Listed 13 sub titles with search on: Ancient Literature for wider area of: "ALEXANDRIA Airport EGYPT" .
ALEXANDRIA (Ancient city) EGYPT
Apollonius. The son of Archebulus, Archebius, or Anchibius, was like his father an eminent
grammarian of Alexandria. He lived about the time of Augustus, and was the teacher
of Apion, while he himself had been a pupil of the school of Didymus. This is
the statement of Suidas, which Villoison has endeavoured to confirm. Other critics,
as Ruhnken, believe that Apollonius lived after the time of Apion, and that our
Apollonius in his Homeric Lexicon made use of a similar work written by Apion.
This opinion seems indeed to be the more probable of the two; but, however this
may be, the Homeric Lexicon of Apollonius to the Hiad land the Odyssey, which
is still extant, is to us a valuable and instructive relic of antiquity, if we
consider the loss of so many other works of the same kind. It is unfortunately,
however, very much interpolated, and must be used with great caution. The first
edition of it was published by Villoison from a MS. of St. Germain belonging to
the tenth century. (Paris, 1773). H. Tollius afterwards published a new edition
with some additional notes, but without Villoison's prolegomena and translation
(Lugd. Bat. 1788). Bekker's is a very useful edition, Berlin, 1833. This Apollonius
is probably the same as the one who wrote explanations of expressions peculiar
to Herodotus (Etymol. M. s. vv. kophos and sophistes)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Apollonius, surnamed Dyscolus, that is, the ill-tem-pered, was a son of Mnesitheus
and Ariadne, and born at Alexandria, where he flourished in the reigns of Hadrian
and Antoninus Pius. He was one of the most renowned grammarians of his time, partly
on account of his numerous and excellent works, and partly on account of his son,
Aelius Herodian, who had been educated by him, and was as great a grammarian as
himself. Apollonius is said to have been so poor, that he was obliged to write
on shells. as he had no means of procuring the ordinary writing materials; and
this poverty created that state of mind to which he owed the surname of Dyscolos.
He lived and was buried in that part of Alexandria which was called Bruchium or
Puroucheion. But, unless he is confounded with Apollonius of Chalcis, he also
spent some time at Rome, where he attracted the attention of the emperor M. Antoninus.
Apollonius and his son are called by Priscian in several passages
the greatest of all grammarians, and he declares, that it was only owing to the
assistance which he derived from their works that he was enabled to undertake
his task (Priscian, Praef. ad libb. i. and vi. viii, ix. init. and p. 941). He
was the first who reduced grammar to anything like a system, and is therefore
called by Priscian "grammaticorum princeps." A list of his works, most of which
are lost, is given by Suidas, and a more complete one in Fabricius (Bibl. Grace.
vi). We confine ourselves here to those which are still extant.
1. Peri suntaxeos tou logou meron, "de Constructione Orationis," or "de Ordinatione
sive Constructione Dictionum," in four books. The first edition of this work is
the Aldine. (Venice, 1495, fol.) A much better one, with a Latin translation and
notes, was published by Fr. Sylburg, Frankf. 1590, 4to. The last edition, which
was greatly corrected by the assistance of four new MISS., is I. Bekker's, Berlin,
1817, 8vo.
2. Peri antonumias, "de Pronomine liber," was first edited by 1. Bekker in the
Museum. Antiq. Stud. i. 2, Berlin, 1811, 8vo., and afterwards separately, Berlin,
1814, 8vo.
3. Peri sundesmon, "de Conjunctionibus," and
4. Peri epirrhematon, " de Adverbiis," are both printed in Bekker's Anecdot. ii.
p. 477, &c.
Among the works ascribed to Apollonius by Suidas there is one Peri
katepseusmenes historias, on fictitious or forged histories. It is generally believed
that the work of one Apollonius, which was published together with Antoninus Liberalis
by Xylander, under the title "Historiae Commentitiae" (Basel, 1568, 8vo.), is
the same as the work ascribed by Suidas to Apollonius Dyscolos; and Meursius and
subsequently L. H. Teucher published the work with the name of Apollonius Dyscolos.
