Hellanicus (or Hellanikos) of Lesbos (

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 ...

: , ''Ἑllánikos ὁ Lésvios''), also called Hellanicus of Mytilene (

: , ''Ἑllánikos ὁ Mutilēnaῖos'') was an ancient

logographer who flourished during the latter half of the 5th century BC. He was born in

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...

on the isle of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...

in 490 BC and is reputed to have lived to the age of 85. According to the '' Suda'', he lived for some time at the court of one of the kings of

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

, and died at Perperene, a city in

Aeolis Aeolis (; grc, Αἰολίς, Aiolís), or Aeolia (; grc, Αἰολία, Aiolía, link=no), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islan ...

on the plateau of Kozak near

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

, opposite

. He was one of the most prolific of early historians. His many works, though now lost, were very influential. He was cited by a number of other authors, who thereby preserved many fragments of his works, the most recent collection of which is by José J. Caerols Pérez, who includes a biography of Hellanicus. Hellanicus authored works of chronology, geography, and history, particularly concerning

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

, in which he made a distinction between what he saw as

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. His influence on the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

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 ...

was considerable, lasting until the time of Eratosthenes (3rd century BC). He transcended the narrow local limits of the older logographers, and was not content to merely repeat the traditions that had gained general acceptance through the poets. He tried to record the traditions as they were locally current, and availed himself of the few national or priestly registers that presented something like contemporary registration. He endeavoured to lay the foundations of a scientific chronology, based primarily on the list of the Argive priestesses of Hera, and secondarily on genealogies, lists of magistrates (e.g. the archons at

), and Oriental dates, in place of the old reckoning by generations. But his materials were insufficient and he often had to seek recourse to the older methods. Some thirty works are attributed to him, chronological, historical and episodical. They include: *''The Priestesses of Hera at Argon'': a chronological compilation, arranged according to the order of succession of these functionaries *''Carneonikae'': a list of the victors in the Carnean games (the chief

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

n musical festival), including notices of literary events. *''Atthis'', giving the history of

from 683 BC to the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BC), which is mentioned by

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

(i. 97), who says that he treated the events of the years 480 BC to 431 BC briefly and superficially, and with little regard to chronological sequence. *''

Phoronis ''Phoronis'' is one of the two genera of the horseshoe worm family ( Phoronidae), in the phylum Phoronida. The body has two sections, each with its own coelom. There is a specialist feeding structure, the lophophore, which is an extension of ...

'': chiefly genealogical, with short notices of events from the times of Phoroneus, primordial king in

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

. *''Troica'' and ''Persica'': histories of Troy and Persia. *''Atlantis'' (or ''Atlantias''), about the daughter of the Titan

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

. Some of his text may have come from an epic poem which

Carl Robert Carl (Karl) Georg Ludwig Theodor Herwig Joseph Robert (8 March 1850, Marburg – 17 January 1922, Halle an der Saale) was a German classical philologist and archaeologist. He began his studies of ancient philology and archaeology at the Uni ...

called ''Atlantis'', a fragment of which may be Oxyrhynchus Papyri 11, 1359. His work includes the first mention of the legendary founding of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

by the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * '' Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

; he writes that the city was founded by

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

when accompanying Odysseus on his travels through

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

. He also supported the idea that an incoming group of Pelasgians lay behind the origins of the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

. The latter idea, from ''Phoronis'', influenced Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who cites him .28as a source. José J. Caerols, ''Helanico de Lesbos'' (1991), fragment 4.

References

External Links

Online version of the fragments of Hellanicus
in Felix Jacoby's ''

Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker ''Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker'', commonly abbreviated ''FGrHist'' or ''FGrH'' (''Fragments of the Greek Historians''), is a collection by Felix Jacoby of the works of those ancient Greek historians whose works have been lost, but of w ...

''
Online version of the fragments of Hellanicus
in ''Brill's New Jacoby'', with English translation and commentary
Transcription of Atlantis from P.Oxy 1084 (Wikimedia Commons)

Transcription of Atlantis from P.Oxy 1084 (Catalogue of Paraliterary Papyri)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellanicus Of Mytilene 490 BC births 405 BC deaths Ancient Mytileneans Early Greek historians 5th-century BC historians Ancient Italian history 5th-century BC Greek people

References

Further reading

External Links