Agathocles (; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Greek historian who wrote a history of

Cyzicus Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...

() in the

Ionic dialect Ionic or Ionian Greek () was a subdialect of the Eastern or Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek. The Ionic group traditionally comprises three dialectal varieties that were spoken in Euboea (West Ionic), the northern Cyclades (Central ...

. He is called by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

both a

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n and a Cyzican. He may originally have come from Babylon, and have settled at Cyzicus. The first and third books are referred to by Athenaeus. The time at which Agathocles lived is unknown, and his work is now lost; but it seems to have been extensively read in antiquity, as it is referred to by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, Pliny, and other ancient writers. Agathocles also spoke of the origin of Rome. The scholiast on

Apollonius Apollonius () is a masculine given name which may refer to: People Ancient world Artists * Apollonius of Athens (sculptor) (fl. 1st century BC) * Apollonius of Tralles (fl. 2nd century BC), sculptor * Apollonius (satyr sculptor) * Apo ...

cites Memoirs () by an Agathocles, who is usually supposed to be the same as the above-mentioned one. There are several other writers of the same name, whose works are lost to us but are mentioned by later writers: *Agathocles of Atrax, who wrote a work on fishing. *Agathocles of Chios, who wrote a work on agriculture. *Agathocles of Miletus, who wrote a work on rivers. *Agathocles of Samos, who wrote a work on the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

of Pessinus.

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''de Fluv.'' p. 1159, a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agathocles (Writers) 3rd-century BC Greek historians People from Cyzicus Babylonian people Ancient Milesians Ancient Samians Ancient Greek historians known only from secondary sources Ancient Greek writers known only from secondary sources Ionic Greek writers Historians from Hellenistic Anatolia