Alexarchus of Macedon

4th and 3rd-century BC Greek writer

Alexarchus or Alexarch (Greek: Ἀλέξαρχος) was an Ancient Macedonian scholar and officer, son of Antipater and brother of Cassander.[1] He lived around 350 to 290 BC. He is mentioned as the founder of a utopian town called Ouranopolis, in Chalcidice. Here he is said to have introduced a number of neologisms, which, though very expressive, appear to have been regarded as slang or pedantic.[2][3]

Glossary

  • ἀπύτης aputes <caller> for keryx herald (Attic ἠπύω êpuô, Doric and Arcadian apuô, call to)
  • ἀργυρὶς argyris <silver cup> for drachma
  • βροτοκέρτης brotokertes <mortal-shaver> for koureus barber
  • ἡμεροτροφὶς hemerotrophis <daily-food> for choinix dry measure
  • ὀρθροβόας orthroboas <morning-shouter> for alektor, alektryon rooster

References

  1. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alexarchus (1)". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 128.
  2. ^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae iii. p. 98
  3. ^ Gera, Deborah Levine (2003). Ancient Greek ideas on speech, language, and civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-19-925616-0.

Sources