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52-590: Callisthenes was born in Olynthus sometime during 360 BCE. Little is known of his early childhood except that his mother Hero was the niece of Aristotle, and daughter of Proxenus of Atarneus and Arimneste ; which made Callisthenes the great-nephew of Aristotle by his sister Arimneste, Callisthenes's grandmother. It is also known that Callisthenes was in the care of Aristotle by 347 BCE and studied under him as his student. Callisthenes spent much of his early life writing and traveling with Aristotle. His first literary work

104-413: A Hippodamian grid plan . Two large avenues were discovered, with an amplitude of 7 meters, along with vertical and horizontal streets that divided the urban area into city blocks . Each one had ten houses with two floors and a paved yard. Very important for the archaeological research are considered the rich villas that were excavated in the aristocratic suburb of the city located in the eastern part of

156-531: A History of Thrace , and treatise on the subject of hunting. There has also been a collection of letters, written in Greek originally attributed to Callisthenes, yet later disputed as the dates of the letters range far beyond the time period that Callisthenes was alive. Many of these were originally attributed to Callisthenes due to their assumed time period aligning with Callisthenes’s active years as an author, as well as their subject matter being on topics Callisthenes

208-721: A book on witty sayings, a Diakosmos Battle Order which covers ships in Homers Iliad, and a Periplus covering the Black Sea . Additionally, many works have been ascribed to Callisthenes mistakenly, resulting in their authorship commonly known as Pseudo-Callisthenes. One of the more well-known examples is the Alexander Romance , the basis of all the Alexander legends of the Middle Ages . It originated during

260-477: A conspiracy against the life of Alexander. Among the duties of the pages, who were in almost constant attendance on the king's person, was that of accompanying him when hunting, and it was one of these occasions that Hermolaus gave offence by slaying a wild boar without waiting to allow Alexander the first blow. Highly incensed at this breach of discipline, the king ordered him to be chastised with stripes, and further punished by being deprived of his horse. Hermolaus,

312-651: A handful of Persian aristocrats to join his entourage, a choice that deeply upset the Macedonians who were close to Alexander. That same year a confrontation occurred between Alexander and Cleitus the Black an officer in Alexander’s army. During a banquet Cleitus expressed his displeasure at the current state of Alexander’s contingent. An argument broke out between the two, ending in a physical confrontation and Cleitus’ demise at Alexander’s hand. After this conflict Alexander

364-426: A lad of high spirit, already verging on manhood, could not brook this indignity: his resentment was inflamed by the exhortations of the philosopher Callisthenes , his former tutor, and by the sympathy of his most intimate friend and eromenos among his brother pages, Sostratus . Together the two youths eventually formed a scheme to assassinate the king while he slept, the duty of guarding his bed chamber devolving upon

416-550: A large team of archaeologists and workmen began excavations at Olynthus in collaboration with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens . They found that the ancient city extends over two hills that detach from a small coulee and possess an area ca. 1500 m long and 400 m in width. Robinson conducted three additional excavations in 1931, 1934, and 1938, publishing the results in fourteen volumes. Some of his writing

468-459: A revolt to be led by Potidaea against Athens ( Thuc. 1.58). This synoecism (συνοικισμός) was effected, though against Perdiccas's wishes the contributing cities were preserved. This increase in population led to the settlement of the North Hill, which was developed on a Hippodamian grid plan . In 423 Olynthus became the head of a formal Chalkidian League , occasioned by the synoecism or by

520-400: A speech arguing against the adoption of proskynesis. Callisthenes argued that Alexander was not entitled to receive divine honors, such as the proskynesis from his followers. Alexander witnessed this speech and knowing Callisthenes was correct chose not to continue with the practice. Another account by Plutarch claims that during this banquet Alexander offers a cup to a colleague who performs

