Libanius in the context of "Gessius of Petra"

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👉 Libanius in the context of Gessius of Petra

Gessius of Petra (Greek: Γέσιος, Gesios) was an Arab physician, iatrosophist and pagan philosopher active in Alexandria in the late 5th and early 6th century.

Gessius was a native of the region of Petra. According to Damascius, who is the main source for Gessius' biography in the Suda, he was from Petra itself. Stephanus of Byzantium, on the other hand, writes that he came from the agricultural region of el-Ji (today Wadi Musa) not far from Petra. His father's name is unknown. He may have been descended from the Gessius who was a student and correspondent of Libanius and was active in Egypt in the 4th century. He studied under Domnus, who was Jewish. Later, he is said to have lured students away from his master.

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Libanius in the context of Plethron

Plethron (Ancient Greek: πλέθρον, plural plethra) is an ancient Greek unit of measurement equal to 97 to 100 Greek feet (ποῦς, pous; c. 30 centimeters), although the measures for plethra may have varied from polis to polis. This was roughly the width of a typical ancient Greek athletic running-track.

A plethron could also be used as a unit of measured area, and reference to the unit in defining the size of a wrestling area is made by Libanius. A square plethron of c. 30 by 30 meters was used as the standard dimensions of a Greek wrestling square, since such competitions were held within the racing track in ancient Greece. In other connotations, it functioned as the Greek acre, and varied in size to accommodate the amount of land a team of oxen could plow in a day.

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