Talk:Diagoras of Melos

Error in one of the quotes?

"to which Diagoras replied that "there are nowhere any pictures of those who have been shipwrecked and drowned at sea." "

Doesnt make sense.

possibly

to which Diagoras replied that "but where are the pictures of those who prayed and that did drown at sea."

dp 00.21 gmt 1st nov 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Derryp (talk • contribs) 00:14, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

It does make sense. Diagoras is saying that (in more modern terms) "What about those people that weren't saved? Where were the Gods then?" selfworm^Talk) 21:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Catalographer (talk) 13:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Include?

Richard Janko once argued that the Derveni papyrus was written by Diagoras, though he now thinks otherwise [1] [2]. Is this worth mentioning? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.156.133.118 (talk) 00:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Removed picture

I've removed the picture supposedly showing the "Bust of Diagoras of Melos." [3]. It was uploaded on 3 July 2011 by Cpcolepeterson, whose one and only contribution to both Commons and Wikipedia was to upload this file and add it to the page. Absolutely no evidence was provided that it is supposed to be Diagoras, and to the best of my knowledge there are no ancient busts which have been identified as him. Pasicles (talk) 17:07, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

No reference here to one account stating that D.'s atheism may have been due to his apparent outrage at a rival poet having gotten away without any punishment for plagiarizing a Diagoras conceit. Does anyone know where this account originated, and is it from a dubious source? Or is its absence here merely an oversight? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.149.61.161 (talk) 01:25, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Ascertained the answer on this story of a rival poet: It comes from Sextus Empiricus (160 - 210 c.e.). Perhaps this story should be in the article after all. We already have here the crediting of Diagoras with the laws of Nicodorus in Mantineia. This latter story comes from Claudius Aelianus (175 - 235 c.e.), making him slightly later than S.E. So I suppose if we include this account about Nicodorus from C.A., we should include the story of a rival poet in S.E. as well. Thank you. Stone — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.149.61.161 (talk) 05:02, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Query: Is it possible to separate the tradition of Diagoras as a Democritus pupil from the notion that Diagoras became his pupil only after being rescued by Democritus from the subjugation of Melos? If these two halves of the story come from one and the same source and can't be separated, that is an important consideration. We may, then, have to abandon the notion of Democritus as his teacher altogether, because Aristophanes already mentions Diagoras as a significant figure in Athens nearly ten years before the subjugation of Melos (the capture happened c. 415 b.c.e., while Aristophanes' Clouds is c. 424 b.c.e., nearly ten years earlier). On the other hand, if there is an early source for Democritus as Diag.'s teacher that has no mention of ransom from the Melos capture at all, that would make sense, because Democritus was already a teacher by c. 435 b.c.e., roughly a decade before Aristophanes' Clouds, making it plausible that Diagoras would already be in Athens c. 424 b.c.e. Anyone know the answers to all this? Thanks. Stone — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.149.61.161 (talk) 05:44, 4 April 2012 (UTC)