Mōchos the Phoenician Sage in Ampelius

• Published in: The Classical journal (Classical Association of the Middle West and South) Vol. 111; no. 4; pp. 495 - 501
• Main Author: Keyser, Paul T
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South 01-04-2016; Classical Association of the Middle West & South, Inc
• Subjects: Constellations; Encyclopedias; Platonism; Reading
• ISSN: 0009-8353
• DOI: 10.5184/classicalj.111.4.0495

Ampelius 2.7 explains that Libra honors the inventor of the balance, the puzzling and much-emended personal name MOCHOS. Emendation is unnecessary: “Mōchos” is attested as an early Phoenician sage of Sidon, by Poseidonios, and in a translation by the Platonist Ofellius Laetus (ca. 75 CE). Ampelius may have drawn Mōchos and Libra from Ofellius, or like much of his lore on zodiacal constellations, from Nigidius, or from another unknown source. Ampelius explains two other zodiacal constellations similarly: Capricorn (2.10) honors Pan's defeat of Typhon in Egypt, and Pisces (2.12) honors Venus' birth from an egg found in the Euphrates.