Onomacritus ( grc-gre, Ὀνομάκριτος; c. 530 – c. 480 BCE), also known as Onomacritos or Onomakritos, 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 ...

chresmologue, or compiler of

oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

s, who lived at the court of the tyrant Pisistratus 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 ...

. He is said to have prepared an edition of the

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

ic poems, and was an industrious collector, as well as a forger of old oracles and poems.

According to Herodotus

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

reports that Onomacritus was hired by Pisistratus to compile the oracles of

Musaeus Musaeus, Musaios ( grc, Μουσαῖος) or Musäus may refer to: Greek poets * Musaeus of Athens, legendary polymath, considered by the Greeks to be one of their earliest poets (mentioned by Socrates in Plato's Apology) * Musaeus of Ephesus, liv ...

, but that Onomacritus inserted forgeries of his own that were detected by

Lasus of Hermione Lasus of Hermione ( el, Λάσος ὁ Ἑρμιονεύς) was a Greek lyric poet of the 6th century BC from the city of Hermione in the Argolid. He is known to have been active at Athens under the reign of the Peisistratids. Pseudo-Plutarch's ...

. As a result, Onomacritus was banished from Athens by Pisistratus' son

Hipparchus Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equi ...

. After the flight of the Pisistratids to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, Onomacritus was reconciled with them. According to Herodotus, Onomacritus induced

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of ...

, the King of Persia, by his oracular responses, to decide upon his war with Greece.

According to Pausanias

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

attributes to Onomacritus certain poems forged under the name of

. In explaining the presence of the Titan

Anytos Anytos or Anytus ( grc, Ἄνυτος) was one of the Titans of Greek mythology.Smiths.v. Anytus Pausania8.37.5 He was supposed to have raised Despoina, and in Arcadia during Pausanias' time the two were represented by statues in a temple near A ...

Lycosura Lycosura ( grc, Λυκόσουρα, Lykosoura) was a city in the ancient Parrhasia region of south Arcadia said by Pausanias to be the oldest city in the world, although there is no evidence for its existence before the fourth century BCE. Its ...

, he says that "From Homer the name of the Titans was taken by Onomakritos, who in the orgies he composed for

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

made the Titans the authors of the god's sufferings."Pausania
8.37.5
/ref> Therefore, Onomacritus is responsible for inventing an important aspect of the mythology concerning the Titans.

According to Thomas Taylor

The following are Thomas Taylor's remarks on works of

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

supposedly forged by Onomacritus:

Notes

References

* Herodotu
7.6
* Pausania
1.22.78.37.5
* ''

Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'' is an English-language encyclopedia on subjects of classical antiquity. It was edited by Harry Thurston Peck and published 1898 by Harper & Brothers in New York City. (advertisement) ...

'', by

Harry Thurston Peck Harry Thurston Peck (November 24, 1856 – March 23, 1914) was an American classical scholar, author, editor, historian and critic. Biography Peck was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He was educated in private schools and at Columbia College, gr ...

. New York. Harper and Brothers, 1898. * ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion'', by

Jane Ellen Harrison Jane Ellen Harrison (9 September 1850 – 15 April 1928) was a British classics, classical scholar and linguistics, linguist. Harrison is one of the founders, with Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, of modern studies in Ancient Greek religio ...

, Cambridge, 1903. Archaic Athens Ancient Greek poets Ancient Greek mythographers Ancient Greek writers known only from secondary sources Classical oracles Archaic Greek seers 5th-century BC Greek people 6th-century BC poets 530s BC births 480s BC deaths 6th-century BC religious leaders 5th-century BC religious leaders {{AncientGreece-poet-stub