Anaxarchus, a Grecian philosopher, a native of Abdera in Thrace, who attended Alexander the Great into Asia, and succeeded in winning his friendship by his wit and servility. After the death of Alexander, in 323 B. C., Anaxar-chus, while returning to Greece, is said to have been shipwrecked on the coast of Cyprus, and pounded to death in a mortar by order of Ni-cocreon, one of the princes of that island, whom he had offended.