Areius or Areius Didymus or Arius ( grc, Ἄρειος) was an
Alexandrian philosopher of the
Pythagorean or
Stoic schools who lived in the 1st century BCE. He was the "personal philosopher" of the Roman emperor
Augustus for a time.
Augustus esteemed him so highly that after the conquest of Alexandria, he declared that he spared the city chiefly for the sake of Areius. Modern scholars disagree over whether this was the actual reason Augustus spared the city, as at the same time Augustus claimed he was also doing it to honor the memory of
Alexander the Great, and some scholars also suggest that he did it to curry favor with that city's elite.
Areius as well as his two sons, Dionysius and Nicanor, are said to have instructed Augustus himself in philosophy, and Areius for a time resided directly within Augustus's household.
He is frequently mentioned by the philosopher
Themistius, who says that Augustus valued Areius not less than
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable buildi ...
, who is commonly thought of as Augustus's confidant and right-hand man (though it must be mentioned that Themistius was writing four hundred years after the fact).
Others sources state that he was offered the post of ''
Praefectus'' or governor of Egypt, but that Areius turned Augustus down in order to take a post in the province of
Sicilia, though modern scholars have some doubt about this anecdote (primarily because there are no other examples of anyone being "offered" a post by Augustus and having turned him down). It has been suggested that this story was state propaganda to justify Augustus's removal of Areius from the province of Egypt and installation of
Cornelius Gallus as Praefectus.
Areius was succeeded as "personal philosopher" of Augustus by the philosopher
Theon.
From
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...
it appears that Areius also taught or wrote on rhetoric.
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
, Ἄρειος, Θέων
Notes
{{DGRBM, author=LS, title= Areius , volume=1, page=275, url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/290
Stoic philosophers
Pythagoreans
Ancient Alexandrians
1st-century BC Egyptian people
1st-century BC philosophers