Bryson of

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...

(or Bryson the Achaean; el, Βρύσων ὁ Ἀχαιός ''Vryson o Acheos'', ''gen''.: Βρύσωνος ''Vrysonos''; fl. 330 BC) was an ancient

Greek philosopher Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...

. Very little information is known about him. He was said to have been a pupil of

Stilpo Stilpo (or Stilpon; el, Στίλπων, gen.: Στίλπωνος; c. 360 – c. 280 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. He was a contemporary of Theophrastus, Diodorus Cronus, and Crates of Thebes. None of his writings survive, b ...

Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 61. Diogenes Laërtius literally says "Pyrrho was a pupil of Bryson the ''son'' of Stilpo." Bryson is unlikely to have been the son of Stilpo. Laërtius may mean that Bryson was a ''pupil'' of Stilpo. This line is sometimes emended to "Pyrrho was a pupil of Bryson ''or'' Stilpo." and

Clinomachus Clinomachus ( el, Κλεινόμαχος; 4th-century BC), was a Megarian philosopher from Thurii. He is said by Diogenes Laërtius to have been the first who composed treatises on the fundamental principles of dialectics, and is described as the f ...

,Suda, ''Pyrrhon'' which would mean that he was a philosopher of the

Megarian school The Megarian school of philosophy, which flourished in the 4th century BC, was founded by Euclides of Megara, one of the pupils of Socrates. Its ethical teachings were derived from Socrates, recognizing a single good, which was apparently combined ...

. He was said to have taught Crates the Cynic, Pyrrho the Skeptic, and

Theodorus the Atheist Theodorus the Atheist ( el, Θεόδωρος ὁ ἄθεος; c. 340 – c. 250 BCE), of Cyrene, was a Greek philosopher of the Cyrenaic school. He lived in both Greece and Alexandria, before ending his days in his native city of Cyrene. As a Cy ...

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...

includes him among a list of philosophers who left no writings. He is probably not the same person as Bryson of Heraclea, the

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 mathematician who seems to have lived in the time of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

. The ''

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 ...

'', in its entry on Socrates, may be confusing the two Brysons when it refers to Bryson of Heraclea:

Bryson of Heraclea introduced
eristic In philosophy and rhetoric, eristic (from '' Eris'', the ancient Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord) refers to an argument that aims to successfully dispute another's argument, rather than searching for truth. According to T.H. Irwin, "It ...
dialectic after Euclides, whereas Clinomachus augmented it, and whereas many came on account of it, it came to an end with
Zeno of Citium Zeno of Citium (; grc-x-koine, Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς, ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium (, ), Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC ...
, for he gave it the name
Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism; one whose moral quality is associated with that school of philosophy *STOIC, a programming language * ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll * ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain *' ...
, after its
location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...
, this having occurred in the 105th
Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not until ...
;360-357 BC, before Zeno was born, but possibly when Bryson was active. but some ay thatBryson was a student not of Socrates but of Euclides

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryson of Achaea 4th-century BC Greek people 4th-century BC philosophers Ancient Achaeans Classical Greek philosophers Megarian philosophers