Apollodorus of Athens ( el, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) son of Asclepiades, 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, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of

Diogenes of Babylon Diogenes of Babylon (also known as Diogenes of Seleucia; grc-gre, Διογένης Βαβυλώνιος; la, Diogenes Babylonius; c. 230 – c. 150/140 BC) was a Stoic philosopher. He was the head of the Stoic school in Athens, and he was one o ...

, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

, under whom he appears to have studied together with his contemporary

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 ...

. He left (perhaps fled)

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

around 146 BC, most likely for

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

, and eventually settled in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Literary works

* ''Chronicle'' (''Χρονικά'', ''Chronika''), a Greek history in verse from the fall of

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

in the 12th century BC to roughly 143 BC (although later it was extended as far as 109 BC), and based on previous works by

Eratosthenes of Cyrene 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 ...

. Its dates are reckoned by its references to the

archons of Athens In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon (ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων, ''epōnymos archōn''). "Archon" (ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες, ''archontes'') means "ruler" or "lord", frequently ...

. As most archons only held office for one year, scholars have been able to pin down the years to which Apollodorus was referring. The poem is written in comic

trimeter In poetry, a trimeter (Greek for "three measure") is a metre of three metrical feet per line. Examples: : When here // the spring // we see, : Fresh green // upon // the tree. See also * Anapaest * Dactyl * Tristich A tercet is composed of ...

s and is dedicated to the second century BC king of Pergamon,

Attalus II Philadelphus Attalus II Philadelphus (Greek: Ἄτταλος Β΄ ὁ Φιλάδελφος, ''Attalos II Philadelphos'', which means "Attalus the brother-loving"; 220–138 BC) was a Greek King of Pergamon and the founder of the city of Attalia (Antalya) ...

. * ''On the Gods'' (''Περὶ θεῶν'', ''Peri theon'', prose, in 24 books), lost but known through quotes to have included etymologies of the names and

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

s of the gods, rifled and quoted by the Roman Epicurean Philodemus; further fragments appear in

Oxyrhynchus papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...

. * A twelve-book essay about Homer's Catalogue of Ships, also based on

and

Demetrius of Scepsis Demetrius of Scepsis ( grc, Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος) was a Greek Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian of the time of Aristarchus of Samothrace, Aristarchus and Crates of Mallus, Crates (Strabo, Strab. xiii. p. 609), the first half ...

, dealing with Homeric geography and how it has changed along the centuries.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

relied greatly on this for books 8 through 10 of his own ''

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (Ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά ''Geōgraphiká''), or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Ancient Greek, Greek and attributed to Strabo, an educated citizen ...

''. * Other possible works include an early

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

(possibly the earliest by an Alexandrian writer), and analyses of the poets

Epicharmus of Kos Epicharmus of Kos or Epicharmus Comicus or Epicharmus Comicus Syracusanus ( grc-gre, Ἐπίχαρμος ὁ Κῷος), thought to have lived between c. 550 and c. 460 BC, was a Greek dramatist and philosopher who is often credited wit ...

and

Sophron Sophron of Syracuse ( grc-gre, Σώφρων ὁ Συρακούσιος, ''fl.'' 430 BC) was a writer of mimes. Sophron was the author of prose dialogues in the Doric dialect, containing both male and female characters, some serious, others humorou ...

. * Apollodorus produced numerous other critical and grammatical writings, which have not survived. * His eminence as a scholar gave rise to several imitations, forgeries and misattributions. The encyclopedia of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

called '' Bibliotheca'', or ''Library'', was traditionally attributed to him, but it cannot be his; as it cites

Castor the Annalist Castor of Rhodes ( el, Κάστωρ ὁ Ῥόδιος), also known as Castor of Massalia or Castor of Galatia according to the ''Suda'', or as Castor the Annalist, was a Greek grammarian and rhetorician. He was surnamed Philoromaeus (Φιλορώ� ...

, who was a contemporary of

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 estab ...

.Perseus Encyclopedia Rather, the author of the ''Bibliotheca'' is now designated

Pseudo-Apollodorus The ''Bibliotheca'' (Ancient Greek: grc, Βιβλιοθήκη, lit=Library, translit=Bibliothēkē, label=none), also known as the ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus, is a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, arranged in three book ...

References

* * * Bravo, Benedetto. ''La Chronique d'Apollodore et le Pseudo-Skymnos: érudition antiquaire et littérature géographique dans la seconde moitié du IIe siècle av. J.-C.'' (Leuven: Peeters, 2009) (Studia Hellenistica, 46). * Fleischer, Kilian
''The Original Verses of Apollodorus' Chronica: edition, translation and commentary''
(Berlin/New York, De Gruyter 2020) (Sozomena 19). * Παπαθωμόπουλος, Μανόλης ed. ''Απολλόδωρου Βιβλιοθήκη / Apollodori Bibliotheca, post Richardum Wagnerum recognita. Εισαγωγή – Κείμενο – Πίνακες'' (Αθήνα: Εκδοσεις Αλήθεια, 2010) (Λόγος Ελληνικός, 4).

External links

*

ABEL: Apollodori Bibliotheca ELectronica
a scholarly bibliography {{DEFAULTSORT:Apollodorus Ancient Alexandrians Roman-era Athenians Ancient Greek essayists Ancient Greek grammarians Ancient Greek poets Hellenistic-era philosophers from Africa Roman-era philosophers in Athens Stoic philosophers 2nd-century BC Greek people 2nd-century BC writers 2nd-century BC historians 2nd-century BC poets 2nd-century BC philosophers 180s BC births 110s BC deaths