Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυΐστωρ; flourished in the first half of the 1st century BC; also called Alexander of Miletus) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
scholar who was enslaved by the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
during the
Mithridatic War and taken to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
as a tutor. After his release, he continued to live in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
as a Roman citizen. He was so productive as a writer that he earned the surname ''
Polyhistor
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
'' (very learned). The majority of his writings are now lost, but the fragments that remain shed valuable light on antiquarian and eastern Mediterranean subjects.
Among his works were historical and geographical accounts of nearly all the countries of the ancient world, and the book ''Upon the Jews'' ( grc, Περὶ Ἰουδαίων) which excerpted many works which might otherwise be unknown.
Life
Alexander flourished in the first half of the 1st century BC. According to the ''
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
'' he was a pupil of
Crates of Mallus
Crates of Mallus ( grc-gre, Κράτης ὁ Μαλλώτης, ''Krátēs ho Mallṓtēs''; century BC) was a Greek grammarian and Stoic philosopher, leader of the literary school and head of the library of Pergamum. He was described as th ...
and a
Milesian, whereas
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
claims he was a native of
Cotiaeum in
Lesser Phrygia and a son of Asklepiades, while the ''
Etymologicum Magnum
''Etymologicum Magnum'' ( grc, Ἐτυμολογικὸν Μέγα, ) (standard abbreviation ''EM'', or ''Etym. M.'' in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicogra ...
'' agrees in calling him ''Kotiaeus''.
It is possible that two different Alexandroi have been merged or confused.
He became a Roman prisoner of war, was sold into slavery to a Cornelius Lentulus as his teacher (''
paedagogus
''Paedagogus'' ( el, Παιδαγωγός, "Pedagogue") is the second in the great trilogy of Clement of Alexandria.
Having laid a foundation in the knowledge of divine truth in the first book, he goes on in the ''Paedagogus'' to develop a Chr ...
'') and was later freed. As a Roman freedman his name was Cornelius Alexander. The ''nomen'' may come from the Cornelii Lentuli or from Sulla Felix, as he received the citizenship from
Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force.
Sulla had ...
. He died at
Laurentum
Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role afte ...
in a fire which consumed his house, and his wife Helene is said by the ''Suda'' to have responded to the news of his loss by hanging herself.
Works
The 10th-century ''
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
'' makes no attempt to list his works, asserting that he composed books "beyond number."
Alexander's most important treatise consisted of forty-two books of historical and geographical accounts of nearly all the countries of the ancient world. These included five books ''On Rome'', the ''Aigyptiaca'' (at least three books), ''On Bithynia'', ''On the Euxine Sea'', ''On Illyria'', ''Indica'' and a ''Chaldæan History''. Another notable work is about the Jews: this reproduces in paraphrase relevant excerpts from Jewish writers, of whom nothing otherwise would be known (see below). As a philosopher, Alexander wrote ''
Successions of Philosophers Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term w ...
'', mentioned several times by
Diogenes Laërtius in his ''
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sourc ...
''. None of Alexander's works survive as such: only quotations and paraphrases are to be found, largely in the works of Diogenes Laertius.
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
extracted a large portion in his ''Chaldean Chronicle''.
One of Alexander's students was
Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...
, Latin author, scholar and friend of
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, who was appointed by
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
to be superintendent of the Palatine library. From what Laërtius describes or paraphrases in his work, Alexander recorded various thoughts on contradictions, fate, life, soul and its parts, perfect figures, and different curiosities, such as advice not to eat beans.
''Upon the Jews''
Louis Ginzberg wrote of Alexander's work: “Although these excerpts reveal their author as nothing but a compiler without taste or judgment, and bereft of all literary ability, they possess, even in their meagerness, a certain value.” In his compilation Jewish and non-Jewish sources are cited indiscriminately side by side; and to Alexander, therefore, the world is indebted for information on the oldest Jewish,
Hellenic, and Samaritan elaboration of
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
history in prose or poetry. The epic poet
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
Philo's de ...
, the tragic writer
Ezekiel, the historian
Eupolemus
Eupolemus () is the earliest Hellenistic Jewish historian whose writing survives from Antiquity. Five (or possibly six) fragments of his work have been preserved in Eusebius of Caesarea's '' Praeparatio Evangelica'' (hereafter abbreviated as ''Pr ...
, the chronicler
Demetrius
Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter".
Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumit ...
