Antidorus ( grc, Ἀντίδωρος) of Cyme or
Cumae
Cumae ( grc, Κύμη, (Kumē) or or ; it, Cuma) was the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC and soon becoming one of the strongest colonies. It later became a rich Ro ...
was a Greek grammarian. He was influenced by
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; grc-gre, Ἐρατοσθένης ; – ) was a Greek polymath: a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria ...
, chief librarian at the
Library of Alexandria
The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, th ...
. He played a role in the development of the science of grammar,
[Stephanos Matthaios, Franco Montanari, Antonios Rengakos ] which emerged during his time as a noted grammarian between 340–330 BC.
Thus he lived in the time of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
.
Various definitions of grammar
In
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, the term γραμματική (
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
) had many meanings that evolved over time:
*The term ″grammarian″ as understood in the earlier classical sense: knowledge of the letters of the alphabet (this being the common meaning) and the number of alphabets known; thus implying a person knowing how to read.
*As understanding developed, the term was used for a teacher of reading.
Theagenes of Rhegium Theagenes of Rhegium (, ''Theagenēs ho Rhēginos''; ''fl.'' 529–522 BC) was a Greek literary critic of the 6th century BC. Born in Rhegium (modern Reggio Calabria), he is noted for having defended the mythology of Homer from more rationalist att ...
(
floruit
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
550 BC) was the earliest allegorical interpreter of Homer, and thus perhaps the first person to have the term γραμματική acceptably applied.
*During the Alexandrian age, it meant "a student of literature, especially of poetry".
Arguments
According to a tradition, the first person to have a developed designation of
γραμματικός applied to his activities,
ergo himself was a pupil of
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...
, the philosopher of the
peripatetic school
The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers.
The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristo ...
of
Praxiphanes Praxiphanes ( el, Πραξιφάνης) a Peripatetic philosopher, was a native of Mytilene, who lived a long time in Rhodes. He lived in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Ptolemy I Soter, and was a pupil of Theophrastus, about 322 BC. He subseq ...
of Rhodes, active and flourishing about 300 BC, although another tradition suggests that Antidorus might instead have been the first γραμματικός.
See also
*
Cyme
*
Dionysius Thrax
Dionysius Thrax ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Θρᾷξ ''Dionýsios ho Thrâix'', 170–90 BC) was a Greek grammarian and a pupil of Aristarchus of Samothrace. He was long considered to be the author of the earliest grammatical text on the G ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antidorus of Cyme
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Ancient Greek grammarians
4th-century BC Greek people