Sphaerus
{{Short description|Ancient Greek philosopher}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region = Western philosophy
| era = Ancient philosophy
| image = Spherus Bosphoranus - Illustrium philosophorum et sapientum effigies ab eorum numistatibus extractae.png
| caption = Engraving by Girolamo Olgiati, 1580
| name = Sphaerus
| birth_date = {{circa | 285 BC}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{circa | 210 BC}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| school_tradition = Stoicism
| main_interests =
| notable_ideas =
}}
Sphaerus ({{langx|el|Σφαῖρος}}, sometimes transliterated as Sphaeros;
{{cite book
|last1 = Robin
|first1 = Léon
|author-link1 = Léon Robin
|date = 4 July 2013
|orig-date = 1923
|chapter = Early Stocism
|title = Greek Thought and the Origins of the Scientific Spirit
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CE-UkjI12IcC&pg=PT320
|series = The History of Civilization
|edition = reprint
|publication-place = London
|publisher = Routledge
|page =
|isbn = 9781136196782
|access-date = 1 April 2025
|quote = Instead of turning away from public affairs, like the Epicuran, the Stoic strove or condescended to be a factor in Hellenistic politics. Aratos of Soli, [...] Persaeos of Cition, and Sphaeros of the Bosphorus were like ambassadors at the courts of princes - Aratos and Persaeos with Antigonos Gonatas, King of Macedon, and Sphaeros with Ptolemy Euergetes and later with Cleomenes III, King of Sparta.
}}
{{circa | 285 BC}} – {{circa | 210 BC}}) of BorysthenesPlutarch, Cleomenes, [http://www.attalus.org/old/cleomenes1.html#2 2.2]. or the Bosphorus,Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 37, 177 was a Stoic philosopher.
Life
Sphaerus studied first under Zeno of Citium, and afterwards under Cleanthes. He taught in Sparta, where he acted as advisor to Cleomenes III. He moved to Alexandria at some point, (possibly when Cleomenes himself was exiled there in 222 BC) where he lived in the court of Ptolemy IV Philopator.
Ideas
Little survives of his works, but Sphaerus had a considerable reputation among the Stoics for the accuracy of his definitions.Cicero, [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14988 Tusculan Disputations], iv. 24.
{{Blockquote|Examine the definitions of courage: you will find it does not require the assistance of passion. Courage is, then, an affection of mind that endures all things, being itself in proper subjection to the highest of all laws; or it may be called a firm maintenance of judgment in supporting or repelling everything that has a formidable appearance, or a knowledge of what is formidable or otherwise, and maintaining invariably a stable judgment of all such things, so as to bear them or despise them ... for the above definitions are Sphaerus’s, a man of the first ability as a layer-down of definitions, as the Stoics think.|Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, iv. 24 [53]}}
Diogenes LaërtiusDiogenes Laërtius, [http://www.attalus.org/old/diogenes7d.html#177 vii. 177] and AthenaeusAthenaeus, Deipnosophists, [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus8.html#354 viii. 354] tell a story of how he once saved himself from admitting that he had been deceived by a trick played upon him by King Ptolemy:
{{Blockquote|And once, when there was a discussion concerning the question whether a wise man would allow himself to be guided by opinion, and when Sphaerus affirmed that he would not, the king, wishing to refute him, ordered some pomegranates of wax to be set before him; and when Sphaerus was deceived by them, the king shouted that he had given his assent to a false perception. But Sphaerus answered very neatly, that he had not given his assent to the fact that they were pomegranates, but to the fact that it was probable that they might be pomegranates. And that a perception which could be comprehended differed from one that was only probable.
}}
Writings
According to Diogenes Laërtius, Sphaerus wrote the following works:Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 178
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- Περὶ κόσμου δύο – On the Universe (two books)
- Περὶ στοιχείων – On the Elements
- [Περὶ] σπέρματος – [On] Seed
- Περὶ τύχης – On Fortune
- Περὶ ἐλαχίστων – On the Smallest Things
- Πρὸς τὰς ἀτόμους καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα – Against Atoms and Images
- Περὶ αἰσθητηρίων – On the Senses
- Περὶ Ἡρακλείτου πέντε διατριβῶν – On Heraclitus (five lectures)
- Περὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς διατάξεως – On the Arrangement of Ethics
- Περὶ καθήκοντος – On Duty
- Περὶ ὁρμῆς – On Impulse
- Περὶ παθῶν δύο – On Passions (two books)
- Περὶ βασιλείας – On Kingship
- Περὶ Λακωνικῆς πολιτείας – On the Lacedaemonian Constitution
- Περὶ Λυκούργου καὶ Σωκράτους τρία – On Lycurgus and Socrates (three books)
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- Περὶ νόμου – On Law
- Περὶ μαντικῆς – On Divination
- Διαλόγους ἐρωτικούς – Dialogues on Love
- Περὶ τῶν Ἐρετριακῶν φιλοσόφων – On the Eretrian Philosophers
- Περὶ ὁμοίων – On Things Similar
- Περὶ ὅρων – On Terms
- Περὶ ἕξεως – On Habits
- Περὶ τῶν ἀντιλεγομένων τρία – On Contradictions (three books)
- Περὶ λόγου – On Discourse
- Περὶ πλούτου – On Wealth
- Περὶ δόξης – On Glory
- Περὶ θανάτου – On Death
- Τέχνης διαλεκτικῆς δύο – Art of Dialectics (two books)
- Περὶ κατηγορημάτων – On Predicates
- Περὶ ἀμφιβολιῶν – On Ambiguity
- Ἐπιστολάς – Letters
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Notes
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References
- {{cite LotEP |chapter=Sphaerus}}
The surviving fragments of Sphaerus' writings are collected in:
- {{cite book |last1=Arnim |first1=Hans Friedrich August von |title=Stoicorum veterum fragmenta |date=1964 |publisher=Stutgardiae In aedibus B.G. Tuebneri |url=https://archive.org/details/stoicorumveterum01arniuoft/page/138/mode/2up |access-date=31 May 2023 |language=grc,la}}
{{Stoicism}}
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Category:3rd-century BC Greek philosophers