, the so-called
Artapanus, the historian
Aristeas
Aristeas ( el, Ἀριστέας) was a semi-legendary Greek poet and miracle-worker, a native of Proconnesus in Asia Minor, active ca. 7th century BC. The Suda claims that, whenever he wished, his soul could leave his body and return again. ...
, and
Theodotus the Samaritan, as well as an unnamed fellow countryman of the latter often confused with Eupolemus, the
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
ian
Apollonius Molon (an anti-Jewish writer)—all of these authors are known to posterity only through extracts from their works which Alexander embodied verbatim in his. Of some interest for the ancient history of the Jews is his account of
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
-
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
, frequently drawn upon by Jewish and Christian authors; in it extracts are given, especially from
Berossus
Berossus () or Berosus (; grc, Βηρωσσος, Bērōssos; possibly derived from akk, , romanized: , "Bel is his shepherd") was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language ...
, and also from the ''Chronicles of Apollodoros'' and the ''Third Book of the Sibyllines.''
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
made use of the work, and likewise Eusebius in his ''Chronicles.'' Probably only Alexander's account of the
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
is taken from Berossus, who is confirmed by the newest Assyrian discoveries, while his account of the
Confusion of Tongues
The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
is probably of
Jewish-Hellenic origin. Another work of his seems to have contained considerable information concerning the Jews. What Eusebius quotes
['' Praeparatio Evangelica,'' ix. 20, 3.] would seem to have been taken from this work, which is no longer extant, except indirectly through Josephus. It may be noted that Alexander twice mentions the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, which, however, he knew only superficially, as appears from his curious statement that the
Law of the Jews was given to them by a woman named
Moso Moso or MoSo can refer to:
* MoSo, a music and technology festival in Saskatoon, Canada
* Moso (island), an island in Vanuatu
* Missouri Southern State University, sometimes nicknamed "MoSo"
* ''Phyllostachys edulis'', a species of bamboo also ca ...
, and that
Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
received its name from
Judah and
Idumea
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east. ...
, children of
Semiramis
''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dre ...
.
The text of the fragments preserved is in very unsatisfactory shape, owing to insufficient collation of the manuscripts. How much of his originals Alexander himself omitted is difficult to say, in view of the corrupt state of the text of Eusebius, where most of his fragments are to be found.
Abydenus
Abydenus or Abydenos ( grc, Αβυδηνός, Abudinós) was a Greek historian who wrote a history of Assyria and Babylonia entitled ''On the Assyrians''. Only some fragments are preserved by Eusebius in his '' Praeparatio Evangelica'' and the Arm ...
—the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
editor of Alexander's works—evidently had a different text before him from that which Eusebius possessed.
Text of the fragments is to be found in Eusebius, ''
Praeparatio Evangelica'', ix. 17;
Clemens Alexandrinus
Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen a ...
, ''Stromata'' i. 21, 130, and
Müller, ''Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum'', iii. 211–230; prose extracts, from a new collation of the manuscripts, in Freudenthal, “Alexander Polyhistor,” pp. 219–236.
Notes
References
* ''citing'':
**Freudenthal, ''Alexander Polyhistor'', Breslau, 1875 (Hellenistische Studien, i. and ii.);
**Unger, "Wann Schrieb Alexander Polyhistor?" in ''Philologus'', xliii. 28-531, ib.xlvii. 177–183;
**Susemihl, ''Gesch. der Griechischen Literatur'', ii. 356–364;
**Schürer, ''Gesch.'' 3d ed., iii. 346–349.
**An English translation of the fragments is to be found in ''Cory's Ancient Fragments'', London, 1876;
**a French translation in Reinach, ''Textes d'Auteurs Grecs et Romains Relatifs au Judaisme'', 1895, pp. 65–68.
Further reading
* W. Adler, "Alexander Polyhistor’s Peri Ioudaiôn and Literary Culture in Republican Rome," in Sabrina Inowlocki & Claudio Zamagni (eds), ''Reconsidering Eusebius: Collected papers on literary, historical, and theological issues'' (Leiden, Brill, 2011) (Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements, 107),
External links
*
Life and Works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander Polyhistor
1st-century BC Greek people
1st-century BC Romans
1st-century BC historians
1st-century BC writers
Ancient Greek geographers
Ancient Jewish Greek history
Roman-era Greek historians
Hellenistic-era historians
Ancient Greek educators
Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen
Republican era slaves and freedmen
Ancient Greeks in Rome
Historians from Roman Anatolia
Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia
Roman-era Milesians
Roman-era Phrygians
Cornelii
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
1st-century BC geographers