572-410: A stone base, but it is difficult to tell, since the city was literally leveled by Philip . As it concerns the public buildings, the agora is placed in the south edge of the north hill, near the eastern gate, along with a public fountain, an arsenal and the city's parliament building (Βουλευτήριον). There is a small museum featuring artifacts recovered from Olynthus, and the whole archaeological site

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624-442: A visit to Athens . In this eulogy Theophrastus condemns Alexander for the torture and execution of Callisthenes. He also references the acts of mourning and grief enacted by those who were close to Callisthenes and advises the bereaved on how to cope with the loss. Theophrastus also upholds Callisthenes as a figure of traditional piety and civic freedom. Callisthenes' most well-known work was an account of Alexander's expedition up to

676-474: Is open to public tours during daylight hours. The modern village, formerly Myriophyton, now called Olynthos or Nea Olynthos, sits on a small plateau on the western side of the river Olynthios or Resetenikia (in ancient times known as Sandanus), across from the ruins of the ancient city. Hermolaus of Macedon Hermolaus of Macedon ( Greek : Ἑρμόλαος ) was a page to Alexander the Great in 327 BC, who

728-620: The Iliad that Alexander had visited. It applauded Alexander as a standard for Greek masculinity; and condemned the Persians as weak and effeminate. It is said to have been used as justification for the Panhellenic crusade and as a means of recruiting potential supporters for Alexander’s crusade. In addition to his work on Alexander the Great, he also authored another major work, a 10 book long historical anthology of Greece. Hellenica covered

780-607: The Athenians sent soldiers from among its citizens. After Philip had deprived Olynthus of the rest of the League, by force and by the treachery of sympathetic factions, he besieged Olynthus in 348. The siege was short; he bought Olynthus's two principal citizens, Euthycrates and Lasthenes, who betrayed the city to him. He then looted and razed the city and sold its population—including the Athenian garrison—into slavery. According to

832-553: The British adventurer William Leake reasoned that the site of Olynthus was at the village of Agios Mamas , seven kilometers south of the actual location. This viewpoint was shared by a number of scholars, including Esprit-Marie Cousinéry, but was challenged in the early twentieth century by Adolf Struck and English archaeologist Alan Wace , among others. Wace in particular found no evidence of an ancient settlement at Agios Mamas, Leake had evidently not visited there himself, and that

884-517: The Great King was meditated, in order to control the situation, Artabazus captured Olynthus, which was thought to be disloyal, and killed its inhabitants. The town had priorly been given to Kritovoulos from Toroni and to a fresh population consisting of Greeks from the neighboring region of Chalcidice, who had been exiled by the Macedonians ( Herod. viii. 127). Though Herodotus reports that Artabazus slaughtered them, Boetiaeans continued to live in

936-528: The Greek cities west of the Strymon, and had even got possession of Pella , the chief city in Macedon . (Xenophon, Hell. V. 2, 12). In this year Sparta was induced by an embassy from Acanthus and Apollonia , which anticipated conquest by the league, to send an expedition against Olynthus. After three years of indecisive warfare Olynthus consented to dissolve the confederacy (379). It is clear, however, that

988-482: The Middle Ages (see Krumbacher , Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur , 1897, p. 849). Valerius 's translation was completely superseded by that of Leo, archpriest of Naples in the 10th century, the so-called Historia de Preliis . In addition to the Alexander Romance , Pseudo-Callisthenes is also credited with several other works. Including; a work titled Metamorphoses , a work on Macedonian history,

1040-680: The Persian defeat at Salamis in 480 BC, and with Xerxes having been escorted to the Hellespont by his general Artabazus , the Persian army spent the winter of the same year in Thessaly and Macedonia . The Persian authority in the Balkans must have significantly decreased at the time, which encouraged the inhabitants of the Pallene peninsula to break away. Suspecting that a revolt against

1092-498: The area. Olynthus became a Greek polis, but it remained insignificant (in the quota-lists of the Delian League it appears as paying on the average 2 talents, as compared with 6 to 15 paid by Scione , 6 to 15 by Mende , 6 to 12 by Toroni , and 3 to 6 by Sermylia from 454 to 432). In 432 King Perdiccas II of Macedon encouraged several nearby coastal towns to disband and remove their population to Olynthus, preparatory to

