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Athenaeus

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Also known as Athenaeus of Naucratis, Athenæus

Athenaeus of Naucratis (; or Nαυκράτιος, Athēnaios Naukratitēs or Naukratios; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD. The Suda says only that he lived in the times of Marcus Aurelius, but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus, who died in 192, implies that he survived that emperor. He was a contemporary of Adrantus.

OverviewAI-generated

Athenaeus of Naucratis was a male writer, orator, and grammarian active during the Roman Empire. Born in 170 in Naucratis, he was a citizen of Ancient Rome and associated with the culture of Ancient Greece. He wrote in Ancient Greek and spoke both Latin and Ancient Greek. His primary field of work encompassed Greek literature and history.

His most notable work is *Deipnosophistae*. Other recorded titles include *Deipnosophistae, libri XV. Cum rerum et scriptorum Indicibus ad optimorum librorum fidem accurate editi* and *Athēnaiou Deipnosophistai*. Various sources list differing counts for his works, with figures ranging from 5 to 87. He died in 223.

Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Europeana Sparql, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
2nd century AD
Works
87

Top works

  • Deipnosophistae, libri XV. Cum rerum et scriptorum Indicibus ad optimorum librorum fidem accurate editi
  • Deipnosophistarum libri quindecim
  • Deipnosophistae livri xv
  • Deipnosophistarum libri xv
  • Les qvinze livres des Deipnosophistes d'Athénée de la ville de Navcrate d'Egypte, ecrivain d'une érudition consommée & presque le plus sçavant des Grecs

via Open Library + Wikidata

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
27
Total plays
78

Athenaeus, son of Athenaeus (Greek: Ἀθήναιος) was an ancient Greek (Athenian) composer and musician who flourished around 138–128 BC, when he composed the First Delphic Hymn. Although it was long thought that the composer of the First Hymn was merely "an Athenian", careful reading of the inscription shows that it cannot be the ethnic Athenaîos (from Athens), but rather names Athénaios Athenaíou (Athenaeus, son of Athenios) as the composer. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Athenaeus">Read more

via Last.fm · Athenaeus

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

  1. The Learned Banqueters

    · 2007 · cited 29x

  2. Athenaei Dipnosophistarum epitome

    · 1939 · cited 3x

  3. Athenaeus, the Deipnosophists. Volume 6

    · 1939 · cited 1x

  4. Athenaei Naucratitae Dipnosophistarum libri XV, Vol. III, Libri XI-XV. Indices

    · 1992 · cited 1x

  5. Athenaei Dipnosophistarum epitome

    · 2024

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

  • For it would be unbecoming, says Aristotle, to come to banquet covered in sweat and dust; for the true gentleman should neither be dirty nor be unwashed nor [Rejoice in mire], as Heraclitus says.
  • It was a saying of Demetrius Phalereus, that "Men having often abandoned what was visible for the sake of what was uncertain, have not got what they expected, and have lost what they had,—being unfortunate by an enigmatical sort of calamity."
  • Every investigation which is guided by principles of Nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.
  • Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the "Nautilus" of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan.
  • On one occasion some one put a very little wine into a wine-cooler, and said that it was sixteen years old. "It is very small for its age," said Gnathæna.
  • οὐκ ἐν τῷ μεγάλῳ τὸ εὖ κείμενον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ ἐν τῷ εὖ τὸ μέγα.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.name
Athenaeus of Naucratis
Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.birth_date
Late 2nd century AD
Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.birth_place
Naucratis, Roman Empire (modern-day Egypt)
Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.death_date
Early 3rd century AD
Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.death_place
Unknown
Writer <! for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] >.notableworks
Deipnosophistae

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
male
Citizenship
Ancient Rome
Place of birth
Naucratis
Occupation
grammarian
Languages spoken
Ancient Greek
Notable work
Deipnosophistae
Field of work
history
Show 6 more facts
date of birth
0170-00-00
time period
Roman Empire
date of death
0223-00-00
writing language
Ancient Greek
Commons category
Athenaeus
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

19 objects attributed to Athenaeus, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • The ''Deipnosophistae''
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Athenaeus of Naucratis (; or Nαυκράτιος, Athēnaios Naukratitēs or Naukratios; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD. The Suda says only that he lived in the times of Marcus Aurelius, but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus, who died in 192, implies that he survived that emperor. He was a contemporary of Adrantus.

Athenaeus himself states that he was the author of a treatise on the thratta, a type of fish mentioned by Archippus and other comic poets, and of a history of the Syrian kings. Both works are lost. Of his works, only the fifteen-volume Deipnosophistae mostly survives.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Athenaeus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)