Aristophanes of Byzantium

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Aristophanes (disambiguation).

Aristophanes of Byzantium
Bornc. 257 BC
Byzantium
(modern-day Istanbul, Turkey)
Diedc. 185/180 BC
Alexandria
(modern-day Egypt)

Aristophanes of Byzantium (

grammarian, particularly renowned for his work in Homeric scholarship, but also for work on other classical authors such as Pindar and Hesiod. Born in Byzantium c. 257 BC, he soon moved to Alexandria and studied under Zenodotus, Callimachus, and Dionysius Iambus. He succeeded Eratosthenes as head librarian of the Library of Alexandria at the age of sixty. He died in Alexandria c. 185–180 BC. His students included Callistratus, Aristarchus of Samothrace, and perhaps Agallis. He would be succeeded by Apollonius "The Classifier"; not to be confused with Apollonius of Rhodes, a previous head librarian of Alexandria.[1] Aristophanes' pupil, Aristarchus of Samothrace, would be the sixth head librarian at the Library of Alexandria.[2]

Work

Aristophanes was the first to deny that the "Precepts of Chiron" was the work of Hesiod.[3]

Inventions

Accent system

Aristophanes is credited with reducing the accents used in

Mediterranean (replacing various Semitic languages
). The accents were designed to assist in the pronunciation of Greek in older literary works.

Punctuation

He also invented one of the first forms of

stigmḕ teleía point near the top of the line of text (·).[5][6][7]
He used a symbol resembling a ⊤ for an obelus.

Lexicography

As a lexicographer he compiled collections of archaic and unusual words. Aristophanes chiefly devoted himself to the poets (especially Homer) who had already been edited by his master Zenodotus. He also edited Hesiod, the chief lyric, tragic and comic poets, arranged Plato's dialogues in trilogies, and abridged Aristotle's Nature of Animals. His arguments to the plays of Aristophanes and the tragedians are in great part preserved. As a lexicographer, Aristophanes compiled collections of foreign and unusual words and expressions, and special lists (words denoting relationship, modes of address).[8] He also wrote a whole book on the proverbial moaning stick of Archilochus, but the one surviving fragment from this pertains to shellfish.[9]

Surviving works

All that has survived of Aristophanes of Byzantium's voluminous writings are a few fragments preserved through quotation in the literary commentaries, or scholia, of later writers, several argumenta to works of Greek drama, and part of a glossary.[10] The most recent edition of the extant fragments was edited by William J. Slater.[11]

See also

Citations

  1. ISBN 9789004281929
    .
  2. ISBN 0199279608
    .
  3. ^ H. G. Evelyn-White, tr. Hesiod II: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Loeb Classical Library 503), 2nd ed. 1936 fr. 4.
  4. ^ Sandys, John Edwin (1903). A history of classical scholarship: From the sixth century B. C. to the end of the middle ages. London: C. J. Clay and Sons.
  5. ^ Reading Before Punctuation Archived September 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine — Introduction to Latin Literature handout, Haverford College
  6. ^ "A History Of Punctuation". Archived from the original on March 8, 2005. Retrieved Mar 26, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ Bliss, Robert. "Points to Ponder". Software Technology Support Center. Archived from the original on 28 November 2002. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  8. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 501.
  9. S2CID 170427105
    .
  10. ^ Beach, Frederick Converse (1912). The Americana: A Universal Reference Library. Vol. 2. New York City, New York: Scientific American Compiling Department. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  11. ^ Aristophanis Byzantii fragmenta, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986.

General sources

External links

Preceded by Head of the Library of Alexandria Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aristophanes_of_Byzantium&oldid=1212383791"