wrote in prose (Constitutions and Conversations). Diels (DK), like Philostratos (2nd–3rd c. CE;
Lives of the Sophists 501 – 503), included him among the Older Sophists.
Although Kritias did not engage in natural science, his works include references to con-
temporary scientific issues, among which the following are worth noting: (a) The thesis that
time (Chronos/Khronos) is a metaphysical reality, implied in fragments B18 and B19 of
Pirithous, where time is shown as first principle and qualified as “self-generated” (autophue ̄).
Untersteiner (295) notes that the god Chronos is always connected with Orphic and other
mysteries. Other scholars interpret those fragments as a mixture of Orphic speculation and
Pre-Socratic physics. (b) According to A (De anima 1 [405b5]), Kritias stated that
the soul is blood, which scholars consider typical of E. (c) Fragment B2 presents
a catalogue of inventions useful for humanity, both in the technical and the social spheres
(lawgivers). Kritias ascribes these inventions to peoples and not to individuals. (d) Among the
useful inventions, Kritias makes religion a special case, claiming that a wise man invented
the gods to prevent humans from breaking laws in the absence of witnesses (B25, Sisyphus).
DK 88; M. Untersteiner, I Sofisti 4 (1967); R.K. Sprague, The Older Sophists, a complete translation (1972);
DPA 2 (1994) 512–520, R. Goulet.
José Solana Dueso
Kritode ̄mos (50 BCE – 50 CE)
A Greco-Egyptian authority on astrology and one of the earliest Greek astrological writers.
His work Horasis (Vision, i.e., a visionary divine revelation) is cited by V V
(Anth. 3.12, p. 150 K.), for whom he was an important source. P 1.ind.2, 7 also cites him
as a source. His alleged role as transmitter of Babylonian astrology to the Greeks is no
longer given much credence, and the “Babylonian” chronological schemes with which he
was associated are similarly in doubt. H T (2.10) quotes him on
stillborn children, and his name is still found cited by F M (4.pr., 1.196
K.-S.) and by R (CCAG 8.4.199–202). The latest reference to Kritode ̄mos is
found in the 8th c. work of Theophilos (CCAG 1.129–131), where he is said to have normed
the zodiac at Aries 0 ̊, which Neugebauer and van Hoesen (1958: 185) dismiss.
Pliny claimed (7.193) that Kritode ̄mos was a student of B and had direct access
to Babylonian sources. Be ̄rossos and Kritode ̄mos are cited as saying Babylonian astronomical
observations go back 490,000 years. Babylonian influences may be traced in Horasis, specif-
ically the sunkephalaio ̄sis (CCAG 8.3, 102). Valens (Anth. 3.7, p. 142.28 K.) attributes to
Kritode ̄mos the theory of antiscia, in which points equidistant from the equinoctial or sol-
stitial axis are opposed and paired, perhaps having to do with sun dials or at least the
length of daylight, as day/night length are equal at the antiscia. Valens (Book 8) presents
Kritode ̄mos’ method for calculating the length of life, attributing to him a correlation of
times with division of zodiacal signs into six parts.
W. Kroll, “Aus der Geschichte der Astrologie,” Neue Jahrbücher 7 (1901) 559–577 at 572–573;
Neugebauer-van Hoesen (1958) 185–186; Gundel and Gundel (1966) 106–107; KP 3.350, E. Boer;
Pingree (1978) 424–426; BNP 3 (2003) 947, W. Hübner.
Francesca Rochberg
Kritolaos of Phase ̄lis (175 – 135 BCE)
Peripatetic scholarch (in Athens). Kritolaos lived 82 years (fr.6 Wehrli) and, together
with K and D B, was sent in 156/155 BCE on an embassy
KRITOLAOS OF PHASE ̄LIS