c. 170–90 BCE · grammarian
Dionysius Thrax
Διονύσιος ὁ Θρᾷξ
In Alexandria: c. 170–145 BCE
Pupil of Aristarchus who left Alexandria for Rhodes after 145 BCE. The short Art of Grammar under his name, the first Greek grammar and the model of European grammars for some fifteen centuries, is his at least in its opening; whether the rest is later is debated.
Their life and work
The Suda calls him an Alexandrian, Thracian on his father's side (the father's name was Teres), whence Thrax, 'the Thracian'. He studied under Aristarchus, and after the purge of 145 BCE taught at Rhodes, where Tyrannion, who later worked in Rome, was his pupil. The Art of Grammar defines grammar as practical knowledge of what poets and prose writers say, and sets out the eight parts of speech. The scholia already doubted that the whole of it was his; some modern scholars date most of it to the imperial period, others defend it.
Our device: Their emblem is a grammarian's tablet. No portrait of any of these people survives. The emblems are our devices.
On the shelves
- Attributed to Dionysius Thrax, Art of Grammar · 2nd century BCE core; later expansion · Survives whole
Moments
- 145 BCE · Ptolemy VIII drives out the scholars Known: attested
In the show
The show has not yet spoken of Dionysius Thrax.
Sources (6)
- R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship from the Beginnings to the End of the Hellenistic Age (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968)
- E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)
- Suda δ 1172 (Dionysius) (opens in a new tab)
- Suda τ 1184 (Tyrannion) (opens in a new tab)
- Sextus Empiricus, Against the Grammarians 1.57
- F. Montanari, S. Matthaios and A. Rengakos (eds.), Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship (Leiden: Brill, 2015)