Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/134

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116
ALEXANDER
ALEXANDER

musicians is mentioned by Plutarch (De Mus. 5), and there is every probability that Alexander Polyhistor is also the author of the work Διαδοχαί Φιλοσόφων which seems to be the groundwork of Diogenes Laertius. [ALEXANDER LYCHNUS.] A work on the symbols of the Pythagoreans is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom. i. p. 131) and Cyrillus (ad v. Julian. ix. p. 133). He also wrote a history of Judaea, of which a considerable fragment is preserved in Eusebius. (Praep. Evang. 9.17; comp. Clem. Alexand. Strom. i. p 143 ; Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἰουδαία.) A history of Rome in five books is mentioned by Suidas, and a few fragments of it are preserved in Servius. (Ad Aen. vii.330, x.388.) A complete list of all the known titles of the works of Alexander Polyhistor is given in Vossius, De Hist. Graec. p. 187, &c., ed. Westermann. [L. S.]


ALEXANDER I. II., king of Egypt. [PTOLEMAEUS.]

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος) I., king of EPIRUS, was the son of Neoptolemus and brother of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. He came at an early age to the court of Philip of Macedonia, and after the Grecian fashion became the object of his attachment. Philip in requital made him king of Epirus, after dethroning his cousin Aeacides. When Olympias was repudiated by her husband, she went to her brother, and endeavoured to induce him to make war on Philip. Philip, however, declined the contest, and formed a second alliance with him by giving him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. (B. C. 336.) At the wedding Philip was assassinated by Pausanias. In B. C. 332, Alexander, at the request of the Tarentines, crossed over into Italy, to aid them against the Lucanians and Bruttii. After a victory over the Samnites and Lucanians near Paestum he made a treaty with the Romans. Success still followed his arms. He took Heraclea and Consentia from the Lucanians, and Terina and Sipontum from the Bruttii. But in B. C. 326, through the treachery of some Lucanian exiles, he was compelled to engage under unfavourable circumstances near Pandosia, on the banks of the Acheron, and fell by the hand of one of the exiles, as he was crossing the river; thus accomplishing the prophecy of the oracle of Dodona, which had bidden him beware of Pandosia and the Acheron. He left a son, Neoptolemus, and a daughter, Cadmea. (Justin, 8.6, 9.6, 7, 12.2, 17.3, 18.1, 23.1 ; Liv. 8.3, 17, 24; Diod. 16.72.) The head on the annexed coin of Alexander I. represents that of Jupiter. [C. P. M.]

ALEXANDER II., king of EPIRUS, was the son of Pyrrhus and Lanassa, the daughter of the Sicilian tyrant Agathocles. He succeeded his father in B. C. 272, and continued the war which his father had begun with Antigonus Gonatas, whom he succeeded in driving from the kingdom of Macedon. He was, however, dispossessed of both Macedon and Epirus by Demetrius, the son of Antigonus; upon which he took refuge amongst the Acarnanians. By their assistance and that of his own subjects, who entertained a great attachment for him, he recovered Epirus. It appears that he was in alliance with the Aetolians. He married his sister Olympias, by whom he had two sons, Pyrrhus and Ptolemaeus, and a daughter, Phthia. On the death of Alexander, Olympias assumed the regency on behalf of her sons, and married Phthia to Demetrius. There are extant silver and copper coins of this king. The former bear a youthful head covered with the skin of an elephant's head, as appears in the one figured below. The reverse represents Pallas holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, and before her stands an eagle on a thunderbolt. (Justin, 17.1, 26.2, 3, 28.1; Plb. 2.45, 9.34; Plut. Pyrrh. 9.) [C. P. M.]

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), a Greek GRAMMARIAN, who is mentioned among the instructors of the emperor M. Antoninus. (Capitol. M. Ant. 2; M. Antonin. i.10.) We still possess a λόγος ἐπιτάφιος pronounced upon him by the rhetorician Aristeides. (Vol. i. Orat. xii. p. 142, &c.) [L. S.]

ALEXANDER, son of Herod. [HERODES.]

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος). 1. Bishop of HIERAPOLIS in Phrygia, flourished A.D. 253. He was the author of a book entitled, On the new things introduced by Christ into the world τί καινὸν εἰσήνεγκε Χριστός εἰς τὸν κόσμον. κεφ. θ; not extant. (Suid.)

2. Bishop of Hierapolis, A.D. 431. He was sent by John, bishop of Antioch, to advocate the cause of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus. His hostility to St. Cyril was such, that he openly charged him with Apollinaranism, and rejected the communion of John, Theodoret, and the other Eastern bishops, on their reconciliation with him. He appealed to the pope, but was rejected, and was at last banished by the emperor to Famothis in Egypt. Twenty-three letters of his are extant in Latin in the Synodicon adversus Tragoediam Irenaei ap. Novam Collectionem Conciliorum à Baluzio, p. 670, &c. Paris, 1683. [A. J. C.]

ALEXANDER (Ἀλέξανδρος), ST., HIEROSOLYMITANUS, a disciple, first, of Pantaenus, then of St. Clement, at Alexandria, where he became acquainted with Origen, (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 6.14,) was bishop of Flaviopolis, (Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. 3.415,) in Cappadocia. (S. Hier. Vir. Ill. § 62.) In the persecution under Severus he was thrown into prison, (circ. A. D. 204, Euseb. 6.11,) where he remained till Asclepiades succeeded Serapion at Antioch, A. D. 211, the beginning of Caracalla's reign. (See [α] the Epistle St. Alexander sent to the Antiochenes by St. Clement of Alexandria, Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi.11.) Eusebius re-