ATHENAEUS

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 830 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ARN-AUD

ATHENAEUS , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and the beginningof the 3rd century A.D. Suidas only tells us that he lived " in the times of Marcus "; but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus (died 192) shows that he survived that emperor. Athenaeus himself states that he was the author of a treatise on the thrattaa kind of fish mentioned by Archippus and other comic poetsand of a history of the Syrian kings, both of which works are lost. We still possess the Deipnosophistae, which may mean dinner-table philosophers or authorities on banquets, in fifteen books. The first two books, and parts of the third, eleventh and fifteenth, are only extant in epitome, but otherwise we seem to possess the

work

WORK

entire. It is an immenSe

store

STORE (from O. Fr. estor or estoire,
Late
- LATE
Lat. staurum or instaurum, stock, provisions,
supply
- SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)
, from the
late
- LATE
use of instaurare, to provide, properly to construct, renew, restore)

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of miscellaneous information, chiefly on matters connected with the table, but also containing remarks on music, songs, dances, games, courtesans. It is full of quotations from writers whose works have not come down to us; nearly 800 writers and 2500 separate writings are referred to by Athenaeus; and he boasts of having read 800 plays of the Middle Comedy alone. The plan of the Deipnosophistae is exceedingly cumbrous, and is badly carried out. It professes to be an account given by the author to his friend Timocrates of a banquet held at the

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Laurentius (or Larentius), a scholar and wealthy patron of art. It is thus a dialogue within a dialogue, after the manner of Plato, but a conversation of sufficient length to occupy several days (though represented as taking place in one) could not be conveyed in a style similar to the short conversations of Socrates. Among the twenty-nine guests are Galen and Ulpian, but they are all probably fictitious personages, and the

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

take no part in the conversation. If Ulpian is identical with the famous, jurist, the Deipnosophistae must have been written after his death (228); but the jurist was murdered by the praetorian guards, whereas Ulpian in Athenaeus dies a natural death. The conversation ranges from the dishes before the guests to literary matters of every description, including points of grammar and criticism; and they are expected to bring with them extracts from the poets, which are read aloud and discussed at table. The whole is but a clumsy apparatus for displaying the varied and extensive reading of the author. As a

work

WORK

of art it can take but a low rank, but as a repertory of fragments and morsels, of information it is invaluable.
Editio princeps, Aldine, 1524; Casaubon, 15971600; Schweighauser, 18011807; Dindorf, 1827;

Meineke

MEINEKE, JOHANN ALBRECHT FRIEDRICH AUGUST (1790-1870)

, 18591867; Kaibel, 1887-189o; English translation by Yonge in

Bohn

BOHN,
HENRY
GEORGE (1796-1884)

's Classical Library.

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