Aristocles of Messene

Aristocles (/əˈrɪstəˌkliːz/; Greek: Ἀριστοκλῆς) of Messene in Sicily,^[1] was a Peripatetic philosopher, who probably lived in the 1st century AD.^[2] He may have been the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias.^[3]

According to the Suda^[1] and Eudokia, he wrote several works:

• Πότερον σπουδαιότερος Ὅμηρος ἢ Πλάτων - Whether Homer or Plato is more Worthy.
• Τέχναι ῥητορικαί - Arts of Rhetoric.
• A work on the god Serapis.
• A work on Ethics, in nine books.
• A work on Philosophy, in ten books.

The last of these works appears to have been a history of philosophy, in which he wrote about the philosophers, their schools, and doctrines. Several fragments of it are preserved in Eusebius.^[4]

Notes

1. Suda, Aristokles
2. Karamanolis, G., (2006), Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry, page 37. Oxford University Press.
3. Cyrill. c. Jul. ii. The correct reading of this passage is in doubt and may refer instead to Aristotle of Mytilene.
4. Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, xiv, xv.

References

• Maria Lorenza Chiesara (ed.), Aristocles of Messene. Testimonia and Fragments, New York, Oxford University Press, 2001.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.