Editing Posidonius (section)

==Life==
===Early life and education===
Posidonius, nicknamed "the Athlete" (Ἀθλητής),<ref name="kiddb3">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1988|p=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/pi/2107|title=SOL Search|website=www.cs.uky.edu}}</ref> was born around 135 BC.<ref name="sellars10">{{Harvnb|Sellars|2006|p=10}}</ref> He was born into a [[Greeks|Greek]] family in [[Apamea (Syria)|Apamea]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Durham |first=Ian T. |url= |title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0387304007 |editor-last=Tremble |editor-first=Virginia |pages=927 |language=en |chapter=Posidonius |editor-last2=Williams |editor-first2=Thomas |editor-last3=Bracher |editor-first3=Katherine |editor-last4=Jarrell |editor-first4=Richard |editor-last5=Marché |editor-first5=Jordan D. |editor-last6=Ragep |editor-first6=F. Jamil}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Freeman |first=Philip |url= |title=The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts |date=2006 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0743289061 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref><ref>"Apamea had a strong hellenic element of population including Macedonian colonists. ... Posidonius had a Greek name, wrote in Greek, had his higher education in Greece, and lived his whole adult life in Athens and Rhodes, where he clearly felt at home." – {{Harvnb|Kidd|1988|p=7}}</ref> a [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] city on the river [[Orontes river|Orontes]] in northern Syria.<ref name="kiddb7">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1988|p=7}}</ref> As historian Philip Freeman puts it: "Posidonius was Greek to the core".<ref name=":0" /> Posidonius expressed no love for his native city, Apamea, in his writings and he mocked its inhabitants.<ref name=":0" />

As a young man he moved to [[Athens]] and studied under [[Panaetius]], the leading Stoic philosopher of the age, and the last undisputed head ([[scholarch]]) of the Stoic school in Athens.<ref name="sellars10"/> When Panaetius died in 110 BC, Posidonius would have been around 25 years old.<ref name="sellars10"/> Rather than remain in Athens, he instead settled in [[Rhodes]], and gained citizenship.<ref name="kiddb7"/> In Rhodes, Posidonius maintained his own school which would become the leading institution of the time.<ref name="kiddc4">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1999|p=4}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Sedley|2003|pp=26–27}}</ref>

===Travels===
Around the 90s BC Posidonius embarked on a series of voyages around the Mediterranean gathering scientific data and observing the customs and people of the places he visited.<ref name="sellars10"/> He traveled in Greece, [[Hispania]], Italy, [[Sicily]], [[Dalmatia]], [[Gaul]], [[Liguria]], [[North Africa]], and on the eastern shores of the [[Adriatic]].<ref name=Britannica/>

In [[Hispania]], on the Atlantic coast at Gades (the modern [[Cadiz]]), Posidonius could observe tides much higher than in his native Mediterranean.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=A History of Western Philosophy |year= 1946 |publisher= Simon and Schuster|isbn= 978-1-4165-9915-9|page= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQZ6Xk9VdtAC&q=Russell+history+of+western+philosophy |access-date=4 November 2023 |chapter=28| author-link= Bertrand Russell}}</ref> He wrote that daily tides are related to the Moon's orbit, while tidal heights vary with the cycles of the Moon, and he hypothesized about yearly tidal cycles synchronized with the equinoxes and solstices.<ref name="kiddc13">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1999|p=13}}</ref>

In [[Gaul]], he studied the [[Celt]]s.<ref name="kiddc4"/> He left descriptions of customs such as nailing skulls to doorways as trophies, which he witnessed,<ref>Posidonius, fragment 55 (quoted by [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/4D*.html#4.5 Strabo, Book 4]).</ref> and vivid legends told to him by the Celts, such as a story that in the past, men were paid to allow their throats to be slit for public amusement.<ref>Posidonius, fragment 16 (quoted by [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus4.html#154 Athenaeus, Book 4])</ref> But he noted that the Celts honored the [[Druids]], whom Posidonius saw as philosophers, and concluded that, even among the barbaric, "pride and passion give way to wisdom, and Ares stands in awe of the Muses." Posidonius wrote a geographic treatise on the lands of the [[Celt]]s which has since been lost, but which is referred to extensively (both directly and otherwise) in the works of [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus of Sicily]], [[Strabo]], [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] and [[Tacitus]]' ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]''.

===Political offices===
In [[Rhodes]], Posidonius actively took part in political life, and he attained high office when he was appointed as one of the [[Prytaneis]].<ref name="kiddc4"/> This was the most important political office in Rhodes, combining presidential and executive functions, of which there were five (or possibly six) men holding the office for a six-month period.<ref name="kiddb22">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1988|p=22}}</ref>

He was chosen for at least one embassy to [[Rome]] in 87/86, during the [[Gaius Marius|Marian]] and [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sullan]] era.<ref name="kiddc4"/> Although the purpose of the embassy is unknown, this was at the time of the [[First Mithridatic War]] when Roman rule over the Greek cities was being challenged by [[Mithridates VI]] of Pontus and the political situation was delicate.<ref name="kiddb23">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1988|p=23}}</ref>

===The Stoic school on Rhodes===
Under Posidonius, [[Rhodes]] eclipsed [[Athens]] to become the new centre for Stoic philosophy in the 1st century BC.<ref name="sedley27">{{Harvnb|Sedley|2003|p=27}}</ref> This process may have already have begun under [[Panaetius]], who was a native of Rhodes, and may have fostered a school there.<ref name="sedley26">{{Harvnb|Sedley|2003|p=26}}</ref> Ian Kidd remarks that Rhodes "was attractive, not only as an independent city, commercially prosperous, go-ahead and with easy links of movement in all directions, but because it was welcoming to intellectuals, for it already had a strong reputation particularly for scientific research from men like [[Hipparchus]]."<ref name="kiddc4"/>

Although little is known of the organization of his school, it is clear that Posidonius had a steady stream of Greek and Roman students, as demonstrated by the eminent Romans who visited it.<ref name="kiddc4"/> [[Pompey]] sat in on a lecture in 66 and did so again in 62 on return from campaigning in the East.<ref name="kiddc4"/> On this latter occasion the subject of the lecture was "There is no good but moral good".<ref name="kiddc5">{{Harvnb|Kidd|1999|p=5}}</ref> Posidonius was probably in his seventies at this time and was suffering from [[gout]]. He illustrated the theme of his lecture by pointing to his painful leg and declaring "It is no good, pain; bothersome you may be, but you will never persuade me that you are an evil."<ref name="kiddc5"/>

When [[Cicero]] was in his late twenties, he attended a course of Posidonius' lectures, and later invited Posidonius to write a monograph on Cicero's own consulship (Posidonius politely refused).<ref name="kiddc5"/> In his later writings Cicero repeatedly refers to Posidonius as "my teacher" and "my dear friend".<ref name="graver215">{{Harvnb|Graver|2002|p=215}}</ref> Posidonius died in his eighties in 51 BC; his grandson, [[Jason of Nysa]], succeeded him as head of the school on [[Rhodes]].<ref name="sedley27"/>