This work thus edited three times is a collection of wonderful phenomena of nature,
gathered from the works of Aristotle, Theophrastus, and others. Now this is something
very different from what the title of the work mentioned by Suidas would lead
us to expect; that title can mean nothing else than, that Apollonius Dyscolos
wrote a work which was an exposition of certain errors or forgeries which had
crept into history. Phlegon, moreover, quotes from the work of Apollonius Dyscolos
passages which are not to be found in the one which Meursius and others ascribe
to him (Phlegon, cc. 11, 13, 17). The conclusion therefore must be, that the work
of Apollonius Dyscolos peri katepseusmenes historias is lost, and that the one
which has been mistaken for it belongs to an Apollonius who is otherwise unknown.
(Westermann, Scritores Rerum mirabil., where the work of the unknown Apollonius
is also incorporated)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited May 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Harpocration, Valerius, the author of a Greek dictionary to the works of the ten Attic orators, which is entitled Peri ton lexeon ton deka rhetoron, or lexikon ton deka rhetoron, and is still extant. It contains not only explanations of legal and political terms, but also accounts of persons and things mentioned in the orations of the Attic orators. The work is to us of the highest importance, as it contains a vast deal of information on the public and civil law of Athens, and on antiquarian, historical, and literary subjects, of which we should be in ignorance but for this dictionary of Harpocration, for most of the works from which the author compiled are lost, and appear to have perished at an early time. Hence Suidas, the author of the Etymologicum Magnum, and other late grammarians, derived their information on many points from Harpocration. All we know about his personal history is contained in a line or two in Suidas, who calls him a rhetorician of Alexandria, and, besides the above-mentioned dictionary, attributes to him an antheron sunalole, which is lost. We are thus left in the dark as to the time in which our rhetorician lived. Some believe that he is the same person as the Harpocration who, according to Julius Capitolinus ( Verus, 2), instructed the emperor L. Verus in Greek; so that he would have lived in the latter half of the second century after Christ. Maussac (Dissert. Crit. p. 378, in Blancard's edition of Harpocration) points out passages from which it would appear that Harpocration must have been acquainted with the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus, and that consequently he must have lived after the time of Athenaeus. Others, again, look upon him as identical with the Harpocration whom Libanius (Epist. 367) calls a good poet and a still better teacher; whence it would follow that he lived about A. D. 354. Others, lastly, identify him with the physician Harpocration: but all is mere conjecture, and it is impossible to arrive at any positive conviction. The text of Harpocration's dictionary was first printed, with the Scholia of Ulpian on the Philippics of Demosthenes, in the Aldine edition (Venice, 1503, and again in 1527); but the first critical edition is that by Ph. J. Maussac (Paris, 1614, 4to.), with a commentary and a learned dissertation on Harpocration. This edition was reprinted, with some improvements and additional notes of H. Valesius, by N. Blancard, Leyden, 1683, 4to., and followed by the edition of J. Gronovius, Harderwyk, 1696, 4to. The Leip zig edition (1824, 2 vols. 8vo.) incorporates every thing that had been done by previous editors for Harpocration. The most recent edition of the text (together with the dictionary of Moeris) is that of I. Bekker, Berlin, 1833, 8vo.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Didymus (Didumos). A famous grammarian, the son of a seller of fish at Alexandria, who was born in the consulship of Antonius and Cicero, B.C. 63, and flourished in the reign of Augustus. Macrobius calls him the greatest grammarian of his own or any other time (Saturn. v. 18, 9). According to Athenaeus (iv. 139), he published 3500 volumes, and had written so much that he was called “the forgetter of books” (bibliolathas), for he often himself forgot what he had written; and also “the man with brazen bowels” (chalkenteros), from his unwearied industry. He wrote, among other things, commentaries on Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, Bacchylides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes, Menander, Antiphon, Isaeus , Hyperides, Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Thucydides; on Ion; and also on the plays of Phrynichus; several treatises against Iuba, king of Mauretania; a book on the corruption of style; and a great number of historical and antiquarian treatises. The most important production of Didymus was his very learned treatise on the edition of Homer by Aristarchus (q.v.), parts of which are preserved in the Venetian scholia on Homer. His lexical works, in fact, were the source of innumerable lexica, scholia, etc. The collection of proverbs extant under the name of Zenobius was partly taken from a previous collection made by Didymus. The fragments of Didymus may be found in the collection by M. Schmidt (Leipzig, 1854). See the account of Didymus in Wilamowitz, Eurip. Heracles, i. 157-168; and Susemihl, Geschichte d. griech. Lit. ii. 195-210, 688 foll. (1892).
