at Delphi six gold bowls (extracted from the Pactolus river). She is described as "a woman distinguished by beauty and wisdom". She is the ancestor of Hermodike II, who has been attributed with inventing Greek coinage. Linguistic history Most specialists believe th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Phrygian kings: * Gordias, whose Gordian Knot would later be cut by Alexander the Great * Midas, who turned whatever he touched to gold * Mygdon, who warred with the Amazons According to Homer's ''Iliad'', the Phrygians participated in the Trojan War as close allies of the Trojans, fighting against the Achaeans. Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another, historical, king Midas, who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled Assyria and Urartu for power in eastern Anatolia. This later Midas was, however, also the last independent king of Phrygia before Cimmerians sacked the Phrygian capit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeolis
Aeolis (; grc, Αἰολίς, Aiolís), or Aeolia (; grc, Αἰολία, Aiolía, link=no), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of Mysia, and is bounded by it to the north, Ionia to the south, and Lydia to the east. Geography Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of Asia Minor. It extended along the Aegean Sea from the entrance of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles) south to the Hermus River (now the Gediz River). It was named for the Aeolians, some of whom migrated there from Greece before 1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than a geographical unit. The district often was considered part of the larger northwest region of Mysia. History According to Homer's ''Odyssey'', Odysseus, after his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition. His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, meteorology, geology, and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. It was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Little is known about his life. Aristotle was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Pollux
Julius Pollux ( el, Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης, ''Ioulios Polydeukes''; fl. 2nd century) was a Greek scholar and rhetorician from Naucratis, Ancient Egypt.Andrew Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World: From A to Z'', p.265, Routledge, 2003 Emperor Commodus appointed him a professor-chair of rhetoric in Athens at the Academy — on account of his melodious voice, according to Philostratus' ''Lives of the Sophists.'' Works Pollux was the author of the ''Onomasticon'' (), a Greek thesaurus or dictionary of Attic synonyms and phrases, in ten books, each prefaced with a dedication to the emperor Commodus. The work forms part of the Atticist movement of the Second Sophistic, and was intended to provide a full catalogue of the Greek vocabulary derived from classical texts that an accomplished orator could deploy. Within this movement, Pollux shows himself "a liberal and inclusive Atticist," willing to admit vocabulary from classical authors in non-Attic dialects (like Herodo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyme (Aeolis)
Cyme ( el, Κύμη) or Cumae was an Aeolian city in Aeolis (Asia Minor) close to the kingdom of Lydia. It was called Phriconian, perhaps from the mountain Phricion in Aeolis, near which the Aeolians had been settled before their migration to Asia. The Aeolians regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which were located on the coastline of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). As a result of their direct access to the sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. Location Both the author of the 'life of Homer' and Strabo the ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor coastline: After crossing the Hyllus, the distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40 stadia. (Strabo: 622) Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to a river, believed to be that of the Hyllus. History Early history Little is known about t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midas
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This came to be called the ''golden touch'', or the ''Midas touch''. The legends told about this Midas and his father Gordias, credited with founding the Phrygian capital city Gordium and tying the Gordian Knot, indicate that they were believed to have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BC, well before the Trojan War. However, Homer does not mention Midas or Gordias, while instead mentioning two other Phrygian kings, Mygdon and Otreus. The Phrygian city Midaeum was presumably named after him, and this is probably also the Midas that according to Pausanias founded Ancyra (today known as Ankara). Another King Midas ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BC. Most historians believe this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyges Of Lydia
Gyges (, ; Lydian: ;Akkadian: , ; grc, Γύγης, Gugēs; la, Gygēs; reigned c. 680-644 BC) was the founder of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and the first known king of the Lydian kingdom to have attempted to transform it into a powerful empire. Attestations and etymology The name is derived from the Ancient Greek form ( grc, Γυγης) recorded by Graeco-Roman authors. In addition, the annals of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal refer several times to , king of , to be identified with Gyges, king of the Lydians. and are respectively the Akkadian and Greek forms of the Lydian name (), which means "grandfather". is derived from a common Proto-Indo-European root from which evolved Hittite (), Luwian () and (), and Lycian () in the Anatolian languages family, as well as Latin , all meaning "grandfather". Another derivation for suggests that it might be a loanword from Carian (), which was represented in Greek as (), and was a cognate of the various ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle had origins in prehistory and it became international in character and also fostered sentiments of Greek nationality, even though the nation of Greece was centuries away from realization. The ancient Greeks considered the centre of the world to be in Delphi, marked by the stone monument known as the omphalos (navel). The sacred precinct of Ge or Gaia was in the region of Phocis, but its management had been taken away from the Phocians, who were trying to extort money from its visitors, and had been placed in the hands of an amphictyony, or committee of persons chosen mainly from Central Greece. According to the Suda, Delphi took its name from the Delphyne, the she-serpent ('' drakaina'') who lived there and was killed by the god Apoll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pactolus
Pactolus ( el, Πακτωλός), now named Sart Çayı, is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia which used the naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver to forge the first coins under Alyattes of Lydia. Legend According to legend, King Midas divested himself of the golden touch by washing himself in the river. The historian Herodotus claimed that the gold contained in the sediments carried by the river was the source of the wealth of King Croesus Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC. Croesus was r ..., son of Alyattes. Propertius 1.6 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermodike II (Demodike II, Hermodice II, Damodice II)
Hermodike II has been attributed with inventing coinage by Aristotle.Aristotle, fr.611,37 ed. V.Rose Other historians have translated the name as Hermodice, Damodice or Demodike as translated by Julius Pollux.Pollux, Onamastikon IX.83 Hermodike II was the daughter of a dynastic Agamemnon of Cyme and married to the third dynastic King Midas, possibly a literary reference to Alyattes of Lydia, in the 6th century BC. She was named after Hermodike I who has been attributed with inventing the Greek written script. Numismatic history Coinage revolutionised trade and commerce, creating market economics, see History of coins. The 8th-century BC King Midas likely Gyges of Lydia pre-dates coinage. Coins were not invented until 610 BC by King Alyattes (610–560 BC), Gyges' great grandson. The Lydian Lion coin directly preceded ancient Greek coinage, through which Rome begot all Western coinage. Yet, although the Lydian Lion was minted by Alyattes for use as a "nobleman's t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenician Alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician alphabet is also called the Early Linear script (in a Semitic context, not connected to Minoan writing systems), because it is an early development of the Proto- or Old Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script, into a linear, purely alphabetic script, also marking the transfer from a multi-directional writing system, where a variety of writing directions occurred, to a regulated horizontal, right-to-left script. Its immediate predecessor, the Proto-Canaanite, Old Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script, used in the final stages of the Late Bronze Age, first in either Egypt or Canaan and then in the Syro-Hittite kingdoms, is the oldest fully matured alphabet, and it was derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Phoenician alphabet was used to write ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest point). In general outline it is a long and narrow island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to . Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboia in the lofty islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos. It forms most of the regional unit of Euboea, which also includes Skyros and a small area of the Greek mainland. Name Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was known by other names in antiquity, such as ''Macris'' (Μάκρις) and ''Doliche'' (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, or ''Ellopia'', ''Aonia'' and ''Abantis'' from the tribes inhabiting it. Its ancie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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