Hellenic Net

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ The so-called Tanella di Pitagora is located a short distance from the walls of Cortona in Maesta del Sasso, halfway between Camucia and Cortona. The name derives from the confusion made in the past between Cortona and Crotone, the homeland of the philosopher Pythagoras, believing that the monument was the house in which he lived. We do not know when the tomb was discovered but the first to give news of the monument was Giorgio Vasari who had the opportunity to see it in 1566. In the seventeenth century it was clarified that the construction had no relation to Pythagoras and that it was rather a tomb. In the nineteenth century there is news of the precarious conditions of preservation of the tomb (in 1808 the tomb was damaged by Napoleonic troops during the passage from the territory of Cortona) and of the discovery of a funerary stone formed by a parallelepiped surmounted by a sphere, the inscribed lid of a cinerary urn and fragments of very rough vases (jars?). Between 1918 ...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Photo : Harvey Barrison King Lycurgus of Thrace killing Ambrosia, which is changed into a grapevine. Greek mosaic from Delos, end of 2nd century BC, 69 x 73 cm. Archaeological Museum of Delos. 

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Ruins of Pompeii seen from the above with a drone, with the Vesuvius in the background. Several non-native societies had an influence on Ancient Pompeian culture. Historians’ interpretation of artefacts, preserved by the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, identify that such foreign influences came largely from Greek and Hellenistic cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. Greek influences were transmitted to Pompeii via the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy), which were formed in the 8th century BC. Hellenistic influences originated from Roman commerce, and later conquest of Egypt from the 2nd century BC. Specifically, these cultures contributed to the development of Pompeii’s art, architecture and religious spheres. For instance, Greek influences can be identified in the Alexander Mosaic, horse-shoe shaped theatres and Pompeii’s adoption of the Greek pantheon of gods. Also, examples of Egyptian influences can be found in the Nile Mosaic, garden art...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Aeropus I (c. 563 BC) was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia. He was a member of the Argeadian dynasty and the son of Philip I. Calculating the thirty years of an average generation from the beginning of Archelaus' reign in 413 BC, the British historian Nicholas Hammond believes that Aeropus ruled around 563 BC. Reign At the beginning of the reign of Aeropus, the Thracians and Illyrians were ravaging the country of Macedonia and had achieved many successful victories over the Macedonians. Finally, according to Justin, he faced an Illyrian raid, who took advantage of the fact that Aeropus, after the death of Philip I, was not yet old enough to reign. Although initially defeated, the Macedonians, placing the little monarch at their head, succeeded and repulsed the invaders. He was succeeded by his son Alcetas I. According to Plutarch, Aeropus made tables and lampstands in his spare time. No further details of his reign are recorded. His wife's name is unknown...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Philip V (238-179 BC) was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was marked mainly by the Second Allied War (220-217 BC) and the struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He will lead Macedonia against Rome in the First (212-205 BC) and Second Macedonian War (200-196 BC). While he lost the latter, Philip later allied himself with Rome against Antiochus III in the Roman-Seleucid War. He died in 179 BC. from illness after efforts to recover the military and economic status of Macedonia and handed over the throne to his eldest son, Perseus of Macedonia. Didrachm of Philip, 184-179 BC. The first years of the reign After the unexpected death of his father Demetrius II Aitolikos in 229 BC, Philip was only nine years old and by extension it was impossible to ascend the throne. A possible succession dispute was avoided by the election of another grandson of Demetrius I the Besieger: the son of Demetrius the Good (half-brothe...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Sosthenes (d. 277 BC), was a Macedonian soldier of noble birth who, although not related by blood to any royal house, gained control of the state during the turbulent period that followed the Gallic invasion of Greece in 279 BC It is common for his name to be included in the king lists of chroniclers, however it is uncertain whether he formally adopted the title. After the death of Ptolemy Keraunos and the short-lived reign of his brother, Meleager of the Ptolemies, Antipater Etesias, nephew of Cassander, was placed on the throne. However, circumstances demanded that the army be led by capable and efficient hands, and Antipater was soon found inadequate. After only 45 days, the leadership of the army was assumed on his own initiative by Sosthenes, who asked the soldiers to swear allegiance to him as general and not as king. At first his efforts were crowned with success: he forced the Gauls, who were under Volgios, to defeat, and for a time the danger was removed from the king...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Antipatros, the so-called Etisias from the Antipatrides Dynasty, was ruler of the Kingdom of Macedonia for a few days in the year 279 BC, a year in which the country was characterized by great political instability. After the death of their ruler, Ptolemy Keraynos, the Macedonians nominated his brother, Meleager, as his successor. However, he was dethroned after only two months, as he proved to be an unworthy ruler. In his place, since there was no other suitable living member of the royal house, they gave the throne to Antipater, son of Philip, brother of Cassander. However, he was replaced by Sosthenes only 45 days later, as Antipater's military skills were deemed too poor to effectively deal with the threat of the invading Gauls. The Macedonians have since called Antipater "Etesias", as his reign coincided with the period when the Annual Winds (Meltemia) blew. Finally, during the reign of Sosthenes the threat was removed and he himself died after two full year...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Polyperchon or Polysperchon (360-303 BC) came from royal lineage and was the son of Simmias. He was born in Tymfaia, Epirus. He was a general of Philip and Alexander the Great. He took part in Alexander's campaign in Asia. He had been placed at the head of the tymphian order and distinguished himself. He returned to Greece in 324 BC. along with Crater. On the way, in Cilicia he was informed that Alexander had died. Struggle for the succession of Alexander He fought in the Lamian War, helping Antipater to defeat. Polyperchon defeated the previously considered invincible Thessalian cavalry of Menon. In 319 BC Antipater placed him commissioner of the state. Antipater's son, Cassander, was displeased by this fact, who allied himself with Antigonus and Ptolemy and tried to take away his power. Polyperchon, who had Eumenes as an ally, was initially defeated. But in 318 BC his fleet was defeated by Antigonus, while in 317 Cassander brought Athens under his control. Polypercho...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Argaeus II (Ancient Greek: Ἀργαῖος, romanized: Argaios) was a pretender to the Macedonian crown. He may have been a Lynkestian ruler Argaeus II was a son of Archelaus I (ruled 413–399 BC). With the assistance of the Illyrians, Argaeus II expelled King Amyntas III from his dominions in 393 BCE and kept possession of the throne for about a year. With the aid of the Thessalians, Amyntas III later succeeded in expelling Argaeus II and recovering a part of his kingdom in 392 BCE. 35 years later, in 359, another Argaeus or Argeus appeared as a pretender to the throne; he may have been the same person as Argaeus II of Macedon. This Argaeus had persuaded the Athenians to support his claim to the Macedonian throne, but Philip II, who had just succeeded to the regency of the kingdom, persuaded the Athenians to remain inactive. With a force of mercenaries, some Macedonian exiles and a number of Athenian troops (who were permitted to join the Macedonians by their general, Manlias), Argaeu...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Meleager was king of Macedonia in the year 279 BC. His father is considered to be Ptolemy I the Savior, general and descendant of Alexander the Great and founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt. His possible mother is Eurydice, the third wife of the latter. His siblings from the same parents were his predecessor on the throne of Macedonia, Ptolemy Kerenos, Lysandra, Ptolemais, Argaeus and an unnamed son of Eurydice. Biography The Chronicle of Eusebius mentions that Meleager was the brother of Ptolemy Kerainos and the grandson of Lagos, which, if true, makes Meleager the son of Ptolemy I. The name of his mother is unknown to us, but the fact that he succeeded Ptolemy Kerainos suggests that Meleager accompanied him to the court of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, when Kerainos fled there after a dispute over their father's succession with his half-brother brother of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. It is noted that Lysandra was also there. All this increases the chances that Meleager i...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Ptolemy Ceraunus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Κεραυνός Ptolemaios Keraunos; c. 319 BC – January/February 279 BC) was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and briefly king of Macedon. As the son of Ptolemy I Soter, he was originally heir to the throne of Ptolemaic Egypt, but he was displaced in favour of his younger brother Ptolemy II Philadelphus. He fled to King Lysimachus of Thrace and Macedon where he was involved in court intrigue that led to the fall of that kingdom in 281 BC to Seleucus I, whom he then assassinated. He then seized the throne of Macedon, which he ruled for seventeen months before his death in battle against the Gauls in early 279 BC. His epithet Ceraunus is Greek for "Thunderbolt" and referred to his impatient, impetuous, and destructive character. The origin Ptolemy I the Savior was a descendant of Alexander the Great, who reigned in Egypt after the dissolution of the vast empire of the latter. He founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty and laid the foundations for i...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Alexander V of Macedonia (end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century BC) from the Dynasty of the Antipatrides was the third and youngest son of Cassander and Thessalonica, half-sister of Alexander the Great. He ascended the throne in 297 BC, after the death of his brother Philip IV, who had succeeded Cassander, and co-reigned with his other brother, Antipater II until 294. When Antipater II assassinated their mother, because she believed that she was favoring Alexander V, the two brothers had a rift. Alexander V sought the help of Pyrrhus and Demetrius I the Besieger to help him return to the throne. To Pyrrhus he offered in exchange the coastal lands of Macedonia together with the Provinces of Ambrakia, Acarnania and Amfilochia. Pyrrhus occupied them together with the rest of the kingdom of Macedonia, which he handed over to Alexander V.. According to Plutarch, when Demetrius I the Besieger appeared in 294, the two brothers had already reconciled. Alexander V received Deme...

