[25] Among illustrious persons in ancient times natives of Ephesus were Heracleitus, surnamed Scoteinus, or the Obscure, and Hermodorus, of whom Heracleitus himself says: “‘The Ephesians, youths and all, deserve hanging, for expelling Hermodorus, an honest citizen,1 a citizen distinguished for his virtues, and saying, let there be no such amongst us; if there be, let it be in another place and among other people.’” Hermodorus seems to have compiled laws for the Romans. Hipponax the poet was an Ephesian, and the painters Parrhasius and Apelles. In more recent times was Alexander the orator, surnamed Lychnus, or the Lamp;2 he was an administrator of state affairs, a writer of history, and left behind him poems which contain a description of the heavenly phenomena and a geographical account of the continents, each of which forms the subject of a distinct poem.
2 Coraÿ is of opinion that the name of Artemidorus of Ephesus has been omitted by the copyist in this passage, before the name of Alexander. Kramer thinks that if the name had existed in the original manuscript, it would have been accompanied, according to the practice of Strabo, with some notice of the writings of Artemidorus. The omission of the name is remarkable, as Artemidorus is one of the geographers most frequently quoted by Strabo. He flourished about 100 B. c. His geography in eleven books is lost. An abridgement of this work was made by Marcianus, of which some portions still exist, relating to the Black Sea and its southern shore.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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