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On this page: Theodotus – Theodunus – Theogenes – Theognetus

1074

THEODOTUS.

The above are the only persons of this name, who appeared of sufficient importance to be noticed here ; but there are several others of less conse­ quence, a list of whom is given by Fabricius, Bill. Grace, vol. x. pp. 513, 515. [P. S.]

THEODOTUS (©eoSoros), the name of an oculist, who must have lived in or before the first century after Christ, as he is quoted by Celsus (vi. 6, p. 119).

2. A physician of Athens in the second century after Christ, mentioned several times as a contem­porary by Aristides in his Sermones Sacri.

3. A physician, who afterwards succeeded Ste-phanus as bishop of Laodicea in Syria, in the early part of the fourth century after Christ. He is highly praised by Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. vii. 32), who dedicated to him his Praeparatio Evangelica ; but he appears to have embraced the Arian heresy, and to have been one of the most active of the Arian bishops. He excommunicated Apollinaris, both father and son, on account of their intimacy Avith the heathen sophist Epiphanius [epiphanius, § 10, p.40] ; and is said to have been instrumental in deposing Eustathius,bishop of Antioch. [EusTA-THius,§l,p. 119]. He held the see of Laodicea for about thirty years, and was succeeded by Georgius [georgius, § 29, p. 251]. His name is inserted by some of the Martyrologies under the date of Nov. 2, from which it has been copied by Bzovius (Nomenclator Sanctor. Professione Medicor.) and C. B. Carpzov (De Medicis ab Ecclesia pro Sanctis liabitis} ; but this appears to be by mistake, and his name will probably be omitted in the " Acta Sanc­torum '' when the volumes for November appear. For a further account of this matter the reader may consult Usuardi Martyrol. ed. Soller. ; Valesius, De Martyrol. Rom. in his Annotationes in Euseb. Hist. Eccles. p. 317 ; Baronii Annal. Eccles. vol. iv. ; Tillemont, Hist. Eccles. vol. vi. [W. A. G.]

THEODOTUS, artists. 1. A medallist, whose name is found on some very interesting coins of Clazomenae, which have been recently discovered. They are of silver, of a small size, and of extremely beautiful workmanship, bearing a head of Apollo on the obverse, with the words in minute characters, in two lines, by the side of the head, ©EOAOTO$ EIIOIEI. Their discovery was first published by Abeken, in the Bullet, dell'' Instit. ArcJieoL for 1839, Nos 8 and 9, pp. 137> 138, and they afterwards came into the possession of the Due de Luynes, by whom they were again published in the Notiv. Annal. de Vlnstit. Arckeol., pi. xxxv. Nos. 25, 26. In style and type they are closely similar to the medals of Mausolus II. prince of Caria, and there can be no doubt that they belong to the same age, namely the middle of the fourth century b. c. They are valuable as affording one among other proofs of the fact, which has been contested, that medallists were sometimes permitted to inscribe their names upon coins executed by them. For this reason, and on account of their great beauty, M. Raoul-Rochette pronounces the opinion that they " ought to be ranked among the most precious archaeological discoveries of our age." (R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, pp. 73, 97, 98, 2d edition. An en­graving of the best preserved of these medals is given on the title-page of R. Rochette's work, Vignette 3.)

2. A Greek painter, lived at Rome in the time of Naevius, who mentions him in the following lines of his comedy entitled Tuniculariat which are

THEOGNETUS.

preserved by Festus (s. v. Penem antiqui codam vocabant, p, 250, ed. M'uller, p. 204, ed. Linde-mann): —

" Theodotum appellas, qui aras Compitalibus Sedens in cella circumtectus tegetibus Lares ludentes peni pinxit bubulo."

These verses describe a rude picture of the Lares at play, painted on an altar at the meeting of two streets, with a rude instrument, a brush made from the tail of an ox. The painting must, therefore, have resembled the daubs which are seen on the outer walls of the houses in Pompeii and Hercnla-neum, and those to which Juvenal refers in the line (Sat. viii. 157) : —

" Eponam et facies olida ad praesepia pictas ; "

and the artist may be classed with those painters of vulgar subjects whom the Greeks called pvirapo- ypdtyoi or pMiroypdtyoi, or with our sign painters. (See pyreicus, and Diet, of Antiq. s. v. Picture p. 912, a. 2d ed.; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, pp. 416, 417; and, especially, the full discussion of this comparatively unnoticed fragment of Naevius, by Panofka, in the Rliein. Mus. for 1846, vol. iv. pp. 133—138: there is no ground for Bothers alteration of the painter's name to T/ieodo- rus.) [P. S.]

THEODUNUS, the name given by Pococke (in his Latin Version of Abu-1-Faraj, Hist. Dynast, p. 128) to a Greek physician in the service of Hajaj Ibn Yusuf, the general of the chalif 'Abdu-1-Malek Ibn Merwan, in the seventh century after Christ. He

is called in Arabic ,.»»J*15 ? which Wustenfeld

renders Theodun (Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte, p. 9), but neither Theodun nor Theodunus seems to be a genuine Greek name. He left behind him a sort of medical compendium which he compiled for the use of his son, and which is probably not extant in any European library. One of the anecdotes told by Ibn Abi Osaibi'ah of Theodocus is by Abu-1-Faraj referred to Theodunus. [W. A. G.]

THEOGENES (©eoyevys). 1. An Athenian, who, in b. c. 425, was appointed together with Cleon to repair to Pylos, and investigate the truth of the tidings, which had been brought thence, as to the difficulties of the blockade of Sphacteriav Cleon, however, prudently persuaded the people to abandon the proposed inquiry. (Thuc. iv. 27) [cleon.] It is possible that this Theogenes should be identified with the person who is men­tioned by Aristophanes ( Vesp. 1183), and who, the scholiast tells us, was an Acharnian (Arnold, ad Thuc. I.e.). A man of the same name is sati­rized also by Aristophanes (Pax, 894) for his swinish propensities. (See also Arist. Av. 822, 1127, 1295, Lys. 63, with the Scholia.)

2. One of the Athenian ambassadors who set forth on their way to Dareius Nothus, in b. c. 408, under promise of a safe conduct from Pharnabazus. The satrap however detained them in custody at the instance of Cyrus, and he could not obtain leave to release them till after the lapse of three years. (Xen. Hell. i. 3. §§ 8, 9, 13, 4. §§ 6, 7 ; Pint. Ale. 31.) [pharnabazus.] Whether this was the same Theogenes who was appointed one of the 30 tyrants in b. c. 404 (Xen. Hell. ii. 3. § 2) we have no means of deciding. [E. E.]

THEOGNETUS (0eV?™s), an athlete of Aeginn, who is recorded as having gained the

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