(), of Rhegium, a philosopher, whom Aristotle (Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 658) considers him the
same as Hippon of Metapontum, who is called a Pythagorean, while some assign Samos as his
birthplace. He was accused of Atheism, and so got the surname of the Melian, as agreeing in
sentiment with Diagoras.
As his works have perished, we cannot judge of the truth of this accusation, which Brucker thinks may have arisen from his holding the theory (easily deducible from the views of Pythagoras) that the gods were great men, who had been invested with immortality by the admiration and traditions of the vulgar. He is said to have written an epitaph to be placed on his own tomb after his death, expressing his belief that he had become a divinity.
Some of his philosophical principles are preserved by Sextus Empiricus, Simplicius, Clemens Alexandrinus, and others. He held water and fire to be the principles of all things, the latter springing from the former, and then developing itself by generating the universe. He considered nothing exempt from the necessity of ultimate destruction.
Brucker, Hist. Crit. Phil. 1.1103 ; Brandis, Gesch. d.
Phil. 1.121.