Aristóphănes: of Athens, 444-380 B.C.; by far the greatest comic poet of antiquity. His comedy was of the ‘Old’, or personal-political type. Eleven of his plays are extant.
Arístŏphōn: painter, brother of Polygnotus (who fl. c. 420 B.C.).
Aristotle: of Stageira, but commonly domiciled in Athens or in Macedonia. Pupil of Plato and subsequently tutor of Alexander. Founder of the Peripatetic school, with its head-quarters in the Lyceum (q. v.). His whole tone of mind is strikingly unlike that of his teacher, being eminently precise, logical, and scientific. His writing is without literary charm. He aimed at sound and comprehensive knowledge as the basis of right principles in society, conduct, and the arts (384-322 B.C.).
Asclépius: (= Aesculapius), the Greek ‘hero’ of medicine, converted by legend into a son of Apollo and ultimately into a god.
Atreides (Atrídes): = ‘son of Atreus’, a title of Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Áttălus (brother of Eumenes): Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, allied with the Romans in the middle of the second century B.C. Philopoemen was his controlling minister.
Bacchýlȋdes: lyric poet of Ceos, fl. c. 470 B.C., principally at the court of Hiero of Syracuse. In general he may be called a smoother and weaker Pindar.
Bagóas: a handsome young eunuch of Darius, afterwards taken into the service and affections of Alexander.
Báthycles: an artist in metal-work, of uncertain date, but probably to be placed in the early part of the age of the Seven Sages.
Bato: comic poet of Athens, fl. c. 280 B.C.; satirized philosophers.