Aelius Antipater or Antipater of Hierapolis ( grc-gre, Αἴλιος Ἀντίπατρος; fl. AD 200) was a Greek

sophist A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...

and

rhetorician Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

. He was a son of Zeuxidemus, and a pupil of

Adrianus Adrianus of Tyre (Ancient Greek: , c. 113 – 193 AD), also written as Hadrian and Hadrianos, was a sophist of ancient Athens who flourished under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Adrianus was the pupil of Herodes Atticus, and obt ...

, Pollux, and Zeno. In his orations, both extempore and written, some of which are mentioned by

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; grc-gre, Φιλόστρατος ; c. 170 – 247/250 AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born probab ...

, Antipater was not superior to his contemporaries, but in the art of writing letters he is said to have excelled all others, and for this reason the emperor Severus made him his private secretary and tutor (''

ab epistulis ''Ab epistulis'' was the chancellor's office in the Roman Empire with responsibility for the emperor's correspondence. The office sent ''mandata'' (instructions) to provincial governors and other officials. ''Ab epistulis'' wrote in Latin (''ab ep ...

'') of his two sons

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

and

Geta Geta may refer to: Places *Geta (woreda), a woreda in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region *Geta, Åland, a municipality in Finland *Geta, Nepal, a town in Attariya Municipality, Kailali District, Seti Zone, Nepal *Get� ...

. He was promoted to the consular rank in his early 50s by

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...

, who sent him to govern

Bithynia and Pontus Bithynia and Pontus ( la, Provincia Bithynia et Pontus, Ancient Greek ) was the name of a province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the amalgamation of the ...

. Yet, since Antipater used his sword too freely, he was deprived of his office. As Philostratus reports, Antipater then retired to his native place, where he died at the age of 68 of voluntary starvation. His nomen is derived from the Aelia

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

, which would indicate that an ancestor of his had received Roman citizenship while Trajan or Hadrian was emperor (since Aelius was their family name). He also wrote a lost biography of Severus.Philostratus ''Vitae sophistarum'' ii. 24, 25. § 4, 26. § 3 ; Galen, De Theriac. ad Pison. ii. p. 458 ; Eudoc. p. 57.

Notes

Sources

*Paul M. M. Leunissen, ''Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (180-235 n.Chr.)'' (Amsterdam: Gieben, 1989), p. 261. *James H. Oliver, "The Sacred Gerusia and the Emperor's Consilium", '' Hesperia'', 36 (1967), pp. 329–335. *Fergus Millar, "The Greek East and Roman Law: The Dossier of M. Cn. Licinius Rufinus", ''

Journal of Roman Studies The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (The Roman Society) was founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The Society is the leading organisation in the United Kingdom for those intereste ...

'', 89 (1999), pp. 90–108. Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus Greek politicians who committed suicide Suicides in Ancient Greece 2nd-century Greek people

Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Suicides by starvation {{AncientGreece-bio-stub