Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/391

Rh HELLANICUS. Suidas (s. V. 'EWaviKos). According to the con- fused account of Suidas, Hellanicus and Herodotus lived together at the court of Amyntas (b. c. 533 — 504), and Hellanicus was still alive in the reign of Perdiccas, who succeeded to the throne in b. c. 40'1. This account, however, is irreconcilable with the further statement of Suidas, that Hellanicus was a contemporary of Sophocles and Euripides. Lucian {Macrob. 22) states that Hellanicus died at the age of eighty-five, and the learned authoress Pamphila (ap. Gellium, xv. 23), who likewise makes him a contemporary of Herodotus, says that at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war (b. c. 431), Hellanicus was about sixty-five years old, so that he would have been born about B.C. 496, and died in B.C. 411. This account, which in itself is very probable, seems to be contradicted by a state- ment of a scholiast {ad Aristoph. Ea7u 706), from which it would, appear that after the battle of Arginusae, in B. c. 406, Hellanicus was still en- gaged in writing ; but the vague and indefinite ex- pression of that scholiast does not warrant such an inference, and it is moreover clear from Thucydides (i. 97), that in B.C. 404 or 403 Hellanicus was no longer alive. Another authority, an anonymous biographer of Euripides (p. 134 in Westermann's Vitarum Scriptores Graeci minores^ Brunswick, 1845), states that Hellanicus was born on the day of the battle of Salarais, that is, on the 20th of Boedromion B.c. 481, and that he received his name from the victory of 'EAAas over the barbarians ; but this account is too much like an invention of some grammarian to account for the name Hellani- cus, and deserves no credit ; and among the various contradictory statements we are inclined to adopt that of Pamphila. Respecting the life of Hella- nicus we are altogether in the dark, and we only learn from Suidas that he died at Perperene, a town on the coast of Asia Minor opposite to Les- bos ; we may, however, presume that he visited at least some of the countries of whose history he treated. Hellanicus was a very prolific writer, and if we were to look upon all the titles that have come down to us as titles of genuine productions and dis- tinct woi'ks, their number would amount to nearly thirty ; but the recent investigations of Preller (i>e HeUa7iico Lesbio Historico^ Dorpat, 1840, 4to.) have shown that several works bearing his name are spurious and of later date, and that many others which are referred to as separate works, are only chapters or sections of other works. We adopt Preller's arrangement, and first mention those works which were spurious. 1. AlyvTniaKa. The late origin of this production is obvious from the frag- ment quoted by Arrian [Dissert. Epictet. ii. 19) and Gellius (i. 2 ; comp. Athen. xi. p. 470, xv, pp. 679, 680.) 2. Eis''A/X|Ua)Vosdcaga(r£S, which is mentioned by Athenaeus (xiv. p. 652), who, how- ever, doubts its genuineness. 3. BapSapiK^ v6- fiiiua, which, even according to the opinions of the ancients, was a compilation made from the works of Herodotus and Damastes. (Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix. p. 466 ; comp. Suid. s. v. ZaixoK^is ; Etymol. Mag. p. 407. 48.) 4. 'E^j/cSi/ ovofiaaiai^ which seems to have been a similar compilation. (Athen. xi. p. 462 ; comp. Herod, iv. 190.) It may have been the same work as the one which we find referred to under the name of Ylepl Idvwv (Schol. ad Apollon. Ithod. iv. 322), Kriaeis iQvciv koX noAccav, or simply Kriaeis. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Xapi- HELLANICUS. 377 fiaTai ; Athen. x. p. 447.) Stephanus of Byzan- tium refers to some other works under the name of Hellanicus, such as KwpiaKd, ra Trepl AvSCap, and 5Ku0tKa, of which we cannot say whether they were parts of another work, perhaps the UepaiKci (of which we shall speak presently). The ^oivikiko. mentioned by Cedrenus {St/nops. p. 11), and the iaroplai (Athen. ix. p. 411, where lepeiais must probably be read for IcTopiais ; Theodoret, de Aff. p. 1022), probably never existed at all, and are wrong titles. There is one work referred to by Fulgentius {Myth. i. 2), called Atos iroKvrvxia, the very title of which is a mystery, and is other- wise unknown. Setting aside these works, which were spurious, or at least of very doubtful character, we proceed to enumerate the genuine productions of Hellanicus, according to the three divisions under which they are arranged by Preller, viz. genealogical, choro- graphical, and chronological works. I. Genealogical works. Itisa very probable opinion of Preller, that Apollodorus, in writing his Biblio- theca, followed principally the genealogical works of Hellanicus, and he accordingly arranges the latter in the following order, agreeing with that in which Apollodorus treats of his subjects. 1. A^vKaKiuh veia, in tvvo books, containing the Thessalian tra- ditions about the origin of man, and about Deuca- lion and his descendants down to the time of the Argonauts. (Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. p. 629.) The 06TTaAtKa referred to by Harpocration (s. v. Terpap- xia) were either the same work or a portion of it. 2. ^opwvis, in two books, contained the Pelas- gian and Argive traditions from the time of Phoro- neus and Ogyges down to Heracles, perhaps even down to the return of the Heracleidae. (Dionys. i. 28.) The works Uepl 'ApKuSias (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 162), 'Ap-yoKiKo. (Schol. ad Horn. IL iii. 75), and BoiwrtKci (ibid. iii. 494) were either the same work as the Phoronis or portions of it. 3. 'ArXavTids, in two books, containing the stories about Atlas and his descendants. (Harpo- crat. s. V. 'Ojii-npiSai ; Schol. ad Horn. II. xviii. 486.) 4. Tjowtwa, in two books, beginning with the time of Dardanus. (Harpocrat. s. v. KpiOuT-q ; Schol. ad Horn. II. (p. 242.) The ^Acrutvis was only a portion of the Troica. (Marcellin. Vit. Thuc. § 4.) II. ChorograpMcal works. 1. 'AtOis, or a history of Attica, consisting of at least four books. The first contained the history of the mythical period ; the second was principally occupied with the history and antiquities of the Attic demi ; the contents of the third and fourth are little known, but we know that Hellanicus treated of the Attic colonies established in Ionia, and of the subsequent events down to his own time. (Preller, I.e. p. 22, &c. ; comp. Thuc. i. 97.) 2. AioiKd, or the history of the Aeolians in Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean. The Lesbiaca and Uepl Xiov Kriaews seem to have formed sections of the Aeolica. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1374; Schol. ad Find. Nem. xi. 43, ad Horn. Od. viii. 294.) 3. UfpaiKa, in two books, contained the history of Persia, Media, and Assyria from the time of Ninus to that of Hel- lanicus himself, as we may gather from the frag- ments still extant, and as is expressly stated by Cephalion in Syncellus (p. 315, ed. Dindorf). III. Clironological works. I. 'lepeiai r^s^Hpas, in three books, contained a chronological list of the priestesses of Hera at Argos. There existed un- doubtedly at Argos in the temple of Hera records