(Ἀντίδωρος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
On the first day of fighting at ARTEMISIUM (480 BCE), Antidorus of LEMNOS deserted to the Greek side, alone of the Greeks fighting for PERSIA; Herodotus reports that the Athenians awarded him land on the ISLAND of SALAMIS as thanks (8.11.3). Presumably this means Antidorus became an Athenian citizen as well (Figueira 1991, 254), though he may already have had some status at ATHENS given their previous possession of Lemnos after Miltiades’ CONQUEST of it (6.136–40). When the IONIAN REVOLT failed, the island reverted to Persian control. Antidorus fought on the Greek side again at the Battle of Salamis (8.82.2).
SEE ALSO: Miltiades the Younger; Naval Warfare
REFERENCES
1 Figueira, Thomas J. 1991. Athens and Aigina in the Age of Imperial Colonization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Moggi, Mauro. 1978. “L’insedimento a Salamina di Antidoro Lemnio e degli uccisori di Mirrina.” ASNP ser. 3 vol. 8: 1301–11.
ANTIOCHUS (Ἀντίοχος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of Teisamenus and HAGIAS, of ELIS (9.33.1). Teisamenus was the most successful seer of his time and a member of the IAMIDAE family; since the practice of seercraft was often hereditary, Antiochus was presumably a seer as well. Nothing more is known of him.
SEE ALSO: Divination; Teisamenus son of Antiochus
FURTHER READING
1 Flower, Michael A. 2008. The Seer in Ancient Greece, 37–47. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
ANTIPATER (Ἀντίπατρος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Prominent citizen of the ISLAND of THASOS in the northern AEGEAN. Antipater was chosen to organize the feeding of XERXES’ invasion force as it marched through Thasian territory on the mainland (the Thasian peraia) in 480 BCE; the total expense was 400 TALENTS of SILVER (7.118). The name “Antipater” was extremely common in ancient Greece; Antipater’s father, ORGEUS, is attested in a contemporary inscription.
SEE ALSO: Aristocracy; Food; Persian Wars; Wealth and Poverty
FURTHER READING
1 Archibald, Zosia Halina. 2013. Ancient Economies of the Northern Aegean: Fifth to First Centuries BC, 124. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Vannicelli, Pietro, and Aldo Corcella, eds. 2017. Erodoto. Le Storie, libro VII: Serse e Leonida, 434. Milan: Mondadori.
ANTIPHEMUS (Ἀντίϕημος, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Herodotus names Antiphemus (and the Lindians) from RHODES as the founder of the Greek city of GELA on SICILY (7.153.1). Antiphemus’ role is attested by other authors (Thuc. 6.4.3; Paus. 8.46.2; Higbie 2003, 105–6), and an INSCRIPTION on a cup from Gela indicates that he was receiving hero cult in the early fifth century BCE (Arena 2002, 35–36 (no. 27): “Mnasithales dedicates [this] to Antiphemus”).
SEE ALSO: Colonization; Heroes and Hero Cult; Lindus
REFERENCES
1 Arena, Renato, ed. 2002. Iscrizioni greche arcaiche di Sicilia e Magna Grecia, II: Iscrizioni di Gela e di Agrigento. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.
2 Higbie, Carolyn. 2003. The Lindian Chronicle and the Greek Creation of Their Past. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ANTS, GIANT
KLAUS KARTTUNEN
University of Helsinki
The main part of Herodotus’ excursus on INDIA is the account of the ferocious gold‐digging giant ants, as told by Persians (3.102–5). These ants (μύρμηκες) are smaller than DOGS but larger than foxes and live in a DESERT north of India. The Indians living near BACTRIA undertake an expedition to rob the gold‐sand dug up by them, which they use to pay their TRIBUTE to the Persian Empire. The account can be compared with the gold‐guarding GRIFFINS of the far north (3.116.1; 4.27) and has some parallels in Chinese tradition. More important is that ant‐gold or GOLD dug by ants is also found in Indian tradition (Mahābhārata, Buddhist sources, etc.: see von Hinüber 1985, 1123–24). Ant stories and ant gold are also known in Tibet and Mongolia (Laufer 1908), but the sources are late and could have Indian or western origins. A little more than a century after Herodotus, Megasthenes (see BNJ 715 F23) seems to locate the ants in Dardistan (northern Pakistan), but this tradition may be independent of Herodotus. They are also mentioned quite often in later literature—as late as 1786 it was still suggested that they were really living in some unknown corner of Central Asia.
A number of theories have been proposed as explanation, but few seem convincing. The Tibetan miners of Schiern (1873) can be put aside as can badgers, leopards, and pangolins, not to speak of the fantastic combinations of characteristics of two animals and of “ant‐like” gold grains. The old marmot theory, proposed as early as Malte‐Brun (1819, 380–81), has surfaced again and again (e.g., Peissel 1984) and seems to be the most popular, but it is not clear how peaceful marmots were turned into ferocious ants. The most reasonable explanation is perhaps given by Tarn (1951, 106–8; see further Karttunen 1989, 171–76), who saw it as a story invented by traders bringing gold from Siberia or somewhere else in order to hide its real origin.
The gold‐digging ants created a lasting tradition. Nearchus (BNJ 133 F8) claimed to have seen their skins during the Indian campaign of Alexander III of Macedon (329–327 BCE). Pliny the Elder (HN 11.111) had seen their horns brought to the West. Pomponius Mela, Lucian, and Aelian knew them. Some authors (SOPHOCLES, Agatharchides, Solinus) located them in ETHIOPIA.
SEE ALSO: Extremes; Reliability; Trade
REFERENCES
1 Karttunen, Klaus. 1989. India in Early Greek Literature. Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society.
2 Laufer, Berthold. 1908. “Die Sage von den goldgrabenden Ameisen.” T’oung Pao 2:9: 429–52.
3 Malte‐Brun. 1819. “Mémoire sur l’Inde Septentrionale d’Hérodote et de Ctésias comparée au Petit‐Tibet des modernes.” Nouvelles Annales