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Obverse depicts head of Apollo facing right, wearing a diadem; reverse shows a horseback rider facing right over a double axe Philip IV (Ancient Greek: Φίλιππος, romanized: Phílippos) was briefly king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia in 297 BC. He belonged to the Antipatrid dynasty and was the son of Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II, and Cassander, king of Macedonia. Philip succeeded his father unopposed after Cassander succumbed to tuberculosis in 297 at Pella. However, Philip died four months later in Elateia of the same disease, leaving the throne to his two younger brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Cause of death tuberculosis Conditions of death natural causes Family Parents Kassandros and Thessaloniki of Macedonia Adelphia Alexander V of Macedonia Antipater II of Macedonia Antipatrides Dynasty Family

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ Demetrius II the Aetolian (c. 276 - 229 BC) was king of Macedonia during the period 239 - 229 BC, a member of the Hellenistic Antigonid Dynasty. His father was Antigonus II Gonatas (son of Antigonus I the Monocular) and his mother was Phila (daughter of Seleucus I of Nicator), therefore he combined the blood of two of the most prominent generals of Alexander the Great: that of Antigonus I of Monothalmos and that of Seleucus I of Nicator. His reign was relatively short and the information we have today about his life is fragmentary. Its most notable elements are the conduct of a long war against the Aetolian and Achaean Commonwealth, the so-called Demetrius War, as well as the turbulent situation it was called upon to deal with in Epirus after the overthrow of the monarchy in the country. Biographical data Youthful feats Demetrius was born around 275 BC. a few months after the restoration of the Antigonides to the Macedonian throne and his father's marriage to Phila, a Sele...