Charmadas

Charmadas (Greek: Χαρμάδας; or Charmides (Χαρμίδης); 168/7 – 103/91 BC^[1]) was an Academic philosopher and a disciple of Carneades at the Academy in Athens. He was a pupil of Carneades for seven years (145-138) and later he led his own school in the Ptolemaion, a gymnasium in Athens. He seems to have spent some time in Alexandria, before he went to Athens around 145 B.C.^[2] He was an excellent rhetorician and famous for his outstanding memory. Like Philo of Larissa he seems to have pursued a more moderate scepticism.^[3] Lucius Licinius Crassus and Marcus Antonius (orator) were his most prominent pupils. Furthermore, Philodemus preserverd us the names of other pupils: Diodorus of Adramyttion, Apollodor of Tarsus, Heliodorus of Mallos, Phanostratus of Tralles and a certain Apollonius. ^[4]

Notes

1. Dorandi 1999, p. 48.
2. Fleischer 2014, pp. 66-67.
3. Lévy 2005, pp. 62–68; Brittain 2001, p. 54, 213f., 312; Tarrant 1985, p. 37.
4. For the list of pupils preserved by Philodemus see Fleischer 2015, pp. 49-53.

References

• Brittain, Charles (2001). Philo of Larissa. The Last of the Academic Sceptics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-815298-1.
• Dorandi, Tiziano (1999). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780521250283.
• Fleischer, Kilian (2014). "Der Akademiker Charmadas in Apollodors `Chronik´ (PHerc. 1021, Kol. 31-32)". Cronache Ercolanesi (in German) 44: 66–75.
• Fleischer, Kilian (2015). "Die Schüler des Charmadas (PHerc.1021, XXXV 32 - XXXVI 14)". Cronache Ercolanesi (in German) 45: 49–53.
• Lévy, Carlos (2005). "Les Petits Académiciens: Lacyde, Charmadas, Métrodore de Stratonice". In Bonazzi, Mauro; Celluprica, Vincenza. L’eredità platonica. Studi sul platonismo da Arcesilao a Proclo (in Italian). Naples: Bibliopolis. pp. 51−77.
• Tarrant, Harold (1985). Scepticism or Platonism?. Cambridge. p. 37.

Further reading

• Tiziano Dorandi: Charmadas. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. vol. 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9, pp. 297–298.
• Görler, Woldemar (1994). Charmadas. In: Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. Die Philosophie der Antike, vol. 4/2: Die hellenistische Philosophie, ed. Hellmut Flashar., Basel ISBN 3-7965-0930-4, pp. 906–908.