Praxiphanes

(Πραξιφάνης), a Peripatetic philosopher, was a native either of Mytilene (Clem. Alex. 1, 3t;5, ed. Potter) or of Rhodes (Strabo, 14:655). He lived in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Ptolemy Lagi, and was a pupil of Theophrastus, about B.C. 322 (Proclus, 1, In Timaeum; Tzetzes, Ad Hesiod. Op. et Dies, 1). He subsequently opened a school himself, in which Epicurus is said to have been one of his pupils (Diog. Laert. 10:13). Praxiphanes paid especial attention to grammatical studies, and is hence named along with Aristotle as the founder and creator of the science of grammar (Clem. Alex. 1. c.; Bekker, Anecdota, 2, 229, where Πραξιφάνους should be read instead of Ε᾿πιφάνους). The writings of Praxiphanes appear to have been numerous, but have no special interest today. See Preller, Disputatio de Praxiphane Peripatetico inter antiquissimos grammaticos nobili (Dorpat, 1842)..