A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PHILOCH1ORUS. PHILOCHORUS. 299
PHILO'CHARES, a distinguished painter, as i his native city. We are not, however, left to mere
is evident from the way in which he is mentioned probability, in order to refute Suidas; for Philoiby Pliny, who says that Augustus fixed in the chorus himself relates that he held the office of
walls of his Curia two pictures, the one an en- FEpoo'KCroe at Athens ill B. C. 306, in which year
caustic by Nicias, the other a painting by Philo- he interpreted a portent that appeared in the Acrochares, representing a father and his youthful son, polis (Dionys. Deinlarch. c. 3); and he must conin so admirable a manner, that the family likeness sequently lhave been of mature age as early as that
was perfectly preserved, though the difference of year. It would therefore appear that Suidas, with
age was clearly marked; over the heads of the his usual carelessness, reversed the respective ages
figures was an eagle, with a serpent in its claws. of Philochorus and Eratosthenes. The latter part
The picture bore an inscription by the artist him- of the account of Suidas, namely that Philochorns
self, declaring that it was his painting: at least, was put to death by Antigonus, there is no reason
so we understand the words, " Philochares hoc to question. Suidas says that the Af#lis of PhilosznUM opus esse testatus est." The figures also seem chorus came down to Antiochus Theos, who began
to have had their names inscribed near them: for to reign B. c. 261. Now it was about this time
Pliny remarks on this example of the wondrous that Antigonus Gonatas took possession of Athens,
power of art, that Glaucion and his son Aristippus, which had been abetted in its opposition to the
persons otherwise utterly obscure, should be gazed Macedonian king by Ptolemy Philadelphus; and it
upon for so many ages by the Roman senate and would, therefore, appear that Philochorus, who had
people. It is worthy of notice that the other been in favour of Philadelphus, was killed shortly
picture in the Curia was also inscribed with the afterwards, at the instigation of Gonatas. We may
artist's name - " Vicics scripsit se inussisse." accordingly safely place the active life of Philo(Plin. H. N. xxxv. 4. s. I1(.) chorus from B. C. 306 to B. c. 260.
The modern writers on art suppose that this These few facts are all that we know of the life
Philochares was the same person as the brother of of Philochorus, but they are sufficient to show that
Aeschines, of whose artistic performances Demos- he was a person of some importairce at Athens.
thenes speaks contemptuously, but whom Ulpian He seems to have been anxious to maintain the inranks with the most distinguished painters. If so, dependence of Athens against the Macedonian
he was alive in a. c. 343, at the time when Demo- kings, but fell a victim in the attempt. The folsthenes refers to him. (Demosth. de Pals. Leqat. p. lowing is a list of his numerous works, many of
329, e. ~ 237, Bekker; Ulpian, ad Demnostb. p. which are mentioned only by Suidas.
386. c.; Sillig. s. v.; Hirt, G(esch. d. bild. IKinste, I.'AT0tis, also called'ATOeiFs and'IeYoplal, conp. 261.) [P. S.] sisted of seventeen books, and related the history
PHILOCHA'RIDAS ('stoxaplias), a Lace- of Attica, from the earliest times to the reign of
daemonian of distinction, the son of Eryxidaidas. Antiochus Theos. The first two books treated of
He was one of the delegates who ratified the year's the mythical period, and gave a very minute
truce between the hostile confederacies of the account of all matters relating to the worship of the
Athenians and Peloponnesians in B. c. 423. In gods. The real history of the country is given in
B. c. 421 be was again one of the Peloponnesians the last fifteen books, of which the first four (iii.who took the oaths to the general peace, and was vi.) comprised the period down to his own time,
one of the ambassadors sent to the countries on while the remaining eleven (vii.-xvii.) gave a
the borders of Thrace, to see after the fulfilment minute account of the times in which he lived
of the terms of the treaty. A little later lie was (B. c. 319-261). Biickh conjectures, with much
one of those who took the oaths to the separate probability, that the first six books originally formed
treaty between the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, a distinct worlk, and appeared before the remaining
and in B. C. 420 was one of the ambassadors who eleven. Philochorus seems to have been a diligent
were sent to Athens to counteract the negotiations and accurate writer, and is frequently referred to
of the Argives, and were tricked by Alcibiades. by the scholiasts, lexicographers, as well as other
(T'lhuc. iv. 119, v. 19, 21. 24, 44.) [C. P. M.] later authors. The industry of modern scholars
PHILO'CHORUS (,tolxXopos), a celebrated has collected from these sources one hundred and
Athenian writer, chiefly known by his Atthis, or fifty-five distinct fragments of his work, many of
work on the legends, antiquities, and history of them of considerable length, and supplying sufficiernt
Attica. According to Suidas (s. v.) Philochlorus information to enable us to make out with tolerable
was an Athenian, the son of Cycnus, a seer and a certainty the subjects contained ill each book.
diviner (gdMrsts Kal lEpooCro'ros); his wife was Ar- These fragments are given in the works referred to
chestrate; he was a contemporary of Eratostlhenes, at the close of this article. Philochorus paid parbut the latter was an old man, when Philochorus ticular attention to chronology. From the time
was still young; he was put to death at the insti- that archons succeeded to kings at Athens, he comgation of Antigonus, because he was accused of menced the history of every year with the name
being favourable to Ptolemy. But this statement of of the archon, and then narrated the events of that
Suidas is not correct, so far as it relates to the date of year, so that his work was in the form of annals.
Philochorus, as has been shown by several modern It appears from those passages in which his own
writers. Antigonus Doson died B. C. 220; while words are preserved, that his style was clear and
Eratosthenes, who died about B. c. 196 at the age of simple.
eighty, was only fifty-six at the death of the above- 2.'EmrrTot7 7'rs aldas'Ar-OL3os. Wre likewise
mentioned king: it therefore follows, if we place learn from Suidas that an epitome of the larger
credit in Suidas, that Philochorus must have been work was also made by Asinius Pollio Tralliainus,
put to death, when he was still a young main, a a contemporary of Pompeius Magnus (Suid. s. v.
fact which is excessively improbable, as well on Iofow'wv). Vossius has conjectured (De HIistol.
account of the very numerous works which he corm- Gaecis, p. 1 97, ed. lVestermann), with sonme
posed, as of the important office which he held in probability, that the epitome which Philochorus