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1144-662: The beginning of the Peloponnesian War and fear of Athenian attack. During the Peloponnesian war it formed a base for Brasidas in his expedition of 424 and refuge for the citizens of Mende and Poteidaea that had rebelled against the Athenians ( Thu. ii, 70). After the end of the Peloponnesian War the development of the league was rapid and ended consisting of 32 cities. About 393 we find it concluding an important treaty with Amyntas III of Macedon (the father of Philip II ), and by 382 it had absorbed most of

1196-538: The data from the South Hill was badly muddled. Nonetheless, the work was excellent for its time, and remains supremely valuable. Much of the stratigraphy of the North Hill has been reconstructed by Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin). The site is now in the charge of Julia Vokotopoulou, and the XVI Ephorate of Classical Antiquities. The Neolithic settlement is located in the edge of the southern hill and

1248-447: The different pages in rotation. They revealed their plan to four of their companions, and the secret was kept, though 32 days are said to have elapsed before they had an opportunity. But on the night, during which Antipater, one of their number, was to keep watch, Alexander happened to stay out all night drinking, possibly on the recommendation of a Syrian soothsayer. The next day the plot was divulged by another page who had been informed in

1300-516: The dissolution was little more than formal, as the Chalcidians ("Χαλκιδῆς ἀπò Θρᾴκης") appear, only a year or two later, among the members of the Athenian naval confederacy of 378–377. Twenty years later, in the reign of Philip, the power of Olynthus is asserted by Demosthenes to have been much greater than before the Spartan expedition. The town itself at this period is spoken of as a city of

1352-431: The eastern and western edges of the hill that intersected with crossing streets. Along the south avenue shops and small houses were found while the administrative part was located in the north part of the hill, where the agora and a deanery were found. The classical city was established on the much larger north hill and to its eastern slope. The excavations, which cover only 1/10 of the city's total area, have revealed

1404-642: The excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos . Olynthus , son of Heracles, or the river god Strymon , was considered the mythological founder of the town. The South Hill bore a small Neolithic settlement; was abandoned during the Bronze Age ; and was resettled in the 7th century BC. Subsequently, the town was captured by the Bottiaeans , a Thracian tribe ejected from Macedon by Alexander I . Following

1456-457: The first rank (πóλις μuρἰανδρος), and the league included thirty-two cities. When the Social War broke out between Athens and its allies (357), Olynthus was at first in alliance with Philip. Subsequently, in alarm at the growth of his power, it concluded an alliance with Athens. Olynthus made three embassies to Athens, the occasions of Demosthenes's three Olynthiac Orations . On the third,

1508-458: The head of the Gulf of Torone , near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene , about 2.5 kilometers from the sea, and about 60 stadia (c. 9–10 kilometers) from Poteidaea . The city flourished between 432 BC and its destruction by Philip II of Macedon in 348 BCE. It was finally abandoned in 316 BCE. Excavations were conducted across four seasons, spanning from 1928 to 1938. Artefacts found during

1560-401: The hope of enlisting him. Hermolaus and his accomplices were immediately arrested, and subsequently brought before the assembled Macedonians, by whom they were stoned to death . It appears, however, that they had been previously submitted to examination by torture, when, according to one account, they implicated Callisthenes also in their conspiracy ; according to another, and on the whole

1612-502: The inscriptions were taken from stones found at Potidaea by local residents. Utilizing descriptions provided by Thucydides and Xenophon , he reasoned that Olynthus must actually lie further north near the village of Myriophyton. In 1915, Wace conducted a preliminary survey of the area in hopes that the British School of Athens might pursue an excavation, but nothing came of it. On February 17, 1928, David Moore Robinson and

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1664-481: The latest researches only a small area of the North Hill was ever re-occupied, up to 318, before Cassander forced the population to move in his new city of Cassandreia . Though the city was extinguished, through subsequent centuries there would be men scattered through the Hellenistic world who were called Olynthians. Due to its proximity to the ancient city of Potidaea and the presence of some inscriptions,

1716-456: The north hill since there was found some of the earliest floor mosaics in Greek art . Both the archaic and classical city were protected by an extended land wall. Parts of the foundations of the wall were revealed in the north hill and elsewhere, but they are not enlightening on which method was followed for their construction. Archaeologists suppose that it was built with sun-dried bricks with

1768-707: The periods from the Peace of Antalcidas (387 BCE) to the start of the Phocian war (357 BCE). His other works include; the list of winners from the Pythian games that he co-authored with Aristotle, writings on astronomy including a description of the Great Comet of 371 BC , a work covering the first Sacred war of 600 BCE titled On the Sacred War , a tribute Hermias to Atarneaus and Assos who were killed by Persians,

1820-521: The proskynesis ceremony, kisses Alexander, and then drinks from the cup. While all of the other members of the court performed the ceremony Callisthenes blatantly refused to act out the proskynesis. This direct opposition to Alexander won Callisthenes favor by the Macedonians but severely destroyed the relationship between Callisthenes and Alexander. Callisthenes eventually left the king’s court as he had lost favor with Alexander. After Callisthenes fall from grace, he became increasingly politically isolated from

1872-442: The remaining members of Alexander’s court. Alexander continued to introduce more Persian recruits, further displeasing the remaining Macedonians in his court. During an incident during a royal boar hunt in which Hermolaus of Macedon , one of Alexander’s royal pages and Callisthenes former pupil, Hermolaus, broke royal protocol and assisted Alexander in killing the boar. For this Hermolaus was publicly humiliated by flogging as well as

1924-530: The removing of his horse. This led Hermolaus and several other royal pages to create a conspiracy to assassinate Alexander. Yet, the conspiracy was discovered, and the young nobles faced arrest, torture and interrogation. While under torture, Hermolaus implicated Callisthenes as a part of the plot against Alexander. Because of Callisthenes’ previous opposition to Alexander, as well as his previous role as Hermolaus’s instructor, Alexander found Callisthenes guilty of treason and ordered his subsequent arrest. Callisthenes

1976-410: The son of Zeus . According to Polybius, much of Callisthenes' military accounts were over-glorified to the point of impossibility. Polybius claims that Callisthenes’ descriptions of Alexander’s military are impossible and would not fit in the locations, such as the country outside of Cilicia , that Callisthenes describes. It contained many references to Homer’s Iliad and also described locations in

2028-490: The source of the Nile River . Although these theories later received pushback from Alexander the Great. The dramatic conflict between Alexander the Great and Callisthenes was a result of years of tensions between many of Alexander’s court members, including Callisthenes that came to a head. Throughout Alexander’s campaign, he acquired an interest in taking on Persian customs and aristocrats. By 328 BCE, Alexander had allowed

2080-472: The time of Callisthenes’ own execution. Deeds of Alexander or Praxeis Alexandrou (330 BCE) was biographical-style series of works detailing the campaign of Alexander the Great. Although copies of the work do not survive today, some knowledge of it can be inferred from references by other authors. The book was intended as propaganda and glorified Alexander the Great’s military achievements and claims to divinity as

2132-552: The time of the Ptolemies , but in its present form belongs to the 3rd century CE. The Latin translation for the text is usually attributed to Julius Valerius Alexander Polemius (early 4th century). The work has also been said to be authored by several other people beyond Callisthenes, including; Aesopus , Aristotle , Antisthenes , Onesicritus , and Arrian . There are also Syrian, Armenian, and Slavonic versions, in addition to four Greek versions (two in prose and two in verse) in

