Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 1.2.48

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter

← Previous Next →

[48] And lest it should be thought that he had acquired Salamis by force only and not of right, he opened certain graves and showed that the dead were buried with their faces to the east, as was the custom of burial among the Athenians; further, that the tombs themselves faced the east,¹ and that the inscriptions graven upon them named the deceased by their demes, which is a style peculiar to Athens. Some authors assert that in Homer’s catalogue of the ships after the line²:

Ajax twelve ships from Salamis commands,

Solon inserted one of his own:

And fixed their station next the Athenian bands.

Vitae philosophorum. Diogenes Laertius. R. D. Hicks (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1925.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access.

Current edition Perseus

Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.)

Editions (1)

Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Perseus (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.) — 1.2.48 focus

[48] ἵνα δὲ μὴ δοκοίη βίᾳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίκῃ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα κεκτῆσθαι, ἀνασκάψας τινὰς τάφους ἔδειξε τοὺς νεκροὺς πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἐστραμμένους, ὡς ἦν ἔθος θάπτειν Ἀθηναίοις· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς τάφους πρὸς ἕω βλέποντας καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δήμων τοὺς χρηματισμοὺς ἐγκεχαραγμένους, ὅπερ ἦν ἴδιον Ἀθηναίων. ἔνιοι δέ φασι καὶ ἐγγράψαι αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν κατάλογον τοῦ Ὁμήρου μετὰ τὸν

Αἴας δʼ ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος ἄγεν δυοκαίδεκα νῆας—

στῆσε δʼ ἄγων, ἵνʼ Ἀθηναίων ἵσταντο φάλαγγες.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. If these words are pressed, they contradict the precise statement in Plutarch’s Life of Solon (c. 10) that the Athenians buried their dead to face the setting sun; cf. Aelian, Var. Hist. v. 14. The Mycenaean graves with two exceptions showed the dead with their heads to the east and their feet to the west. Sir W. Ridgeway ( Early Age of Greece, c. 7) assumes that Plutarch and Aelian are right and Diogenes either misktaken or inaccurate in his mode of expression. A view has been put forward that there was no uniform orientation in early times (see H. J. Rose, Classical Review, xxxiv. p. 141 sq.).

2. Il. ii. 557.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 1.2.48

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers