Apollodorus of Athens facts for kids

Apollodorus of Athens was an important Greek scholar who lived a long time ago, from about 180 BC to after 120 BC. He was known for being a historian, which means he studied and wrote about the past. He was also a grammarian, someone who studied language and how it works. His father's name was Asclepiades.

Apollodorus learned from some very smart teachers. These included Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and Aristarchus of Samothrace. He probably studied with another famous scholar, Dionysius Thrax. Around 146 BC, Apollodorus left the city of Alexandria. He likely moved to Pergamon and later settled in Athens, another major Greek city.

Apollodorus's Important Writings

Apollodorus wrote many important books and studies. Even though some of them are lost today, we know about them from other ancient writers.

The Chronicle

• This was a long poem about Greek history. It started with the fall of Troy in the 12th century BC. The poem went up to about 143 BC, but was later updated to 109 BC.
• Apollodorus based this work on earlier writings by Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
• He used the names of the archons of Athens to figure out the dates. Archons were like leaders who usually held office for one year. This helped scholars know exactly which years Apollodorus was talking about.
• The poem was written in a special rhythm called "comic trimeters." It was dedicated to Attalus II Philadelphus, a king of Pergamon.

On the Gods

• This was a book written in prose, which means it was like regular writing, not poetry. It had 24 parts, or "books."
• Sadly, this work is lost, but we know about it from quotes by other writers.
• It included the origins of the names of the gods. It also explained their special titles, called "epithets."
• Some small pieces of this work have been found in ancient Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

About Homer's Catalogue of Ships

• Apollodorus wrote a twelve-book essay about a part of Homer's famous epic poem, the Iliad. This part is called the "Catalogue of Ships."
• His essay focused on the geography mentioned in Homer's works. It also looked at how that geography had changed over many centuries.
• The famous geographer Strabo used Apollodorus's work a lot. Strabo relied on it for parts of his own book, the Geographica.

Other Writings

• Apollodorus also wrote other critical and grammatical works. These writings have not survived to our time.
• Because he was such a respected scholar, some later works were wrongly said to be his. For example, a big collection of Greek myths called the Bibliotheca was thought to be by him.
• However, we now know that Apollodorus could not have written the Bibliotheca. It mentions a historian named Castor the Annalist, who lived after Apollodorus. So, the real author of the Bibliotheca is now called Pseudo-Apollodorus, meaning "false Apollodorus."