Pamphilus
PAMPHILUS - three noted ancients by this name:
(1) - PAMPHILUS, (1st century a.d.), a Greek grammarian, of the school of Aristarchus. He was the author of a comprehensive lexicon, in 95 books, of foreign or obscure words (7X^07x01 tjtoi Xejets), the idea of which was credited to another grammarian, Zopyrion, himself the compiler of the first four books. The work itself is lost, but an epitome by Diogenianus (2nd century) 1 formed the basis of the lexicon of Hesychius. A similar compilation, called Aei/.iwi' (" meadow "; cf. the Praia of Suetonius) from its varied contents, dealing chiefly with mythological marvels, was probably a supplement to the lexicon, although some scholars identify them. PamphOus was one of the chief authorities used by Athenaeus in the Deipnosophists. Suidas assigns to another PamphUus, simply described as " a philosopher," a number of works, some of which were probably by 1 PamphUus the grammarian.
See G. Thilo in Ersch and Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopadie, | M. Schmidt, appendix to his edition of Hesychius, (1862) vol. iv. ; A. Westermann in Pauly's Real-encyclopddie (1848).
(2) - PAMPHILUS, an eminent promoter of learning in the early church, is said to have been born, of good family, in Phoenicia ] (Berytus?) in the latter half of the 3rd century. After studying j at Alexandria under Pierius, the disciple of Origen, he was ordained presbyter at Caesarea in Palestine. There he estab- ^ hshed a theological school, and warmly encouraged students; he also founded, or at least largely extended, the great library I to which Eusebius and Jerome were afterwards so much indebted. ' He was very zealous in the transcription and distribution of ! copies of Scripture and of the works of various Christian writers, especially of Origen; the copy of the complete works of the lastnamed in the library of Caesarea was chiefly in the handwriting of Pamphilus himself. At the outbreak of the persecution under Maximin, Pamphilus was thrown into prison (a.d. 307) and there, along with his attached friend and pupil Euscbius (sometimes distinguished as Eusebius I-'amphili), he composed an Apology for Origcn, in five books, to which a sixth was afterwards added by Euscbius. He was put to death in 309 by Firmilian, prefect of Caesarea.
Only the first book of the Apology of Pamphilus is extant, and that but in an imperfect Latin translation by Rufinus. It is printed in Lommatzsch's edition of Origon, vol. xxiv., and in Routh, Kfl. sac. iv. 339 (cf. iii. 487,500, fragments). Photius (Codex 118) gives a short survey of the whole. Jerome mentions Letters to friends, and there may have been other works. Eusebius' memoir of Pamphilus has not survived. See E. Preuschen in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopddie, and A. Harnack, Altchristl. Litteraturgesch. I. 543.
(3) - PAMPHILUS, a Greek painter of the 4th century, of the school of Sicyon. He was an academic artist, noted for accurate drawing, and obtained such a reputation that not only could he charge his pupils great sums, but he was also successful in introducing drawing in Greece as a necessary part of liberal education.
Pamphilus was a native of Amphipolis (Smew. Affiles), but he studied his art under Eupompus of S.ry— and succeeded in establishing the school which his ant; founded. Kupompus was a native of Sicyon and the four-o^ of the Sicyoman school of painting. He introduced a new style of art, and added a third, the Sicyonic, to the uil tW only acknowledged two distinct styles of painting. ki:.-w. previously as the Helbdic and the Asiatic, but sub*equeoi> to Eupompus as the Attic and the Ionic. These tw» style*, with the Sicyonic, henceforth formed the three charactcnttc styles of Grecian painting. (Pliny, xxxv. 10, 36.) Thronft his pupil Pamphilus, Eupompus established those princ.»-r> of art which Euphranor. Apelles, Protogcnes, and Atuij^=« successfully developed.
The characteristics of the Sicyonic school were, a stnrSzx attention to dramatic truth of composition, and a finer and a more systematic style of design. The leading principle* .. Eupompus wore, that man should bo represented a* :• actually appears, not as he really it, and that nature lien*/ was to be imitated, not an artist. (Pliny, xxxiv. s, 1* > Such was thu answer which Eupompu* gave to Lvaopaa, upon being asked by him which of his predecessors he ibould imitate. Pamphilus succeeded Eupornpus in the school of Sicyon, and taught his principles to Apelles. He was, says Pliny (xxxv. 10, 36), the first painter who was skilled in all the sciences,' omnibus Uteris cruditus,' particularly arithmetic and geometry, without which he denied that art could be perfected. By arithmetic and geometry we must understand those principles of the art which can be reduced to rule: by arithmetic, the system of the construction and the proportions of the parts of the human body; by geometry, perspective and optics, at least so much of them as is necessary to give a correct representation of and a proper balance to the figure. Flaxraan properly explains the terms by the rules of proportion and motion; he remarks,' How geometry and arithmetic were applied to the study of the human figure, Vitruvius informs us from the writings of Greek artists, perhaps from those of Pamphilus himself: "a man,'' says he, "may bo so placed witli his arms and legs extended, that his navel being made the centre, a circle can be drawn round touching the extremities of his fingers and toes. In the like manner a man standing upright, with his arms extended, is enclosed in a square the extreme extent of his arms being equal to his height."' Flaxman remarks also, that 'it is impossible to see the numerous figures springing, jumping, dancing, and falling in tho Herculaneum paintings on the painted vases, and the antique basso-relievos, without being assured that the painters and sculptors must hare employed geometrical figures to determine the degrees of curvature in the body, and angular or rectilinear extent of the limbs, and to fix the centre of gravity.'
Such was the authority of Pamphilus, says Pliny (xxxv. 10, 36). that chiefly through his influence, first in Sicyon and then throughout all Greece, noble youth were taught the art of drawing before all others; it was considered amongst the first of liberal arts, and was practised exclusively by the free-born, for there was a law prohibiting all slaves the use of the oestrum or graphis (ypafic).
In this school of Pamphilus, the most famous of all the schools of antient painting, the progressive courses of study occupied the long period of ten years, comprehending instruction in drawing, 'arithmetic,'geometry, anatomy, and painting in its different branches. The fee of admission was no less than a latent (Pliny, xxxv, 10, 36); a large fee, for the Attic talent, which is most probably here alluded to, was about 216/. sterling. Pliny mentions that Apelles and Melanthius both paid this fee. Apelles studied under Ephorus of Epbesus before he entered the school of Pamphilus at Sicyon. Pausias of Sicyon also studied encaustic under Pamphilus, but Pliny does not inform us whether he belonged to his school and paid the above-mentioned fee.
Pamphilus, like bis master Eupornpus, seems to have been occupied principally with the theory of art and with teaching, for we have very scanty notices of his works. Yet he and his pupil Melanthius, according to Quintilian (xii. 10), were the most renowned amongst the Greeks for composition. We have accounts of only four of his paintings, the 'HeraclidaV mentioned by Aristophanes (Plutut, 385), and three others mentioned by Pliny—the Battle of Phlius and Victory of the Athenians, Ulysses on the Raft, and a relationship, 'cognatio,' probably a family portrait; these pictures were all conspicuous for the scientific arrangement of their parts, and their subjects certainly afford good materials for fine composition.
The period of Pamphilus is sufficiently fixed by the circumstance of his having taught Apelles, and he consequently flourished somewhat before and about the time of Philip 1L of Macedon, from B.C. 388 to about B.C. 348. He left writings upon the arts, but they have unfortunately suffered the common fate of the writings of every other antient artist He wrote on painting and famous painters.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
Note - this article incorporates content from The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1840)
