Aristoxenus
Aristoxenus of Tarentum (Greek: Ἀριστόξενος; b. c. 375, fl. 335 BCE) was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musical treatise, Elements of Harmony (Greek: Ἁρμονικῶν στοιχείων; Latin: Elementa harmonica), survives incomplete, as well as some fragments concerning rhythm and meter. The Elements is the chief source of our knowledge of ancient Greek music.
Life
Aristoxenus was born at Tarentum, and was the son of a learned musician named Spintharus (otherwise Mnesias). He learned music from his father, and having then been instructed by Lamprus of Erythrae and Xenophilus the Pythagorean, he finally became a pupil of Aristotle, whom he appears to have rivaled in the variety of his studies. According to the Suda, he heaped insults on Aristotle after his death, because Aristotle had designated Theophrastus as the next head of the Peripatetic school, a position which Aristoxenus himself had coveted having achieved great distinction as a pupil of Aristotle. This story is, however, contradicted by Aristocles, who asserts that he never mentioned Aristotle but with the greatest respect. Nothing is known of his life after the time of Aristotles departure, apart from a comment in Elementa Harmonica concerning his works.
Aristoxenus (physician)
Aristoxenus (Gr. Ἀριστόξενος) was a Greek physician of Asia Minor who was quoted by Caelius Aurelianus. He was a pupil of Alexander Philalethes and contemporary of Demosthenes Philalethes, and must therefore have lived around the 1st century. He was a follower of the teachings of Herophilos, and studied at the celebrated Herophilean school at the village of Men-Carus, between Laodicea and Carura. He wrote a work Περὶ τῆς Ἡροφίλου Αἱρέσεως (On the Herophilean Sect, Latin: De Herophili Secta), of which the thirteenth book is quoted by Galen, but which is no longer extant.
References
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.
Podcasts:
