Ὀστάνης 01/29/15 (Thu) 21:27:03 No. 20092 [Watch Thread]
>OSTANES, legendary mage in classical and medieval literature. He is first mentioned by Hermodorus, as quoted in Diogenes Laertius (Prooemium 2, as punctuated by R. Reitzenstein, Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1927, p. 172; the common attribution of this reference to Xanthos of Lydia must be mistaken, for he could not have referred to Alexander). Hermodorus, a disciple of Plato, mentions Ostanes as one of the names common in a supposed line of magi that ran from Zoroaster down to Alexander’s conquest. He dates Zoroaster 5,000 years before the fall of Troy and puts Ostanes first among the names of members of the line; there is no indication that he knew anything about the actual date or career of any particular Ostanes.
01/29/15 (Thu) 21:32:12 No. 20093
>As Pebechius cannot read Persian, he implores Osrom "to send him the Persian letters" (presumable a language and translation guide). Pebechius stresses the need for quick action so that he may translate the texts before he dies, for he is already old and infirm. Osrom responds that he is delighted with the discovery and send the Egyptian the Persian "letters". As a result Pebechius deciphers the texts. In a subsequent correspondence, Pebechius in great awe describes the books as Ostanes' divine revelations and a treatise on the whole of all the sciences including the wisdom of Hermes which Ostanes had recovered and restored to the Magi and to the world.
01/29/15 (Thu) 21:38:39 No. 20095