Didymus, (Didumos). A celebrated Alexandrian grammarian of the time of Cicero
and the emperor Augustus. He was a disciple or rather a follower of the school
of Aristarchus (Aristarcheios, Lehrs, de Aristarchi stud. Homer.), and is said
to have been the son of a dealer in salt fish. He was the teacher of Apion, Heracleides
Ponticus, and other eminent men of the time. He is commonly distinguished from
other grammarians of the name of Didymus by the surname chalkenteros, which he
is said to have received from his indefatigable and unwearied application to study.
But he also bore the nickname of bibliolathas, for, owing to the multitude of
his writings, it is said it often happened to him that he forgot what he had stated,
and thus in later productions contradicted what he had said in earlier ones. Such
contradictions happen the more easily the more a writer confines himself to the
mere business of compiling ; and this seems to have been the case to a very great
extent with Didymus, as we may infer from the extraordinary number of his works,
even if it were not otherwise attested. The sum total of his works is stated by
Athenaeus (iv.) to have been 3,500, and by Seneca (Ep. 88) 4000. (Comp. Quintil.
i. 9.9.) In this calculation, however, single books or rolls seem to be counted
as separate works, or else many of them must have been very small treatises. The
most interesting among his productions, all of which are lost, would have been
those in which he treated on the Homeric poems, the criticism and interpretation
of which formed the most prominent portion of his literary pursuits. The greater
part of what we now possess under the name of the minor Scholia on Homer, which
were at one time considered the work of Didymus, is taken from the several works
which Didymus wrote upon Homer. Among them was one on the Homeric text as constituted
by Aristarchus (peri tes Aristarchou diorthoseos), a work which would be of great
importance to us, as he entered into the detail of the criticisms of Aristarchus,
and revised and corrected the text which the latter had established. But the studies
of Didymus were not confined to Homer, for he wrote also commentaries on many
other poets and prose writers of the classical times of Greece. We have mention
of works of his on the lyric poets, and especially on Bacchylides (Theophyl. Ep.
8; Ammon. s. v. Nereides) and Pindar, and the better and greater part of our scholia
on Pindar is taken from the commentary of Didymus. (Bockh, Praef. ad Schol. Pind.
p. xvii. &c.) The same is the case with the extant scholia on Sophocles. (Richter,
de Aeschyli, Sophoclis, et Euripidis interpretibus Graecis) In the scholia on
Aristophanes, too, Didymus is often referred to, and we further know that he wrote
commentaries on Euripides, Ion, Phrynichus (Athen. ix.), Cratinus (Hesych. s.
v. Korsakis ; Athen. xi.), Menander (Etymol. Gud.), and others. The Greek orators,
Demosthenes, Isaeus, Hyperides, Deinarchus, and others, were likewise commented
upon by Didymus. Besides these numerous commentaries, we have mention of a work
on the phraseology of the tragic poets (peri tragoidoumenes lexos), of which the
28th book is quoted. (Macrob. Sat. v. 18 ; Harpocrat. s. v. xeraloiphein.) A similar
work (lexis komike) was written by him on the phraseology of the comic poets,
and Hesychius made great use of it, as he himself attests in the epistle to Eulogius.
(Comp. Etymol. M.; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 1139, iv. 1058.) A third work of
the same class was on words of ambiguous or uncertain meaning, and consisted of
at least seven books; and a fourth treated on false or corrupt expressions. He
further published a collection of Greek proverbs, in thirteen books (pros tous
peri paroimion suntetachotas), from which is taken the greater part of the proverbs
contained in the collection of Zenobius. (Schneidewin, Corpus Paroemiogr. Graec.
i.) A work on the laws of Solon is mentioned by Plutarch (Sol. 1) under the title
peri ton axonon Solonos. Didymus appears to have been acquainted even with Roman
literature, for he wrote a work in six books against Cicero's treatise "
de Re Publica," (Ammian. Marcell. xxii. 16), which afterwards induced Suetonius
to write against Didymus. (Suid. s. v. Trankullos.) Didymus stands at the close
of the period in which a comprehensive and independent study of Greek literature
prevailed, and he himself must be regarded as the father of the scholiasts who
were satisfied with compiling or abridging the works of their predecessors.
In the collection of the Geoponica there are various extracts bearing
the name of Didymus, from which it might be inferred that he wrote on agriculture
or botany; but it is altogether uncertain whether those extracts belong to cur
Alexandrian grammarian, or to some other writer of the same name. It is very probable
that, with Suidas, we ought to distinguish from our grammarian a naturalist Didymus,
who possibly may be the same as the one who wrote a commentary on Hippocrates,
and a treatise on stones and different kinds of wood (peri marmaron kai pantoion
xulon), a treatise which has been edited by A. Mai as an appendix to the fragments
of the Iliad. (Milan, 1819, fol.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hesychius (Hesuchios). A Greek grammarian of Alexandria, who lived probably towards the end of the fourth century A.D. He composed, with the assistance of the works of earlier lexicographers (especially the Periergopenetes of Diogenianus), a lexicon (Glossai), which has come down to us in a very confused form, but is nevertheless among the most important sources of our knowledge of the Greek language, and throws much light on the interpretation and criticism of Greek poets, orators, historians, and physicians. Editions by Alberti and Ruhnken (Leyden, 1746-66), with additions by Schon (Leipzig, 1792); and by M. Schmidt (5 vols. 1858-61). The Christian glosses, which are interpolations, have been separately edited by Ernesti (Leipzig, 1785). See Ranke, De Lex. Hesych. Vera Origine (Quedlinburg, 1831).
Hesychius, (Hesuchios), an Alexandrian grammarian, under whose name a large Greek dictionary has come down to us. Respecting his personal history absolutely nothing is known. The dictionary is preceded by a letter addressed by Hesychius to a friend Eulogius, who is as little known as Hesychius himself. In this prefatory letter the author explains the plan and arrangement of his work, and tells us that his compilation is based upon a comprehensive lexicon of Diogenianus, but that he also availed himself of the lexicographical works of Aristarchus, Apion, Heliodorus, and others, and that he devoted himself to his task with great care and diligence. Valckenaer was the first that raised doubts respecting the genuineness of this letter in his Schediasma de Epistola ad Eulogiumn (in Ursinus, Virgil. Collat.), and he conceived that it was the production of some later Greek, who fabricated it with a view to deceive the public and make them believe that the dictionary was his own work; but Valckenaer at the same time admits that the groundwork of the lexicon is a genuine ancient production, and only disfigured by a number of later interpolations. But a close examination of the prefatory epistle does not bring forth any thing which is at variance with the work to which it is prefixed, nor does it contain any thing to justify the opinion of Valckenaer. The investigations of Alberti and Welcker (in the Rhein. Mus. ii.) have rendered it highly probable that Hesychius was a pagan, who lived towards the end of the fourth century of our era, or, as Welcker thinks, previous to A. D. 389. This view seems to be contradicted by the fact that the work also contains a number of Christian glosses and references to ecclesiastical writers, as Epiphanius and others, whence Fabricius and other critics consider Hesychius as a Christian, and identify him with the Hesychius who in the third century after Christ made a Greek translation of the Old Testament, and is often quoted by Hieronymus and others. But it is now a generally established belief that the Christian glosses