Democrates (; grc, Δημοκράτης) was a

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

philosopher about whom little is known. It is said that he was the founder of the basic concepts of the modern era of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Τυανεύς; c. 3 BC – c. 97 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He is the subject of '' ...

wrote at least one letter to a Democrates, ''Epistle 88''. A collection of moral maxims, called the ''Golden Sentences'' (, ''Gnomai chrysai'') has come down to us under his name. However, many scholars argue that these maxims all originate from an original collection of sayings of

Democritus Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...

, though others believe that there was a different little-known Democrates whose name became confused with the much better-known Democritus. Thirty of the ''Golden Sayings'' are also found in

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος; fl. 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containin ...

attributed to Democritus. The maxims are written in the Ionic dialect, from which some scholars have inferred that they were written at a very early period. Others think it more probable that they are the production of the age of Julius Caesar. But nothing can be said with certainty, for want of both external and internal evidence. Some of these sentences are quoted by

, and are found in some manuscripts under the name of Democritus.

References

*{{SmithDGRBM

External links

The Golden Sentences of Democrates
Pythagoreans Ionic Greek writers