Charmadas (Greek: Χαρμάδας; also Charmides (Χαρμίδης); 168/7 – 103/91 BC)[1] was a Greek Academic Skeptic philosopher and a disciple of Carneades at the Academy in Athens. He was famous for his elegant style.[2] Charmadas introduced the teaching of rhetoric into the Academy and is said to have had many students.[2] He was a pupil of Carneades for seven years (145–138 BC) and later he led his own school in the Ptolemaion, a gymnasium in Athens. He was from Alexandria[3] and seems to have lived there, before he went to Athens around 145 BC[4] He was an excellent rhetorician and famous for his outstanding memory and for his ability to memorize whole books and then recite them.[5] Like Philo of Larissa he seems to have pursued a more moderate philosophical scepticism.[6] Lucius Licinius Crassus and Marcus Antonius (orator) were his most prominent pupils. Furthermore, Philodemus preserved us the names of other pupils: Diodorus of Adramyttion, Apollodor of Tarsus, Heliodorus of Mallos, Phanostratus of Tralles and a certain Apollonius.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Dorandi 1999, p. 48.
  2. ^ a b Striker, Gisela (2015-12-22). "Charmadas". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1525. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  3. ^ Fleischer 2019, pp. 153–164.
  4. ^ Fleischer 2014, pp. 66–67.
  5. ^ Herwig Blum: Die antike Mnemotechnik, Hildesheim 1969, page. 119f.
  6. ^ Lévy 2005, pp. 62–68; Brittain 2001, p. 54, 213f., 312; Tarrant 1985, p. 37.
  7. ^ For the list of pupils preserved by Philodemus see Fleischer 2015, pp. 49–53.

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