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Longinus, c.213–273, Greek rhetorician and philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Longinus (Cassius Longinus), c.213–273, Greek rhetorician and philosopher of the Neoplatonic school. He taught rhetoric at Athens. He later became counselor to Queen Zenobia of Palmyra; when the ant...

Longinus, fl. 1st cent.? a.d., Greek literary critic

(Encyclopedia)Longinus lŏnjīˈnəs [key], fl. 1st cent.? a.d., Greek literary critic; writer of the famous treatise On the Sublime. Nothing is known of his life, and for a long time his work was attributed to Cas...

Porphyry, Greek scholar

(Encyclopedia)Porphyry pôrˈfĭrē [key], c.232–c.304, Greek scholar and Neoplatonic philosopher. He studied rhetoric under Cassius Longinus and philosophy under Plotinus. He later lectured in Rome on the philos...

philosopher's stone

(Encyclopedia)philosopher's stone: see alchemy. ...

Zoilus

(Encyclopedia)Zoilus zōˈĭləs [key], c.400–c.320 b.c., Greek rhetorician and philosopher of Amphipolis. He is called Homeromastix [scourge of Homer], because of his denunciations of Homer as a purveyor of fabl...

Johnson, Samuel, American clergyman, educator, and philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Samuel, 1696–1772, American clergyman, educator, and philosopher, b. Guilford, Conn., grad. Collegiate School (now Yale), 1714; father of William Samuel Johnson. He became a Congregationali...

Seneca, the elder, c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer

(Encyclopedia)Seneca, the elder (Lucius, or Marcus, Annaeus Seneca) lo͞oˈshəs, märˈkəs ənēˈəs sĕnˈəkə [key], c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spa...

Bacon, Francis, English philosopher and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Qu...

Greek language

(Encyclopedia)Greek language, member of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). It is the language of one of the major civilizations of the world and of one of the greatest literatures of all tim...

Timotheus , Greek poet and musician

(Encyclopedia)Timotheus tĭmōˈthēəs [key], c.450–c.357 b.c., Greek poet and musician of Miletus. An innovator in music, he added a string to the kithara. Fragments of his dithyrambs and nomes remain. Euripide...