and the references to Christian writers are to be considered as interpolations introduced into the work by a later hand. We may therefore acquiesce in the statement of the prefatory letter, that the work is based on a similar one by Diogenianus, and that Hesychius made further use of other special dictionaries, especially such as treated of Homeric lexeis. There can be little doubt that the lexicon in its present form is greatly disfigured and interpolated, even setting aside the introduction of the Christian lexeis, or glossae sacrae, as they are commonly called; but notwithstanding all this, the work is of incalculable value to us. It is now one of the most important sources of our knowledge, not only of the Greek language as such, but, to some extent, of Greek literature also; and in regard to antiquarian knowledge, it is a real storehouse of information, derived from earlier grammarians and commentators, whose works are lost and unknown. It further contains a large number of peculiar dialectical and local forms and expressions, and many quotations from other writers. The author, it is true, was more concerned about the accumulation of matter derived from the most heterogeneous sources than about a skilful and systematic arrangement ; but some of these defects are, perhaps, not to be put to the account of the original compiler, but to that of the later interpolators. This condition of the work has led some critics to the opinion, that the groundwork of the lexicon was one made by Pamphilus of Alexandria in the first century after Christ; that in the second century Diogenianus made an abridgment of it, and that at length it fell into the hands of the unknown Hesychius, by whom it was greatly interpolated, and from whom it received its present form. The interpolations must be admitted, but the rest is only an unfounded hypothesis. To restore a correct text under these circumstances is a task of the utmost difficulty. The first edition is that of Venice, 1514, fol., edited by the learned Greek Musurus, who made many arbitrary alterations and additions, as is clear from the Venetian MS. (the only one that is as yet known; comp Villoison, Anecdot. Graec. ii.; N. Schow, Epistolae Criticae, Rome, 1790, 4to., reprinted as a supplement in Alberti?s edition.) The edition of Musurus was followed by those of Florence (1520, fol.), Hagenau (1521), and that of C. Schrevelius (Lugdun. Bat. et Amstelod., 1686, 4to.) The best critical edition, with a comprehensive commentary, is that of J. Alberti, which was completed after Alberti's death by Ruhnken, Lugd. Bat. 1746-1766, 2 vols. fol. A supplement to this edition was published by N. Schow (Lugd. Bat. 1792, 8vo.). The glossae sacrae were edited separately, with emendations and notes, by Ernesti, Leipzig, 1785. (Comp. Alberti's preface to vol. i., and Ruhnken's to vol. ii.; C. F. Ranke, De Lexici Hesychiani vera Origine et genuina Forma Commentatio, Leipz. et Quedlinburg, 1831, 8vo.; Welcker, l. c.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Grammarian and lexicographer; of uncertain date, but assigned by most authorities to the later fourth or earlier fifth century. We have no information whatever about him, his parentage, or his life; beyond what can be learned from the epistolary preface to his Lexicon. This purports to be written by "Hesychius of Alexandria, Grammarian, to his friend Eulogius": its authenticity was needlessly questioned by Valckenaer. It tells us that the author bases his work on that of Diogenianus (probably Diogenianus of Heraclea, who in Hadrian's reign composed one of the successive anthologies of Greek minor poetry which are imbedded in the "Anthologia Palatina"), who first digested into a single lexicon the various dictionaries of Homeric, comic, tragic, lyric, and oratorical Greek, adding also the vocabularies of medicine and history. The letter ends with "I pray to God that you may in health and well-being enjoy the use of this book"; but Hesychius is commonly held to have been a pagan. The work has certainly not come down to us in its original form: it contains biblical and ecclesiastical glosses, of which the preface gives no hint. It is generally agreed that these are a later interpolation; and there is no good ground for identifying this Hesychius (as Fabricius did) with his namesakes, a third-century bishop and a translator of the Scriptures (Bardenhewer, tr. Shahan, 160). The classical part of the Lexicon is of the greatest importance to Greek scholars, not only as a rich vocabulary of otherwise unknown words and rare usages, but as a mine of information about ancient Realien and lost authors; few instruments have been equally serviceable for the critical emendation of Greek poetry texts.
