View source for Clitomachus (philosopher)

{{Short description|2nd-century BC Greek academic skeptic philosopher}}

{{Infobox philosopher
|birth_name= ''Hasdrubal (Ἀσδρούβας)''
|birth_place=[[Carthage]]
|influences=[[Carneades]]
|birth_date={{circa|186 B.C.}}
|death_date={{circa|110 B.C.}}
|death_place=[[Athens]]
|native_name=Κλειτόμαχος
|influenced=[[Philo of Larissa]], [[Cicero]]
|school_tradition=[[Academic skepticism]]
|institutions=[[Platonic Academy|Academy]] ([[scholarch]])
}}
'''Clitomachus''' or '''Cleitomachus''' ({{langx|grc|Κλειτόμαχος}}, ''Kleitómakhos''; 187/6–110/9{{nbsp}}BC{{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=49}}) was a [[Greeks|Greek]] philosopher, originally from [[Carthage]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cleitomachus {{!}} Greek philosopher|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cleitomachus|access-date=2021-09-11|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> who came to [[Athens]] in 163/2{{nbsp}}BC{{efn|Tiziano Dorandi (1999) however, writes that he "had reached his fortieth year when he went to Athens",{{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=33}} but this is, according to Woldemar Görler (1994), not trustworthy.{{sfn|Görler|1994|pp=898–914}} }} and studied [[philosophy]] under [[Carneades]]. He became head of the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]] around 127/6{{nbsp}}BC. He was an [[Academic skepticism|Academic skeptic]] like his master. Nothing survives of his writings, which were dedicated to making known the views of Carneades, but [[Cicero]] made use of them for some of his works.

==Life==
Clitomachus was born in [[Carthage]] in 187/6{{nbsp}}BC as '''Hasdrubal''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀσδρούβας}}, ''Hasdroúbas''; {{langx|xpu|𐤏𐤆𐤓{{popdf}}𐤁{{popdf}}𐤏𐤋{{popdf}}}},{{sfnp|Huss|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NvEK7kc3qnQC&pg=PA566 566]}} ''ʿAzrubaʿal'', "Help of [[Baal]]"). He came to [[Athens]] in 163/2 BC, when he was about 24 years old.{{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=33}} There he became connected with the founder of the New Academy, the philosopher [[Carneades]], under whose guidance he rose to be one of the most distinguished disciples of this school; but he also studied at the same time the philosophy of the [[Stoics]] and [[Peripatetics]]. In 127/6 BC, two years after the death of Carneades, he became the effective head ([[scholarch]]) of the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]].<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Clitomachus|volume=6|page=531}}</ref> He continued to teach at Athens till as late as 111 BC, as [[Lucius Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] heard him in that year.<ref>Cicero, ''de Oratore'', i. 11.</ref> He died in 110/09 BC, and was succeeded as scholarch by [[Philo of Larissa]].

==Writings==
Of his works, which amounted to 400 books<ref>{{cite LotEP|chapter=Clitomachus|§=67}}</ref> only a few titles are preserved. His main object in writing them was to make known the philosophy of his master [[Carneades]], from whose views he never dissented. Clitomachus continued to reside at Athens till the end of his life; but he continued to cherish a strong affection for his native country, and when [[Carthage]] was [[Siege of Carthage (Third Punic War)|captured and destroyed]] in 146 BC, he wrote a work to console his unfortunate countrymen.<ref name="EB1911"/> This work, which [[Cicero]] says he had read, was taken from a discourse of Carneades, and was intended to exhibit the consolation which philosophy supplies even under the greatest calamities.<ref>Cicero, ''Tusculanae Quaestione'', iii. 22.</ref>  His work was highly regarded by Cicero,<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'', ii. 6, 31.</ref> who based parts of his ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'', ''[[De Divinatione]]'' and ''[[De Fato]]'' on a work of Clitomachus he names as ''On the Withholding of Assent'' ({{langx|la|De Sustinendis Adsensionibus}}).<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'', ii. 31.</ref>

Clitomachus probably treated the history of philosophy in his work on the philosophical sects: ''On the Schools of Thought'' ({{langx|el|περί αἱρέσεων}}).{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 92}}

Two of Clitomachus' works are known to have been dedicated to prominent Romans, the poet [[Gaius Lucilius]] and the one-time consul [[Lucius Marcius Censorinus (consul 149 BC)|Lucius Marcius Censorinus]],<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'', ii. 32.</ref> suggesting that his work was known and appreciated in Rome.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite book |last=Dorandi  |first=Tiziano |year=1999 |chapter=Chapter 2: Chronology |editor-last=Algra |editor-first=Keimpe |display-editors=etal |title=The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr  |url-access=limited  |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521250283 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr/page/n68 49]}}
*{{cite book |last=Görler |first=Woldemar  |chapter=Die Akademie zwischen Karneades und Philon |title=Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie, Die Philosophie der Antike, Bd. 4/2: Die hellenistische Philosophie, hrsg. |editor-first=Hellmut |editor-last=Flashar |edition=2nd |publisher=Schwabe |location=Basel |year=1994 |isbn=3-7965-0930-4 |pages=898–914 |language=de }}
* {{citation |last=Huss |first=Werner |title=Geschichte der Karthager |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvEK7kc3qnQC |publisher=C.H. Beck |location=Munich |date=1985 |isbn=978-3406306549 }}. {{in lang|de}}
*{{DGRBM|author=AS|title=Cleitomachus|volume=1|page=784|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/799?page=root;size=100;view=image}}

{{Platonists}}
{{Philosophical skepticism}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:180s BC births]]
[[Category:110s BC deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Carthaginians]]
[[Category:Hellenistic-era philosophers from Africa]]
[[Category:Hellenistic-era philosophers in Athens]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Punic people]]
[[Category:Academic skeptics]]