Chaeremon of Alexandria
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Chaeremon of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Χαιρήμων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''gen.:'' grc, Χαιρήμονος; fl. 1st century AD) was a
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 * ...
philosopher and historian. His father – about whom nothing is known – was called Leonidas, and he was probably born no later than 10 AD. He may have been the grandson of the Chaeremon who accompanied the Roman prefect Aelius Gallus on his tour of Egypt in 26 AD. He was probably one of the ambassadors to Claudius from
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
in 40 AD. According to the Suda, he was the head of the Alexandrian school of grammarians, and he may also have been head of the
Museion The Musaeum or Mouseion of Alexandria ( grc, Μουσεῖον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας; ), which arguably included the Great Library of Alexandria, was an institution said to have been founded by Ptolemy I Soter and his son Ptolemy II ...
. He also taught Nero, probably before 49 AD when
Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...
became Nero's tutor. All of Chaeremon's works are lost, though three titles are preserved: the ''History of Egypt'', ''Hieroglyphika'', and ''On Comets'', along with a number of fragments quoted by later authors. Aside from his three works whose titles are known, a fragment of a grammatical treatise by Chaeremon also survives. Ancient sources describe him as a Stoic, and his surviving writings on Egyptian mythology are from a "typically Stoic" perspective. One of the poems from Martial's eleventh book of
Epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...
mocks Chaeremon; as Martial did not usually attack living figures Chaeremon presumably died before 96 AD when ''Epigrams'' XI was published.


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1st-century philosophers 1st-century Egyptian people Roman-era librarians of Alexandria Roman-era Stoic philosophers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Ancient Alexandrians {{greece-philosopher-stub