The disturbance in that alphabetical order which Hesychius (in the preface) says he carefully followed, is only one of many evidences that the book has been altered in the process of tradition: Ernesti held that the true author lived in the first century, and that his work, excerpted by Diogenianus, was roughly brought up to date by the interpolated additions of an otherwise unknown Hesychius; others, that Hesychius's book was "contaminated" with a lexicon attributed to St. Cyril of Alexandria. Whoever it may have been who added the "Glossae Sacrae" to Hesychius, they have received much separate attention. They derive, says Ernesti, from three sources: (1) the parallelism of Scripture, i.e. a word is glossed by the correlative word in the parallel half-verse; (2) the synonym, or explanatory doublets of the sacred writer; (3) the early commentators, such as Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion. The difficulties of exploring Hesychius's sources and utilizing his stores are aggravated by the bad state of the text: the Lexicon, first printed by Musurus (fol. ap. Aldum) at Venice in 1514, had only been transmitted in a single deeply-corrupt fifteenth-century codex.
J.S. Phillimore, ed.
Transcribed by: Herman F. Holbrook
This text is cited July 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
Dionysius. Of Alexandria, a son of Glaucus, a Greek grammarian, who flourished
from the time of Nero to that of Trajan. He was secretary and librarian to the
emperors in whose reign he lived, and was also employed in embassies. He was the
teacher of the grammarian Parthenius, and a pupil of the philosopher Chaeremon,
whom he also succeeded at Alexandria. (Athen. xi.; Suid. s. v. Dionusios; Eudoc.)
Dionysius. Surnamed Thrax, or the Thracian, a celebrated Greek grammarian, who unquestionably derived his surname from the fact of his father Teres being a Thracian (Suidas); and it is absurd to believe, with the author of the Etymologicum Magnum, that he received it from his rough voice or any other circumstance. He himself was, according to some, a native of Alexandria (Suidas), and, according to others, of Byzantium; but he is also called a Rhodian, because at one time he resided at Rhodes, and gave instructions there (Strab. xiv.; Athen. xi.), and it was at Rhodes that Tyrannion was among the pupils of Dionysius. Dionysius also staid for some t me at Rome, where he was engaged in teaching, about B. C. 80. Further particulars about his life are not known. He was the author of numerous grammatical works, manuals, and commentaries. We possess under his name a techne grammatike, a small work, which however became the basis of all subsequent grammars, and was a standard book in grammar schools for many centuries. Under such circumstances we cannot wonder that, in the course of time, such a work was much interpolated, sometimes abridged, and sometimes extended or otherwise modified. The form therefore, in which it has come down to us, is not the original one, and hence its great difference in the different MSS. It was first printed in Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. iv. of the old edition. Villoison (Anecd. ii. 99) then added some excerpta and scholia from a Venetian MS., together with which the grammar was afterwards printed in Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. vi. p. 311 of Harles's edition, and somewhat better in Bekker's Anecdota, ii. It is remarkable that an Armenian translation of this grammar, which has recently come to light, and was probably made in the fourth or fifth century of our era, is more complete than the Greek original, having five additional chapters. This translation, which was published by Cirbied in the Memoires et Dissertations sur les Antiquites nationales et etrangeres, 1824, 8vo., vol. vi., has increased the doubts about the genuineness of our Greek text; but it would be going too far to consider it, with Gottling, (Praef. ad Theodos. Gram.; comp. Lersch, die Sprachphilos. der Alten, ii.) as a mere compilation made