Who was Praxitiles and what was he famous for?

Question

And who were Damocles, Heracles, Pericles, and Sophocles and what were they each famous for?

Oops! It is Praxiteles, maybe that's why so few people are answering! Their Wikipedia search cannot find Praxitiles as it is the wrong spelling!

Answer 1

They were all ancient Greeks.

Praxitiles was a sculptor, Damocles had the Damoclean sword suspended over his head, Heracles (aka Hercules) was a legendary hero/strong man who had the 12 Labours to accomplish, Pericles was an orator and politician and Sophocles was a playwright

You forgot Androcles (who took the thorn out of the Lion's Paw)!

Praxiteles of Athens was the greatest of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC, who has left an imperishable mark on the history of art. Praxitiles' best-known scupltures were Aphrodite of Knidos, circa 350-340 B.C. and Hermes with the Infant Dionysus, Praxiteles and his school worked almost entirely in marble. At the time the marble quarries of Paros were at their best.

Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote which was a late addition to classical Greek culture.

The figure belongs properly to legend rather than Greek mythology. The anecdote apparently figured in the lost history of Sicily by Timaeus of Tauromenium (c. 356 - 260 BC). Cicero may have read it in Diodorus Siculus. He made use of it in his Tusculan Disputations V.61 - 62.

Damocles, it seems, was an excessively flattering courtier in the court of Dionysius I of Syracuse, a 4th Century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Italy. He exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held, where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging by a single piece of horsehair directly above his head. Immediately, he lost all taste for the fine foods and beautiful boys and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate.

The Sword of Damocles is a frequently used allusion to this tale, epitomizing the insecurity of those with great power due to the possibility of that power being taken away suddenly, or, more generally, any feeling of impending doom.

In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Herakles ("glory of Hera") was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is generally known as Hercules.

Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes

By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor.

Pericles or Perikles (ca. 495 BC-429 BC, (meaning "surrounded by glory") was a prominent and influential statesman, orator and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age (specifically, between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars).

Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens". As a result of his efficient governance of Athens, the period from 461 BC to 429 BC is sometimes known as "The Age of Pericles".

Pericles promoted arts and literature and his work contributed to Athens achieving its reputation as the educational and cultural centre of the Greek world.

Sophocles (495 BC – 406 BC) (Ancient Greek: Σοφοκλης) was one of the three great ancient Greek tragedians, together with Aeschylus and Euripides. Only 7 of Sophocles' 123 plays survive: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Ajax, The Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes,

Answer 2

I just want to congratulate people who asks and answers such questions.The spirit of those men helped Humanity to escape from the dark ages

Answer 3

see web site
www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/praxiteles.