The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

18 ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIANS LECT.

"contemporary" history in which the Greeks
achieved such high excellence.
~ 3. Early Alythographers
I may take "ancient" history first. The
Genealogies of Hecataeus soon led to new works
on the same subject. In the next generation
Pherecydes of Leros, who settled at Athens,
and Acusilaus of Argos-they seem to have
flourished before the middle of the fifth century
-again served up the epic legends in prose.
These writers have no claim to the title of
historians; they were simply mythographers and
it would be well always to describe them as such.
The work of Pherecydes was distinguished by
its comprehensiveness. He modified the traditions
for various reasons, but not on any systematic
principle. For instance, on chronological grounds
he makes Philammon, instead of Orpheus, accompany the Argonauts. In order to connect the
poet Homer with the poet Orpheus, he invents
genealogical intermediaries. The interpolation of
links in pedigrees is a feature of his method;
and here he is working simply on the lines, and in
the spirit, of the later epic poets themselves. If
he modifies a legend, it is not to rationalise, but
rather in the interests of popular superstition.
The old legend made Apollo slay the Cyclopes
because they furnished Zeus with the thunderbolts which destroyed Asclepius. Pherecydes makes