Antidorus of Cyme

Antidorus (Ancient Greek: Ἀντίδωρος) of Cyme or Cumae was a Greek grammarian. He was influenced by Eratosthenes,[1] chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria. He played a role in the development of the science of grammar,[2] which emerged during his time as a noted grammarian between 340–330 BC.[3] Thus he lived in the time of Alexander the Great.

Various definitions of grammar

In Ancient Greece, the term γραμματική (grammar) had many meanings that evolved over time:

  • The term ″grammarian″ as understood in the earlier classical sense: knowledge of the letters of the alphabet (this being the common meaning) and the number of alphabets known; thus implying a person knowing how to read.
  • As understanding developed, the term was used for a teacher of reading. Theagenes of Rhegium (floruit 550 BC) was the earliest allegorical interpreter of Homer, and thus perhaps the first person to have the term γραμματική acceptably applied.
  • During the Alexandrian age, it meant "a student of literature, especially of poetry".[3]

Arguments

According to a tradition, the first person to have a developed designation of γραμματικός applied to his activities,[2] ergo himself was a pupil of Theophrastus, the philosopher of the peripatetic school of Praxiphanes of Rhodes, active and flourishing about 300 BC,[4] although another tradition suggests that Antidorus might instead have been the first γραμματικός.[5]

They say that Antidorus of Chyme was the first person to call himself a grammarian; he wrote a treatise about Homer and Hesiod [6]

See also

References
  1. Matthaios, Stephanos (2011). "Eratosthenes of Cyrene: Readings of his 'Grammar' Definition". In Matthaios, Stephanos; Montanari, Franco; Rengakos, Antonios (eds.). Ancient Scholarship and Grammar: Archetypes, Concepts and Contexts. Trends in Classics – Supplementary Volumes. Vol. 8. Walter De Gruyter (published February 2011). pp. 55–86. doi:10.1515/9783110254044.55. ISBN 978-3-11-025404-4.
  2. Stephanos Matthaios, Franco Montanari, Antonios Rengakos Ancient Scholarship and Grammar: Archetypes, Concepts and Contexts. Walter de Gruyter. 2011. ISBN 9783110254037. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  3. Sandys, John Edwin (1921) [1903]. A History of Classical Scholarship: From the Sixth Century B.C. to the End of the Middle Ages. Vol. 1 (Third ed.). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  4. John Edwin Sandys brmullikin.com Retrieved 2011-11-06
  5. Brink, Charles Oscar (1982). Horace on Poetry: Epistles Book II: The Letters to Augustus and Florus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20069-5. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  6. Hesiod: Theogony, Works and days, Testimonia. Translated by Most, Glenn W. Harvard University Press. 2006. p. 267. ISBN 0-674-99622-4. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
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