Carneades: The One and Only

Abstract

The Academic scholarch Carneades of Cyrene withdrew from active lecturing several years before his death. He handed the Academy over – either formally or informally – to a successor, who remained in charge for six years (137/6–131/0 BC) and passed away in Carneades’ own lifetime. Philodemus reports this episode three times in the Index Academicorum. Since 1869 scholars have never questioned the notion that Carneades’ lifetime-successor was a namesake: Carneades, son of Polemarchus (also called Carneades the younger). Now, new readings of several lines in all three passages reveal that the name of Carneades’ successor was actually Polemarchus of Nicomedia – a man skilled in dialectical methods. There never was a second Academic named Carneades.