Theodosius of Alexandria was an Ancient Greek

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

, purported to have lived about the time of

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

. A ''

terminus ante quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' is yielded by a letter of

Synesius Synesius of Cyrene (; ; c. 373 – c. 414) was a Greek bishop of Ptolemais in ancient Libya, a part of the Western Pentapolis of Cyrenaica after 410. He was born of wealthy parents at Balagrae (now Bayda, Libya) near Cyrene between 370 and 3 ...

(floruit ca. 400 CE) to the "wonderful grammarian Theodosuis". Theodosius himself cited

Apollonius Dyscolus Apollonius Dyscolus (; reached his maturity sometime around 130 CE) is considered one of the greatest of the Greek grammarians. Life Little is known of Apollonius Dyscolus, other than that he was born at Alexandria, son of Mnesitheus. Th ...

and

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς με ...

in his works. Theodosius' main work were the Κανόνες εἰσαγωγικοί περὶ κλίσεως ὀνομάτων καὶ ῤημάτων (''Introduction to The Rules of Noun and Verb Declension''), essentially an

epitome An epitome (; , from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "to the degree of." A ...

Dionysius Thrax Dionysius Thrax ( ''Dionýsios ho Thrâix'', 170–90 BC) was a Greek grammarian and a pupil of Aristarchus of Samothrace. He was long considered to be the author of the earliest grammatical text on the Greek language, one that was used as a st ...

's ''

Art of Grammar ''The Art of Grammar'' ( - or romanized, Téchnē Grammatikḗ) is a treatise on Greek grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax, who wrote in the 2nd century BC. Contents It is the first work on grammar in Greek, and also the first concerning a W ...

'', from where he mechanically copied the verb and noun inflectional paradigms. This work, and most importantly the

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

on it by

Georgius Choeroboscus George Choiroboskos (), Latinized as Georgius Choeroboscus, was an early 9th-century Byzantine grammarian and deacon. Life Little is known about his life. He held the positions of deacon and '' chartophylax'' (keeper of archives) at the Patria ...

, constituted the main primary source for the grammarians later onwards down to the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. Theodosius was also known as the author of Περὶ ὅρου and other grammatical works. The Κανόνες, amplified by the additions of later

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

grammarians, were published by

Karl Wilhelm Göttling Karl Wilhelm Göttling (Latin: Carolus Guilielmus Goettling; January 19, 1793 – January 20, 1869) was a German philologist and classical scholar. Biography He was born in Jena, the son of chemist Johann Friedrich August Göttling (1753–1820) ...

under the title of ''Theodosii Alexandrini Grammatica'' (

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, 1822), the Preface having been published before in Osann's ''Philemonis grammatici quae supersunt'' (

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, 1821), and a portion of this work, entitled ''Theodosii Grammatici Alex. Canones de Declinatione Nominum et Conjugatione Verborum'', was included by

August Immanuel Bekker August Immanuel Bekker (21 May 17857 June 1871) was a German philologist and critic. Biography Born in Berlin, Bekker completed his classical education at the University of Halle under Friedrich August Wolf, who considered him as his most promi ...

in the third volume of his ''Anecdota Graeca'' (Vol. 3, Berlin, 1821).

References

* Alfred Gudemann:
Theodosios 6
', in ''

Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'', Band VA, Halbband 10, Thapsos-Thesara (1934), p. 1935 * Smith, William. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''. Vol. 3, London, 1849, p. 1071.

Sources

* Ancient Greek grammarians {{greece-linguist-stub