Son of Kyknos, Athenian, prophet and diviner; he had as his wife Archestrate. The birth of Philochoros took place in the times of
Eratosthenes, as one may realize from the fact that he was a young man to (?)
Eratosthenes' old man.[1] He died after being ambushed by Antigonos,[2] because he had been attacked for inclining towards the kingdom of
Ptolemy.[3] He wrote 17 books of an
Atthis;[4] it contains the Athenians' deeds and kings and archons, as far as Antiochos the last, the one surnamed Theos.[5] It is in response to
Demon.[6] [In all, he wrote]
On the Art of Prophecy;
On Sacrifices (one book);
On the Tetrapolis;[7]
Foundation of Salamis;
Attic Inscriptions;
On the Festivals at Athens (17 books);[8]
On those who have been [sc. eponymous] archons at Athens[9] from Sokratides as far as Apollodoros;[10]
Olympiads (in 2 books);[11]
Atthis in Reply to that of Demon;
Summary of the same Atthis;
Summary of Dionysios' treatment 'On Sacred Matters';[12]
On Sophokles' Stories (5 books);
On Euripides;
On Alkman;[13]
On The Mysteries at Athens;
Collection of Heroines or Pythagorean Women;
Delian Matters (2 books);
On Discoveries;
On Purifications;
On Contracts.[14]
Philochoros, Kuknou, Athênaios, mantis kai hieroskopos: gunê de ên autôi Archestratê. kata de tous chronous gegonen ho Philochoros Eratosthenous, hôs epibalein presbutêi neon onta Eratosthenei. eteleutêse de enedreutheis hupo Antigonou, hoti dieblêthê proskeklikenai têi Ptolemaiou basileiai. egrapsen Atthidos biblia iz#: periechei de tas Athênaiôn praxeis kai basileis kai archontas, heôs Antiochou tou teleutaiou tou prosagoreuthentos theou: esti de pros Dêmôna: Peri mantikês d#, Peri thusiôn a#, Peri tês Tetrapoleôs, Salaminos ktisin, Epigrammata Attika, Peri tôn Athênêsin agônôn, biblia iz#, Peri tôn Athênêsin arxantôn apo Sôkratidou kai mechri Apollodôron, Olumpiadas en bibliois b#, Pros tên Dêmônos Atthida, Epitomên tês idias Atthidos, Epitomên tês Dionusiou pragmateias peri hierôn, Peri tôn Sophokleous muthôn biblia e#, Peri Euripidou, Peri Alkmanos, Peri mustêriôn tôn Athênêsi, Sunagôgên hêrôïdôn êtoi Puthagoreiôn gunaikôn, Dêliaka biblia b#, Peri heurêmatôn, Peri katharmôn, Peri sumbolôn.
Philochoros (c.340-c.260 BC) was the last of the so-called Atthidographers, writers of a history of
Athens; see further below, n.4. Over two hundred fragments of his works survive (FGrH 328). See generally Phillip Harding in OCD4
Philochorus.
This is the only biography of an Attidographer in the Suda.
[1]
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c.285-194), scientist and head of the Alexandrian library:
epsilon 2898. But in fact Philochoros was the elder, by far. This second mention of
Eratosthenes in the sentence, several scholars have suspected, has displaced another name.
[2] Antigonos II Gonatas, ruler of Macedonia (reigned c.277-239). The striking verb for what he did to Ph. here, 'ambushed', presumably means arrested (and put to death).
[3]
Ptolemy II Philadelphos, king of Egypt (283/2-246), who assisted the southern Greeks in the so-called Chremonidean War against the Macedonians in the 260s.
[4]
Atthis: later generic name for a body of 5th-3rd-century historiography of
Athens and Attica, of which Philochoros was the most renowned exponent. It was usually arranged annalistically, by archon-years.
[5] This is Antiochos II Theos, the Seleukid king of Asia who ruled 261-246; so the lexicographer's 'as far as' means as far as the beginning of Theos's reign. (Note, nevertheless, that 'the last' is odd, given that there were further kings of this name. Jacoby regarded the whole phrase as textually corrupt.)
[6]
Demon (floruit c 300 BC) wrote an
Atthis (FGrH 327). For a possible fragment of him, Jacoby's F22, see under
epsilon 3391.
[7] The (Marathonian) Tetrapolis was an ancient federation of four towns in Attica.
[8] This figure of 17 suspiciously repeats the one for the
Atthis (above); Jaocoby removed it.
[9] Here the Suda uses the aorist participle
a)/rcantes rather than the more usual present,
a)/rxontes, which, acting as a noun, became a technical term for the holders of the highest civic office at
Athens; 'archons' in English.
[10] Sokratides was eponymous archon of
Athens in 374/3. Apollodoros is the name of several eponymous archons, of whom those of 350/49 and 319/18 are possible subjects for Philochoros.
[11] Olympiads, a four-yearly cycle beginning in (trad.) 776 BC; thus a work on chronology, presumably.
[12] This Dionysios is FGrH 357, attested only here.
[13] An early Spartan poet: see generally
alpha 1289.
[14] Though this dossier purports to be complete, other works are mentioned elsewhere, e.g.
On Festivals, from which Harpokration quotes. Jacoby lists 27 in all.
F. Jacoby, Atthis (1949)
P.E. Harding, Androtion and the Atthis (1994) 32-34 and passim
David Whitehead (supplemented translation; augmented and modified notes; added keywords; cosmetics) on 26 October 2002@10:45:38.
David Whitehead (augmented n.6; more keywords) on 23 January 2008@09:17:38.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics; raised status) on 12 December 2013@04:27:30.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 7 August 2014@03:26:38.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 3 November 2014@00:40:08.
Catharine Roth (tweaked betacode) on 3 November 2014@00:42:08.
Catharine Roth (more coding) on 18 January 2015@22:25:00.
David Whitehead (tweaks to tr; corrected one note, expanded others, added others) on 9 June 2016@04:04:00.
Catharine Roth (cosmeticule) on 27 February 2023@11:25:34.
No. of records found: 1
Page 1
