{{Short description|3rd century Greek rhetorician}} {{about|the 3rd century sophist|the 16th century soldier sometimes known as "Basilicus of Malta"|Iacob Heraclid}} '''Basilicus''' ({{langx|grc|Βασιλικός}}) was a rhetorician and sophist of Nicomedeia. Many scholars believe he was one of the teachers of Apsines of Gadara, therefore he must have lived about 200 CE.<ref>Suda, s.vv. Βασιλικὸς and Ἀψίνης</ref><ref>Eudokia Makrembolitissa, ''Collection'' p. 93</ref>
However, some scholars disagree that he was a teacher of Apsines, as the evidence for this is that Apsines calls him "the divine Basilicus", a convention that ''could'' mean he was a teacher of Apsines, but, some argue, also could mean that he had taught one of Apsines's teachers, or was a man simply admired by Apsines.<ref>{{cite book | last =Heath | first =Malcolm | title =Menander: A Rhetor in Context | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =2004 | pages =58 | language =English | url =https://www.google.com/books/edition/Menander/VVgTDAAAQBAJ | isbn = 9780199259205 | accessdate=2025-12-28}}</ref> However the general scholarly consensus is that he was, in fact, Apsines's teacher.<ref>{{cite book | last =Apsines | first = | authorlink =Apsines | editor-last1=Kennedy | editor-first1=George | editor-last2=Dilts | editor-first2=Mervin | title =Two Greek Rhetorical Treatises from the Roman Empire: Introduction, Text, and Translation of the Arts of Rhetoric Attributed to Anonymous Seguerianus and to Apsines of Gadara | publisher =Brill Publishers | date =2018 | pages =77 | language =English | url =https://www.google.com/books/edition/Two_Greek_Rhetorical_Treatises_from_the/ePn7EAAAQBAJ | isbn = 9789004330313 | accessdate=2025-12-28}}</ref>
He was the author of several rhetorical works: * ''On the patterns of words'' (περὶ τῶν διὰ τῶν λέξεων σχημάτων) * ''On rhetorical preparation'' (περὶ ῥητορικῆς παρασκενῆς) * ''On exercise'' (περὶ ἀσκήσεως) * ''On transformation'' (πεπὶ μεταποιήσεως)
There were several other, more obscure sophists with this name in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DGRBM|author=LS|title= Basilicus|volume=1|page=465|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/480}}
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Category:Ancient Greek writers known only from secondary sources Category:3rd-century Greek writers Category:Ancient Greek rhetoricians Category:Ancient Greek educators Category:Rhetoric theorists Category:3rd-century writers Category:Roman-era Athenian rhetoricians Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown