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

XANTHUS. XANTHUS. 1287
was slain by Diomedes in the Trojan war. (Hom. is the suggestion of Creuzer, who proposes to subIn. v. 152.) stitute'AbOviv for Za'psoev, thus referring the
3. A son of Erymanthus, and father of Psophis. time of Xanthus to the taking of Athens by
(Paus. viii. 24. ~ 1.) Xerxes, in B. c. 480; but, though this correction
4. The last king of Thebes, was slain in single may give a truer date for Xanthus, it can hardly
combat by Melanthus or Andropompus. (Strab. be accepted as being what Suidas wrote.
ix. p. 393; Paus. ix. 5. ~ 8.) A far more important question, than this differ5. One of the sons of Aegyptus. (Hygin. Fab. ence of twenty years or so in the date of Xanthus,
220.) is that of the genuineness of the Four Books of
The name Xanthus is also given to some horses Lydian History (AvUaKatc& fhla ~/, Suid.), which
in Greek mythology, as to one of Achilles (Hom. the ancients possessed, as well as an epitome of
I1. xvi. 149), and of Hector (viii. 185). [L. S.] them by a certain Menippus (Diog. La'rt. vi. 101,
XANTHUS (Za'sOos), literary. 1. A lyric [ME',nr7ros] 6 yplCpars ra 7repl Avosv Kal EdvOov
poet, older than Stesichorus, who mentioned him e7rTed-s/.LeAvos), and of which some considerable
in one at least of his poems, and who borrowed fragments have come down to us. The genuinefrom him in some of them. Among the rest, ness of the work was questioned by some of the
Stesichorus composed his poem entitled Oresteia ancient grammarians themselves. The most im('OpoT'rIEa), in imitation of Xanthus. We also portant testimony on this subject is in the passage
learn from Megacleides, on the authority of Ste- above cited from Athenaeus, who quotes a statesichorus himself, that Xanthus represented Hera- ment as made " by Xanthus the Lydian, or by the
cles as equipped, not in the dress and arms ascribed author of the Histories ascribed to him, namely
to him by Stesichorus and the later poets, but in Dionysius Scytobrachion, as Artemon of Cassanthe fashion in which he is described by Homer. dreia says (r r'y 7'repr avvayoyrlsr [&sayo'yris]
(Megacleid. ap. Ath. xii. p. 513, a.; Kleine, Stesich. lsAGwce,), not knowing that Ephorus the historian
Frag. xxxvii. p. 83; on the general subject of the mentions him, &c." It will be at once seen that
mention of the older poets by their successors, see the reply of Athenaeus to the statement of ArteKleine, p. 71.) mon only proves, what no one doubts, the existXanthus is also mentioned by Aelian (V. H. iv. ence and time of Xanthus, not the genuineness of
26), who quotes a statement respecting Electra, the work ascribed to him. An argument in supthe daughter of Agamemnon, which is no doubt port of the genuineness of the work has been
taken from the Oresteia. Clinton places Xanthus drawn by the exalted terms of praise in which
about B. C. 650, before Peisander, and 45 years Dionysius of Halicarnassus speaks of Xanthus (1. c.
before Stesichorus. No fragments of his poetry io'roplaT 7raAaltas Ec KaL 7rts &hOS EoUTretpos &V,'rs
survive. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 159; iEi 7ra-rpov Kal /3eeaiowrs v' vobEvbs vroEsoersTEpos
Bode, Gesch. d. Hellen. Dichtksunst, vol. ii. pt. 2, pp. vYoor5eOs). But here we have no reference to the
82, 83; Clinton F. IT. vol. i. p. 365.) genuineness of the work, the tacit assumption of
2. A celebrated Lydian historian, older than which by such a writer as Dionysius can hardly be
Herodotus, who is said to have been indebted to set up as a strong argument in reply to the positive
the work of Xanthus (Ephor. ap. Ath. xii. p. 515, critical judgment of Artemon; especially as in-'Hpoe3rTP vras &popIA&s s3eio'orTos; the statement stances might be quoted (see liiller, loc. in.f cit.)
about his influence on Herodotus is questioned by in which Dionysius has made similar references to
Dahlmann, de Herod. p. 121). Suidas makes other works, which more ancient writers have pro.
him the son of Candaules, and a native of Sardis; nounced to be spurious; and moreover there is a
but there is reason to believe that these statements passage in which Dionysius himself makes a passrest on no good authority. Strabo (xiii. p. 628, a.) ing allusion to the doubts respecting the genuinementions him in the following terms:-" And ness of certain ancient writers, in a matter which
Xanthus, the ancient historian, is said to have seems to imply that he did not care to enter mibeen a Lydian; but whether he was of Sardis, we nutely into such questions; and it is very prodo not know." Suidas fixes his date "at the bable, when we consider the nature of the fragtaking of Sardis," which, if there be any truth in ments which have come down to us under the
it, must refer to the taking of Sardis by the name of Xanthus, as well as the character of the
Ionians in B. c. 499. This date, however, appears historical work of Dionysius himself, that the adto be rather too high, when compared with the miration of the latter for the former was rather exmention of Xanthus by Dionysius of Halicarnas- cited by his richness in mythical stories, than
sus (de Jud. Tliuc. p. 818), among the writers caused by any sound critical estimate of his value
who were " a little older than the Peloponnesian as a trustworthy historian. Among modern schowar, and whose time reached down to that of lars, Creuzer, in his edition of the fragments of
Thucydides." There is another indication of the Xanthus, has maintained the genuineness of the
date of Xanthus, proving, if the quotation be work, while Welcker has constructed an elaborate
genuine, that he wrote, or continued to write, his argument against it (Seebod's Archiv. 1830, pp.
history after B. C. 464; for Strabo (i. p. 49, c.) 70, foll.), a summary of which is given by C. Miiltells us that he mentioned a great drought in the ler (loc. inf. cit.) who accepts the conclusion of
reign of Artaxerxes, who came to the throne in Welcker. It is certain that much of the matter
B. C. 464. It is therefore the opinion of critics, in the extant fragments is spurious; and the proeither that the date given by Suidas must be that bability appears to be that the work from which
of the birth of Xanthus, which is a most unusual they are taken is the production of an Alexandrian
sense of'yesyovcs in Suidas, or else that the pas- grammarian, founded upon the genuine work of
sage has been corrupted by a transcriber, who ac- Xanthus. C. MUller has pointed out those pascidentally repeated the word Icip&ewv. (The pas- sages which, in his opinion, are most probably porsage is dvOoFs, Kavoav'ov, AvSbss K s aopswv' io'- tions of the original work. They are of great
rTOplKOEJS' eyoy&5 rl Ts &;aAoEws:i5dpsewv). This value. A work on the Magial religion (payicKd)
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