by some Byzantine grammarian at a very late period. The groundwork of what we have is unquestionably the production of Dionysius Thrax. The interpolations mentioned above appear to have been introduced at a very early time, and it was probably owing to them that some of the ancient commentators of the grammar found in it things which could not have been written by a disciple of Aristarchus, and that therefore they doubted its genuineness. Dionysius did much also for the explanation and criticism of Homer, as may be inferred from the quotations in the Venetian Scholia (ad Hom. Il. ii. 262, ix. 460, xii. 20, xiii. 103, xv. 86, 741, xviii. 207, xxiv. 110), and Eustathius. (Ad Hom.) He does not, however, appear to have written a regular commentary, but to have inserted his remarks on Homer in several other works, such as that against Crates, and the peri posoteton. (Schol. Ven. ad Hom. Il. ii. 3.) In some MSS. there exists a treatise peri tonou terispomenon, which has been wrongly attributed to our grammarian: it is, further, more than doubtful whether he wrote a commentary on Euripides, as has been inferred from a quotation of the Scholiast on that poet. Iis chief merit consists in the impulse he gave to the study of systematic grammar, and in what he did for a correct understanding of Homer. The Etymol. M. contains several examples of his etymological, prosodical, and exegetical attempts. Dionysius is also mentioned as the author of meletai and of a work on Rhodes. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Tarsos; comp. Grafenhan, Gesch. der Klass. Philol. i.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Seleucus. A distinguished grammarian of Alexandria, who also taught at Rome. He was surnamed Homericus, and, in addition to commentaries on pretty well all the poets, wrote a number of grammatical and miscellaneous works, the titles of which are given by Suidas (s. v.). There are some other insignificant persons of this name.
Herodianus, Aelius, (Ailios Herodianos), one of the most celebrated grammarians
of antiquity. He was the son of Apollonius Dyscolus, and was born at Alexandria.
From that place he appears to have removed to Rome, where he gained the favour
of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, to whom he dedicated his work on prosody. No further
biographical particulars are known respecting him. The estimation in which he
was held by subsequent grammarians was very great. Priscian styles him maximnus
auctor artis grammaticae. He was a very voluminous writer; but to give any thing
like a correct list of his works (of which we possess only a few fragmentary portions)
is very difficult; as in numerous instances it is impossible to determine whether
the titles given by writers who quoted or epitomised his works were the titles
of distinct treatises, or only of portions of some of his larger works. The following
appear to have been distinct works :--1. Peri Ortholraphias, in three books, treating
of posotes, poiotes, and suntaxis. 2. Peri Suntaxeos Stoicheion. 3. Peri Pathon,
on the changes undergone by syllables and letters. 4. Sumpodion, written during
a residence at Puteoli. 5. Peri Gamou kai Sumbioseos. 6. Protaseis, of which we
know something through the Liseis Protaseon ton Herodianoi, written by the grammarian
Orus. 7. Onomatika. All the above works have entirely perished. The passages where
they are quoted, with the names of some other treatises of less note, will be
found in Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. vi.). 8. Epimerismoi. This work was devoted
to the explanation of difficult, obscure, and doubtful words, and of peculiar
forms found in Homer. A meagre compilation from this highly valuable work was
published from Parisian MSS. by J. F. Boissonade, London, 1819. Another abstract,
which appears to give a better idea of the original work, is the Epimerismoi,
published in Cramer's Anecdota Gr. Oxon. vol. i. Several important quotations
from this work are also found scattered in different parts of the scholia on Homer.
