Posidonius of Apamea, of Rhodes

ca. 135 BC – 51 BC

**Posidonius** (pōsēdō`nēəs), Greek: Ποσειδώνιος (Poseidonios), (= “of Poseidon”), commonly named “ὁ Ἀπαμεύς” (= **“of Apameia”**) or “ὁ Ῥόδιος” (= **“of Rhodes”**) (b. ca. 135 B.C. in Apameia, Syria; d. 51 B.C. in Rome), nicknamed **“the Athlete”**, was a Greek Stoic philosopher, astronomer, geographer, politician (one of the Prytaneis at Rhodes), historian and teacher. Posidonius completed his higher education in Athens, where he was a student of the aged Panaetius, the head of the Stoic school. He settled in Rhodes around 95 B.C. after extensive travels. The major representative of the Middle Stoa was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age.