Timaeus (historian) facts for kids
Timaeus of Tauromenium was an ancient Greek historian. He was born around 356 or 350 BC and lived until about 260 BC. Many people in ancient times thought he was one of the most important historians between Ephorus (who lived in the 4th century BC) and Polybius (who lived in the 2nd century BC). One expert, Lionel I. C. Pearson, said that Timaeus's work was the main source for the history of the Greek West for almost 500 years!
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A Greek Historian's Life
Timaeus was born into a rich Greek family in a city called Tauromenium (which is now Taormina) in eastern Sicily. His father, Andromachus, was a powerful ruler (sometimes called a "dynast") who had taken control of Tauromenium in 358 BC from Dionysius of Syracuse.
Around 316 or 315 BC, Timaeus had to leave Sicily. This was probably because he didn't get along with Agathocles, who was the ruler (or "tyrant") of Syracuse. A tyrant in ancient Greece was someone who took power by force, not by being elected. Timaeus said he spent at least 15 years living in Athens, a famous city in Greece. While there, he studied with Philiscus of Miletus, who was a student of the famous teacher Isocrates. It was during this time that Timaeus wrote his most important history books.
Timaeus might have returned to Sicily around 265 BC, when Hiero II was ruling. He passed away shortly after 264 BC, supposedly when he was 96 years old.
Timaeus's Important Writings
While Timaeus was in Athens, he finished his huge historical work called the Histories. This work had thirty-eight books! It covered the history of Greece from its very early days all the way up to the first Punic War. The Histories also talked about the early history of Italy and Sicily, then just Sicily, and later Sicily and Greece together. The last five books focused a lot on the time of Agathocles. The work likely ended before the Romans crossed into Sicily in 264 BC. Timaeus also wrote a special book about the Greek king Pyrrhus, which was mostly about his wars against Rome.
How Timaeus Tracked Time
Timaeus paid a lot of attention to chronology, which is the study of putting events in order by time. He started a system of counting years using the Olympiads. An Olympiad was the four-year period between the ancient Olympic Games. To make his timelines, he also used the years of the Archons of Athens, the Ephors of Sparta, and the priestesses of Argos. Even though people didn't use this system in their daily lives, many Greek historians after him used it.
Rome's Growing Power
Timaeus was one of the first historians to see that the Roman Republic was becoming very powerful. It's not completely clear if he thought Rome would be a friend or an enemy, or how important he thought Rome would be for the whole Mediterranean world. According to a scholar named Craige B. Champion, Timaeus might have been the first writer to truly understand how important the winner of the great Sicilian War would be for the Greeks in the west, whether it was Rome or Carthage.
What Remains of His Work
Sadly, only a few parts of Timaeus's detailed work have survived from ancient times:
- Some small pieces from the 38th book of the Histories, which was about the life of Agathocles.
- A rewritten part of his Histories called On Pyrrhus, which covered the life of this king of Epirus until 264 BC.
- A history of the cities and kings of Syria (though this is not certain).
- A timeline sketch called The victors at Olympia, which might have been an extra part of his larger work.
See also
