ANAXARCHUS (c. 340 B.C. a Greek philosopher of the
school of Democritus, was born at Abdera. He was the
companion and friend of Alexander in his Asiatic campaigns.
He checked the vainglory of Alexander, when he aspired to
the honours of divinity, by pointing to his wounded finger,
saying, "See the blood of a mortal, not of a god." The story
that at Bactra in 327 B.C. in a public speech he advised
all to worship Alexander as a god even during his lifetime,
is with greater probability attributed to the Sicilian
Cleon. It is said that Nicocreon, tyrant of Cyprus, commanded
him to be pounded to death in a mortar, and that he endured
this torture with fortitude; but the story is doubtful,
having no earlier authority than Cicero. His philosophical
doctrines are not known, though some have inferred from the
epithet eudaimonikos ("fortunate"), usually applied
to him, that he held the end of life to be eudaimonia.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed