Conon


Conon

(kō`nŏn, –nən), 3d cent. B.C., Greek astronomer and mathematician of Samos. He traveled in the western part of the Greek world making astronomical observations, then settled at Alexandria. He was a student of solar eclipses and was the first to note the constellation Coma Berenices. His mathematical studies included an investigation of conic intersections.

Conon

 

Lived from around the middle of the fifth century to after 387 B.C. Athenian military leader.

Conon was one of the commanders of the Athenian fleet at the end of the Peloponnesian Wars of 431–404. After suffering defeat at Aegospotami in 405, he lived on the island of Cyprus. With money from Persia, which supported the anti-Sparta coalition, he built a fleet, and in 394 at Cnidus he inflicted a defeat on the Spartans that became the turning point of the Corinthian War of 395–387. Between 394 and 392, Conon liberated from Sparta’s control many Greek city-states and cities of Asia Minor. He returned to Athens, where he rebuilt the long walls, which had been destroyed according to the terms of the peace treaty of 404, and he tried to restore the Delian League. Athens’ growing strength caused displeasure in Persia, where Conon was compelled to go on an embassy. His subsequent fate is unknown, although it is believed that he either perished in Persia or fled to Cyprus and died there.

REFERENCES

Pozdeeva, I. “Vneshniaia politika Afin v 394–386 do n.e.”Vestnik drevnei istorii, 1959, no. 1.
Barbieri, G. Conone. Rome, 1955.

I. V. POZDEEVA