The Schematismoi Homerikoi, appended by Sturz to his edition of the Etymologicum
Gudianum, appears also to belong to the Epimerismoi of Herodianus. An Homerike
Prosoidia, of which we find mention, may also have been a portion of it; but,
like the Attike Prosoidia, and Anomalos Prosoidia (neither of which is extant),
more probably belonged to the great work on prosody. 9. He kath Holou, or Katholike
Prosoidia (called also Melale Prosoidia), in twenty books. This work also was
held in great repute by the successors of Herodianus. It seems to have embraced
not merely prosody, but most of those subjects now included in the etymological
portion of grammar. An abstract of it was made by the grammarian Aristodemus,
which, like the original work has perished. Another epitome is extant in a MS.
in the Bodleian library (Cod. Barocc. clxxix.), and an index of the subjects of
the different books in Cod. Matrit. xxxvii. The treatise Peri Tonon, published
under the name of Arcadius, but which was compiled by a later grammarian, Theodosius
of Byzantium, seems also to be an extract from the Prosoidia of Herodianus. 10.
Peri Monerous Lexeos, on monosyllabic words, published by Dindorf. (Grammat. Graec.
vol. i.) This is probably the only complete treatise of Herodianus that we possess.
11. Peri Dichronon, portions of which are extant in Bekker (Anecd.), and Cramer
(Anecd. Oxon. iii.).
The names of a few other treatises are enumerated by Fabricius, but
it is very likely that many of them were merely portions of greater works. The
following fragments (either of distinct treatises or of different portions of
his larger works) have also been preserved:--1. Peri ton arithmon (in Gaza's Introd.
Gramm. Venice, 1495, and in the glossaries attached to the Thesaurus of Stephanus).
2. Parekbolai melalou Hpematos. 3. Paralolai duskliton Hpematon. 4. Peri Elklinomenon
kai Enklitikan kai Sunenklitikon Morion. (These three are preserved in the Thesaurus
Cornucop. et Horti Adon. Venice, 1496, and the last of them in Bekker's Anecdota,
iii.) 5. Zetoumena kata Klisin pantos ton tou Logou Meron (in Cramer's Anecdota
Oxon. iii., &c.). 6. Peri Paragogon Genikon apo Dialekton, and Peri Kliseos Onomaton
(in Cramer's An. Oaon. iii.). 7. Two fragments, Peri Barbarismou kai Soloikismou
(appended to Valckenaer's edition of Ammonius, and in the appendices of the Thesaurus
of Stephanus. The latter of them also in Boissonade's Anecdota, iii. p. 241).
8. A fragment, entitled simply Ek ton Herodianou (in Bachmann's Anecdota Graeca,
ii. and elsewhere). 9. Philetairos (appended to Pierson's edition of Moeris, and
also published separately at Leipzig, 1831). 10. Peri Schematon (in Viiloison's
Anecd. Gr. ii.). 11. Peri tes Lexeos ton Stichon (in Villoison, Anecd. vol. ii.,
and the appendix to Draco Stratonicensis, Leipzig, 1814). 12. Kanones peri Sullabon
Ektaseos kai Sustoles dialambanontes (extant in a Parisian MS. according to Bast,
Repertoire de Lit. anc.). 13. Peri Authupotakton kai Anthupotakton (in Bekker's
Anecd. iii.). 14. Peri Akurologias (in Boissonade's Anecd. iii. 262, &c., and
Cramer's Anecd. iii., where some other less important fragments will be found).
There are a few more fragments, not worth mentioning here. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec.
vi.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Irinaeus. An Alexandrian grammarian, known also by the Latin name of Minucius Pacatus, was the pupil of Heliodorus Metricus. His works, which were chiefly on the Alexandrian and Attic dialects, were held in high esteem, and are often quoted: a list of them is given by Suidas. He probably lived about the time of Augustus. 1 (Suid. s. v. Eirenaios and Pakatos; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. pp. 170, 171.)
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