The Shelves · History

Lives (of lawgivers, the Seven Sages, Pythagoras, philosophers) and On the Magi

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of History: “biography”

Conjecturedvery likely class

Hermippus of Smyrna, 'the Callimachean'

fl. c. 230 BCE. "The Callimachean", a biographer in Callimachus's line whose lives of philosophers and lawgivers Diogenes Laertius quotes. Pliny says he wrote on magic and indexed the books of verses that went under Zoroaster's name.

Lives (of lawgivers, the Seven Sages, Pythagoras, philosophers) and On the Magi

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in fragments

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Written in Alexandria.

In the cupboard: written at Alexandria by a scholar or court writer a source places there.

Read it today

III · In the show

The show has not yet spoken of this work.

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Diogenes Laertius 1.8, 1.33, 8.10
  • Athenaeus 2.58f; 5.213f
Modern scholarship (2)
  • J. Bollansee, Hermippos of Smyrna and His Biographical Writings: A Reappraisal (Leuven: Peeters, 1999).
  • J. Bidez and F. Cumont, Les Mages hellenises: Zoroastre, Ostanes et Hystaspe d'apres la tradition grecque, 2 vols (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1938).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

LIVES (OF LAWGIVERS, THE SEVEN SAGES, PYTHAGORAS, PHILOSOPHERS) AND ON THE MAGI

Beside it in the cupboard