Hellanicus | |
---|---|
Born | c. 490 BC |
Died | c. 405 BC (aged c. 85) Perperene, Achaemenid Empire |
Notable work | Phoronis |
Hellanicus (or Hellanikos) of Lesbos (Greek: Ἑλλάνικος ὁ Λέσβιος, Hellánikos ho Lésbios), also called Hellanicus of Mytilene (Greek: Ἑλλάνικος ὁ Μυτιληναῖος, Hellánikos ho Mutilēnaîos; c. 490 – c. 405 BC), was an ancient Greek logographer who flourished during the latter half of the 5th century BC. [1]
Hellanicus was born in Mytilene on the isle of Lesbos in 490 BC and is reputed to have lived to the age of 85. According to the Suda , he lived for some time at the court of one of the kings of Macedon, and died at Perperene, a city in Aeolis on the plateau of Kozak near Pergamon, opposite Lesbos. [2] He was one of the most prolific of early historians. His many works, though now lost, were very influential. He was cited by a number of other authors, who thereby preserved many fragments of his works, the most recent collection of which is by José J. Caerols Pérez, who includes a biography of Hellanicus. [3]
Hellanicus authored works of chronology, geography, and history, particularly concerning Attica, in which he made a distinction between what he saw as Greek mythology and history. His influence on the historiography of Athens was considerable, lasting until the time of Eratosthenes (3rd century BC).
He transcended the narrow local limits of the older logographers, and was not content to merely repeat the traditions that had gained general acceptance through the poets. He tried to record the traditions as they were locally current, and availed himself of the few national or priestly registers that presented something like contemporary registration. [1]
He endeavoured to lay the foundations of a scientific chronology, based primarily on the list of the Argive priestesses of Hera, and secondarily on genealogies, lists of magistrates (e.g. the archons at Athens), and Oriental dates, in place of the old reckoning by generations. But his materials were insufficient and he often had to seek recourse to the older methods. [1]
Some thirty works are attributed to him, chronological, historical and episodical. They include: [1]
His work includes the first mention of the legendary founding of Rome by the Trojans; he writes that the city was founded by Aeneas when accompanying Odysseus on his travels through Latium. [7] He also supported the idea that an incoming group of Pelasgians lay behind the origins of the Etruscans. The latter idea, from Phoronis, influenced Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who cites him [I.28] as a source. [8]
Alcaeus of Mytilene was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. He was a contemporary of Sappho, with whom he may have exchanged poems. He was born into the aristocratic governing class of Mytilene, the main city of Lesbos, where he was involved in political disputes and feuds.
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Philochorus of Athens, was a Greek historian and Atthidographer of the third century BC, and a member of a priestly family. He was a seer and interpreter of signs, and a man of considerable influence.
Mytilene is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century BC.
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The logographers were the Greek historiographers and chroniclers before Herodotus, "the father of history". Herodotus himself called his predecessors λογοποιοί.
Lesbos or Lesvos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1,633 km2 (631 sq mi), with approximately 400 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the eighth largest in the Mediterranean. It is separated from Asia Minor by the narrow Mytilini Strait. On the southeastern coast is the island's capital and largest city, Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη), whose name is also used for the island as a whole. Lesbos is a separate regional unit with the seat in Mytilene, which is also the capital of the larger North Aegean region. The region includes the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The total population of the island was 83,755 in 2021. A third of Lesbians live in the capital, while the remainder are concentrated in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Agia Paraskevi, the Gera Villages, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos.
Antiochus of Syracuse was a Greek historian of Magna Graecia, who flourished around 420 BC. Little is known of Antiochus' life, but his works, of which only fragments remain, enjoyed a high reputation because of their accuracy. He wrote a History of Sicily from the earliest times to 424 BC, which was used by Thucydides, and the Colonizing of Italy, frequently referred to by Strabo and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. He is one of the authors whose fragments were collected in Felix Jacoby's Fragmente der griechischen Historiker.
Duris of Samos was a Greek historian and was at some period tyrant of Samos. Duris was the author of a narrative history of events in Greece and especially Macedonia from 371 BC to 281 BC, which has been lost. Other works included a life of Agathocles of Syracuse and a number of treatises on literary and artistic subjects.
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Pherecydes of Athens was a Greek mythographer who wrote an ancient work in ten books, now lost, variously titled "Historiai" (Ἱστορίαι) or "Genealogicai" (Γενελογίαι). He is one of the authors whose fragments were collected in Felix Jacoby's Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker.
Hermippus of Smyrna was a Greek grammarian and peripatetic philosopher, surnamed by the ancient writers the Callimachian, from which it may be inferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus about the middle of the 3rd century BC, while the fact of his having written about the life of Chrysippus proves that he lived to about the end of the century. His writings seem to have been of very great importance and value. They are repeatedly referred to by the ancient writers, under many titles, of which, however, most, if not all, seem to have been chapters of his great biographical work, which is often quoted under the title of Lives (Bioi). The work contained the biographies of a great many ancient figures, including orators, poets, historians, and philosophers. It contained the earliest known biography of Aristotle, as well as philosophers such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Democritus, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus, Theophrastus, Heraclides, Demetrius Phalereus, and Chrysippus. The work has been lost, but many later Lives extensively quote it.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus L 3525 is a copy of the apocryphal Gospel of Mary in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript formed in a roll. The manuscript had been assigned palaeographically to the 3rd century. It is one of the three manuscripts and one of the two Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of Mary. It is shorter than Papyrus Rylands 463.
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Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 12 is a fragment of a chronological work in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the first or second century. It is housed in the Cambridge University Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
The Phoronis is a lost work by the fifth-century Greek historian Hellanicus of Lesbos. It takes its title from the local Tirynthian culture hero Phoroneus. It was an account of Argolic tradition, consisting mostly of genealogies, with short accounts of various events included, from the time of Phoroneus, the "father of mortal men", to the "Return of the Heracleidae".
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