Agathocles ( grc-gre, Ἀγαθοκλῆς; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Greek historian who wrote a history of

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

() in the

Ionic dialect Ionic Greek ( grc, Ἑλληνικὴ Ἰωνική, Hellēnikē Iōnikē) was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of Ancient Greek. History The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland acr ...

. He is called by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

both a Babylonian and a Cyzican. He may originally have come from Babylon, and have settled at Cyzicus. The first and third books are referred to by Athenaeus. The time at which Agathocles lived is unknown, and his work is now lost; but it seems to have been extensively read in antiquity, as it is referred to by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

, and other ancient writers. Agathocles also spoke of the origin of Rome. The

scholiast Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

on Apollonius cites Memoirs () by an Agathocles, who is usually supposed to be the same as the above-mentioned one. There are several other writers of the same name, whose works are lost to us but are mentioned by later writers: *Agathocles of Atrax, who wrote a work on fishing. *Agathocles of Chios, who wrote a work on agriculture. *Agathocles of Miletus, who wrote a work on rivers. *Agathocles of Samos, who wrote a work on the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Pessinus Pessinus ( el, Πεσσινούς or Πισσινούς) was an Ancient city and archbishopric in Asia Minor, a geographical area roughly covering modern Anatolia (Asian Turkey). The site of the city is now the modern Turkish village of Ballıhis ...

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, ''de Fluv.'' p. 1159, a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agathocles (Writers) Ancient Greek writers 3rd-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC historians People from Cyzicus Babylonian people Ancient Milesians Ancient Samians Ancient Greek historians known only from secondary sources Ancient Greek writers known only from secondary sources Ionic Greek writers Hellenistic-era historians Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia