Lynceus of Samos (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: ) brother of the historian

Duris of Samos Duris of Samos (or Douris) ( grc-gre, Δοῦρις ὁ Σάμιος; BCafter 281BC) 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 Macedonia from 371BC to 281BC, ...

, was a classical Greek author of comedies, letters and humorous anecdotes. He lived in the late 4th and early 3rd centuries BC and 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'', Routle ...

. His works, especially his letters and the essay ''Shopping for Food'', show a special interest in

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

. He was also the addressee of an important letter by Hippolochus on dining in

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

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 ...

, ''Deipnosophists''
Book 4
He would be practically unknown if it were not for numerous quotations from his works in the '' Deipnosophistae'' of

. As a comedy author Lynceus is classed among the writers of Athenian

New Comedy Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, an ...

, and the single surviving fragment from his play ''Kentauros'' ("The Centaur"), as quoted by Athenaeus (131f), appears in the standard collections of comic fragments. It is a scene set at

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 ...

in which a dinner menu is discussed with reference to the guests' cities of origin and probable food preferences. The only collection of the fragments from Lynceus's prose works is in Andrew Dalby's paper published in 2000.

Notes

References

*Andrew Dalby, "Lynceus and the anecdotists" in ''Athenaeus and his world: reading Greek culture in the Roman Empire'' ed. David Braund, John Wilkins (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000) pp. 372–394. *R. Kassel and C. Austin, editors, ''P C G: Poetae comici Graeci''. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1983– . {{Authority control Ancient Greek food writers Ancient Samians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown