Philostratus of Lemnos (Ancient Greek:Φιλόστρατος ὁ Λήμνιος; c. 190 – c. 230 AD), also known asPhilostratus the Elder to distinguish him fromPhilostratus the Younger who was also fromLemnos, was a Greeksophist of theRoman imperial period. He was probably a nephew of the sophistPhilostratus of Athens, and is credited with two books formerly attributed to his uncle.
Eikones (Εἰκόνες,Images orImagines) is ostensibly a description of 64 pictures in aNeapolitan gallery.Goethe,Welcker,Brunn,E. Bertrand andHelbig, among others, have held that the descriptions are of actually existing works of art, whileHeyne andFriederichs deny this. In any case they are interesting as showing the way in which ancient artists treated mythological and other subjects, and are written with artistic knowledge and in attractive language. A second series ofImagines was produced by hisgrandson.
Philostratus the Younger certainly wrote the 2nd series ofEikones and in the foreword, thanked Philostratus the Elder for the 1st series[1] so eventually attributed to him instead of Philostratus of Athens as previously attributed.
Heroicus, orOn Heroes, is a popular disquisition on the heroes of theTrojan War. Written in the form of a conversation between aThracian vine-dresser on the shore of theHellespont and aPhoenician merchant who derives his knowledge from the heroProtesilaus,Palamedes is exalted at the expense ofOdysseus, andHomer's unfairness to him is attacked. It has been suggested that Philostratus is here describing a series of heroic paintings in the palace ofJulia Domna.
The workHeroicus traditionally attributed to Philostratus of Athens, but is now more commonly attributed to this Philostratus.[citation needed]
...τὠμῷ ὁμωνύμῳ τε καὶ μητροπάτορι...
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Philostratus".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 445. GreekWikisource has original text related to this article:Φιλόστρατος ο πρεσβύτερος