Stadiasmus Maris Magni (200 – 300 CE)
Description of the coast-lines (periplous) of the Mediterranean, based on older sources.
Only the passages referring to the African shores between Alexandria and Utica, and
between Arados and Mile ̄tos, as well as data concerning Cyprus and Crete, survive. Stadias-
mos, “calculation of distances in stades,” was first used as a book title by T
R.
Ed.: GGM 1.427–514.
KP 5.336, F. Lasserre; OCD3 1141, N. Robertson; NP 11.886, E. Olshausen.
Andreas Kuelzer
Staphulos of Naukratis (200 – 50 BCE)
Wrote histories of the Ailioans, Arkadians, Athenians, and Thessalians, telling myths,
recounting migrations, explaining place-names, and describing customs. Scholiasts,
S 10.4.6, P 5.134, and others preserve a few fragments. The masculine
form of this rare name is attested only from 200 BCE; in archaic times, it was feminine
(LGPN).
FGrHist 269.
PTK
S ⇒ K S
S S ⇒ S S
Stephanos of Alexandria (ca 580? – 640? CE)
Greek philosopher and teacher, to whom are attributed works on alchemy (see S
A (A.)), astrology, astronomy, and philosophy. Stephanos is important as
one of the last representatives of the Alexandrian tradition on the verge of the Islamic
conquest, thus a significant figure in the transmission of Greek philosophy and science to
the medieval world. Born around the mid-6th c. CE, he was trained in Alexandria, where he
may have been a student of the Neo-Platonic philosopher Elias; he is often grouped (along
with Elias and David) among the Christian members of the school of O.
According to John Moskhos (PG 87.3:2929), he was active as “sophist and philosopher” in
Alexandria in the 580s, where he taught courses and authored commentaries, and was
involved (on both sides, apparently) in the monophysite controversy. Whether at the invita-
tion of the Emperor H or for other reasons, he relocated to Constantinople
soon after He ̄rakleios’ accession in 610, thereby bridging late Alexandria and the medieval
Byzantine world. There he assumed the title of professor (oikoumenikos didaskalos) at the
recently reopened Imperial Academy; his teaching reportedly included courses on P
and A, the quadrivium, alchemy, and astrology. Among his pupils at Constantinople
were most probably the philosopher now designated -E (unless the two are in
fact identical), as well as T T, himself in turn the teacher of the
Armenian mathematician and astronomer A S. Works (falsely or otherwise)
attributed to Stephanos during his career at Constantinople include both astronomical and
astrological writings, as well as a series of alchemical lectures (cf. S A).
Stephanos died some time before the emperor He ̄rakleios’ own death in 641 CE.
STEPHANOS OF ALEXANDRIA