A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HELLANICUS. HELLANICUS. 377
Suidas (s. *.'ENAcvtros). According to the -con- /pavaL; Athen. x. p. 447.) Stephanus of Byzanfused account of Suidas, Hellanicus and Herodotus tium refers to some other works under the name
lived together at the court of Amyntas (B. c. 553- of Hellanicus, such as KvrptaKcd, rad repl Avusav,
504), and Hellanicus was still alive in the reign of and KcvKia, of which we cannot say whether they
Perdiccas, who succeeded to the throne in B. C. were parts of another work, perhaps the Ilepeutcda
461. This account, however, is irreconcilable with (of which we shall speak presently). The 4ovtciuciK
the further statement of Suidas, that Hellanicus mentioned by Cedrenus (Synops. p. 11), and the
was a contemporary of Sophocles and Euripides.'lrTopfar (Athen. ix. p. 411, where lepefais must
Lucian (Macrob. 22). states that Hellanicus died probably be read for irToplars; Theodoret, de
at the age of eighty-five, and the learned authoress A.' p. 1022), probably never existed at all, and
Pamphila (ap. Gellinm, xv. 23), who likewise are wrong titles. There is one work referred to by
makes him a contemporary of Herodotus, says that Fulgentius (Myth. i. 2), called ALs lrohvrvXia,
at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war (B. c. the very title of which is a mystery, and is other431), Hellanicus was about sixty-five years old, so wise unknown.
that he would have been born about B.C. 496, and Setting aside these works, which were spurious,
died in B. C. 411. This account, which in itself is or at least of very doubtful character, we proceed to
very probable, seems to be contradicted by a state- enumerate the genuine productions of Hellanicus,;ment of a scholiast (ad Aristoph. Ran. 706), from according to the three divisions under which they
which it would appear that after the battle of are arranged by Preller, viz. genealogical, choroArginusae, in B. C. 406, Hellanicus was still en- graphical, and chronological works.
gaged in writing; but the vague and indefinite ex- I. Genealogical works. It is a very probable opinion
pression of that scholiast does not warrant such an of Preller, that Apollodorus, in writing his Biblioinference, and it is moreover clear from Thucydides theca, followed principally the genealogical works of
(i. 97), that in B.C. 404 or 403 Hellanicus was no Hellanicus, and he accordingly arranges the latter
longer alive. Another authority, an anonymous in the following order, agreeing with that in which
biographer of Euripides (p. 134 in Westermann's Apollodorus treats of his subjects. 1. AevcKalwVitarum SerSitores Graeci minores, Brunswick, veia, in two books, containing the Thessalian tra1845), states that Hellanicus was born on the day ditions about the origin of man, and about Deucaof the battle of Salamis, that is, on the 20th of lion and his descendants down to the time of the
Boedromion B. c. 481, and that he received his name Argonauts. (Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. p. 629.) The
from the victory of'EAAdr over the barbarians; esrraAucd referred to by Harpocration (s. v. Terpapbut this account is too much like an invention of X[a) were either the same work or a portion of
some grammarian to account for the name Hellani- it. 2. @,opovfs, in two books, contained the Pelascus, and deserves no credit; and among the various gian and Argive traditions from the time of Phorocontradictory statements we are inclined to adopt neus and Ogyges down to Heracles, perhaps even
that of Pamlphila. Respecting the life of Hella- down to the return of the Heracleidae. (Dionys.
nicus we are altogether in the dark, and we only i. 28.) The works nrepl'Aptcaias. (Schol. ad
learn from Suidas that he died at Perperene, a Apollon. RBod. i. 162),'ApyoALcK (Schol. ad
town on the coast of Asia Minor opposite to Les- Hornm. Il. iii. 75), and BoLIWTLcd (ibid. iii. 494) were
bos; we may, however, presume that he visited at either the same work as the Phoronis or portions
least some of the countries of whose history he of it. 3.'ATAaVTLa's, in two books, containing the
treated. stories about Atlas and his descendants. (HarpoHellanicus was a very prolific writer, and if we crat. s. v.'O/zipi8aL; Schol. ad Hornm. II. xviii. 486.)
were to look upon all the titles that have come 4. TpwOtCd, in two books, beginning with the time
down to us as titles of genuine productions and dis- of Dardanus. (Harpocrat. s. v. KpOwrrj; Schol. ad
tinct works, their number would amount to nearly Horn. II. (p. 242.) The'Aaor'is was only a portion
thirty; but the recent investigations of Preller of the Troica. (Marcellin. Vit. Thuc. ~ 4.)
(De Hellanico Lesbio Historico, Dorpat, 1840, 4to.) II. Chorogra~phicalworks. 1.'ATOis, or a history
have shown that several works bearing his name of Attica, consisting of at least four books. The
are spurious and of later date, and that many others first contained the history of the mythical period
which are referred to as separate works, are only the second was principally occupied with the history
chapters or sections of other works. We adopt and antiquities of the Attic demi; the contents of
Preller's arrangement, and first mention those works the third and fourth are little known, but we
which were spurious. 1. AiyvurlcaKca. The late know that Hellanicus treated of the Attic colonies
origin of this production is obvious from the frag- established in Ionia, and of the subsequent events
ment quoted by Arrian (Dissert. Epictet. ii. 19) down to his own time. (Preller, I.c. p. 22, &c.;
and Gellius (i. 2; comp. Athen. xi. p. 470, xv. comp. Thuc. i. 97.) 2. AloAKd, or the history
pp. 679, 680.) 2. EirsApluuwvos dv'camls, which is of the Aeolians in Asia Minor and the islands of
mentioned by Athenaeus (xiv. p. 652), who, how- the Aegean. The Lesbiaca and Ilepi Xiov IcTLaecws
ever, doubts its genuineness. 3. Bapgapcd Id- seem to have formed sections of the Aeolica.
pLjua, which, even according to the opinions of the (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1374; Schol. ad Pind. Nem..
ancients, was a compilation made from the works xi. 43, ad Hom. Od. viii. 294.) 3. Iepocad, in
of Herodotus and Damastes. (Euseb. Praep. Evang. two books, contained the history of Persia, Media,
ix. p. 466; comp. Suid. s. v. Zdo,uoAts; Etymol. and Assyria from the time of Ninus to that of HelMag. p. 407. 48.) 4.'EOvCov sYopuaoiaL, which lanicus himself, as we may gather from the fragseems to have been a similar compilation. (Athen. ments still extant, and as is expressly stated by
xi. p. 462; comp. Herod. iv. 190.) It may have Cephalion in Syncellus (p. 315, ed. Dindorf).
been the same work as the one which we find III. ~Cronological works. 1.'Ipeaal T$s"Hpas,
referred to under the name of IIEsp ieOvcu (Schol. in three books, contained a chronological list of the
ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 322), K;-efer Ez'(6Ov cal priestesses of Hera at Argos. There existed un7rJewv,, or simr.ply KTriaes. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Xap~- doubtedly at Argos in the temple of Hera records