Jump to content

Telephus of Pergamum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Telephus of Pergamum (Ancient Greek: Τήλεφος ὁ Περγαμηνός) was a Greek Stoic grammarian and historian who flourished in the second century CE. He was a tutor of the future Roman emperor Lucius Verus.[1][2]

According to his fellow Pergamene, Galen, Telephus lived to nearly one hundred years of age.[3]

Telephus appears to have maintained that Homer represented the purest form of Greek, opposing stricter Atticist scholars who regarded Classical Athenian Greek as the only proper linguistic model.[3]

The following works are attributed to Telephus of Pergamum by Suda:[4]

  • A grammatical work (its title is lost).
  • On the Rhetorical Figures in Homer (2 books).
  • On the Syntax of Attic Discourse (5 books).
  • On Rhetoric in Homer.
  • On the Agreement of Homer and Plato.
  • Love of Varied Learning (2 books).
  • Lives of Tragic and Comic Dramatists.
  • Expertise concerning Books (3 books).
  • That Homer Alone among the Ancients Writes Correct Greek.
  • Description of Pergamum.
  • On the Temple of Augustus in Pergamum (2 books).
  • On the Courts in Athens.
  • On the Laws and Customs of Athens.
  • On the Kings of Pergamum (5 books).
  • On the Names and Usage of Clothing and Other Everyday Objects.
  • On the Wanderings of Odysseus.
  • Easy Birth (10 books), a collection of epithets and expressions intended to assist writers and orators in achieving fluent expression.

All of his works are lost,[5] although a number of fragments and testimonia attributed to Telephus survive.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. Hendrickson, Thomas (2017). Ancient Libraries and Renaissance Humanism: The De bibliothecis of Justus Lipsius. Brill. p. 11. ISBN 978-9004338166.
  2. Telephus (2), of Pergamum, Stoic grammarian, 2nd cent. CE, Oxford Classical Dictionary, Telephus
  3. 1 2 Swain, Simon (1996). Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, AD 50-250. Oxford University Press. p. 55-56. ISBN 978-0198147725.
  4. Suda, Telephus
  5. Χηνιάδης Δημήτριος – Λεξικό αρχαίων γεωγράφων και ιστοριογράφων της ελληνικής γλώσσας, p.403
  6. Telephus Pergamenus 2. Jh