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2184-482: The work is dedicated to praising Alexander and upholding his authority as the king and his army penetrated further into Asia. While much of his time during the campaign was spent working on his account of the expedition. But, Callisthenes was also sent on scientific expeditions, to places such as Kush or Babylon . Callisthenes had an affinity for the natural sciences and is known to have written several scientific works, including astronomical diaries and his own theories for

2236-524: Was a historian of some repute before he began working with Alexander the Great. Callisthenes first met Alexander the Great, when Alexander began being tutored by Aristotle around the age of thirteen. Aristotle had been tasked by Philip II of Macedon to tutor the young Alexander in Mytilene. While both studying under Aristotle, Callisthenes and Alexander would have come to know each other as fellow students and pupils of Aristotle. Around 334 BCE, Callisthenes

2288-469: Was an encomium to Hermias of Atarneus , but by 334 BC, he had written a few works including a series on Greek history and antiquarian writings, such as a registry of competitors for the Pythian Games for which Aristotle and Callisthenes are thanked. Based on the fact that a reference by Diodorus Siculus mentions Callisthenes’ historical accounts of Greek history, it can be assumed that Callisthenes

2340-423: Was dated in the 3rd millennium BC. The houses were built by stone blocks and had one or two rooms. The pottery that was found was the typical of that period comprising monochrome ceramic vases. The end of this rural settlement was abrupt and is placed around the 1st millennium. The archaic city was built under a provincially urban plan and extended throughout the whole south hill. Two avenues were revealed along

2392-399: Was destroyed by Phillip II of Macedon, and such might have been looking to better himself in the eyes of Alexander and thus Phillip II’s court, in order to aid in its reconstruction. During this expedition, Callisthenes was tasked with being the official historian for the campaign. While he occupied this role, he compiled his narrative on the events that transpired during the campaign. Much of

2444-472: Was distraught and brought on his trusted friends, one of which being Callisthenes to provide counsel to the king after he killed Cleitus. By the next year Alexander’s fascination with Persian culture had only grown and in 327 BCE, he attempted to introduce the Persian servile ceremony of proskynesis . Callisthenes was sharply critical of Alexander’s new Persian practices. During a banquet held shortly before Alexander’s expedition left for India, Callisthenes gave

2496-503: Was executed for planning regicide . The son of hipparch Sopolis of Macedon , Hermolaus was one of the Macedonian youths drawn from sons of the aristocracy who, according to a custom instituted by Philip II of Macedon , attended Alexander the Great as pages. It was during the residence of the king at Bactra in the spring of 327 BC, that a circumstance occurred which led him, in conjunction with some of his fellow pages, to form

2548-417: Was invited to accompany Alexander the Great in his Asiatic expedition. There were many factors as to why Callisthenes chose to accompany Alexander. First, being that he had already established a relationship with Alexander during their time as students of Aristotle and as a historian and antiquarian might have appreciated a chance at traveling. Another potential reason is that Callisthenes’ birthplace of Olynthus

2600-400: Was known to have written about. As of now, there are no intact copies of Callisthenes’s works known to have survived. Olynthus Olynthus ( Ancient Greek : Ὄλυνθος Olynthos , named for the ὄλυνθος olunthos , "the fruit of the wild fig tree" ) is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice , Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at

2652-403: Was later found to have been plagiarized from another excavator, Mary Ross Ellingson . The excavation had uncovered more than five hectares of Olynthus and a portion of Mecyberna (the harbor of Olynthus). On the North Hill this hurried pace proved relatively harmless due to the simple stratigraphy of an area of the city occupied only for 84 years and subjected to a sudden, final destruction; but

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2704-483: Was subsequently thrown into prison where he died seven months later. There are several different accounts of how he died or was executed. Crucifixion is the method suggested by Ptolemy , but Chares of Mytilene and Aristobulus of Cassandreia both claim that Callisthenes died of natural causes while in prison. Callisthenes's death was commemorated in a special treatise ( Callisthenes or a Treatise on Grief ) by his friend Theophrastus , whose acquaintance he made during

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