Potamo or Potamon ( el, Ποτάμων ὁ Μυτιληναῖος; around 65 BC–around AD 25)) of

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

, son of

Lesbonax Lesbonax of Mytilene ( grc-gre, Λεσβώναξ ὁ Μυτιληναῖος), a Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the time of Roman emperor Augustus. According to Photius I of Constantinople he was the author of sixteen political speec ...

the

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 ...

, was himself a rhetorician in the time of the Roman emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

, whose favour he enjoyed. He is mentioned by

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

as an authority regarding

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. It is probably he whom

Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...

states to have attained the age of ninety. When his son was killed, according to

Seneca the Elder Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder (; c. 54 BC – c. 39 AD), also known as Seneca the Rhetorician, was a Roman writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Corduba, Hispania. He wrote a collection of reminiscences about the Roman schools of rheto ...

, he delivered a speech on the

suasoria Suasoria is an exercise in rhetoric: a form of declamation in which the student makes a speech which is the soliloquy of an historical figure debating how to proceed at a critical junction in his life. As an academic exercise, the speech is deliv ...

relating to the

Spartan Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

s deliberating whether to flee

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: (''Thermopylai'') , Demotic Greek (Greek): , (''Thermopyles'') ; "hot gates") is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur ...

wherein he exhorted the Spartans against flight, in contrast to his rival Lesbocles, who shut down his school of rhetoric after the death of his son. His city sent him on embassies to Rome in 45 and 25 BC.

Works

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 ...

informs us that, in addition to his work ''On Alexander of Macedon'' (Περὶ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος), he wrote several other works, namely: *''Annals of the Samians'' (Ὅρους Σαμίων) *''Encomium of Brutus'' (Βρούτου ἐγκώμιον) *''Encomium of Caesar'' (Καίσαρος ἐγκώμιον) *''On the Perfect Orator'' (Περὶ τελείου ῥήτορος) To these should perhaps be added ''On the Different'', quoted by

Ammonius Grammaticus Ammonius Grammaticus (; grc-gre, Ἀμμώνιος Γραμματικός) was a 4th-century Egyptian priest who, after the destruction of the pagan temple at Alexandria, Egypt, Alexandria (389), fled to Constantinople, where he became the tutor o ...

Notes

{{Authority control 1st-century Greek people Ancient Greek rhetoricians Ancient Mytileneans Historiography of Alexander the Great