Dionysius Scytobrachion (Ancient Greek: Διονύσιος ὁ Σκυτοβραχίων) (Scytobrachion meaning 'leather arm'), also known as Dionysius of Mytilene (the capital of Lesbos), was the author of a series of stories set in the region now known as Libya. His works depicted the Olympian gods as mortals from a distant past, and subjects included the Amazons, Alexander the Great, and the Argonauts. The latter stories are included a six-book work known as the Argonautica, in which the captain of the Argo is Hercules (Heracles), rather than Jason, as in most modern stories. These stories were used as sources by Diodorus Siculus.[1][2]
Dionysius's exact dates are not known. Previously, a comment in the works of Suetonius was used as a possible indication – Seutonius explains that others had claimed that Dionysius was contemporary with Marcus Antonius Gnipho, who was active in the first century BCE.[3] Seutonius himself rejects the claim on chronological grounds, but his wording was taken by some to suggest that the chronological incongruency was not large, and that Dionysius could thus be dated to the second half of the second century BCE.[4] However, a papyrus fragment of Dionysius's Argonautica dating to the late third century BCE suggest a date no later than 250 BCE.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Rusten, J. S. (2016-03-07), "Dionysius (12) Scytobrachion, 'the leather-arm', writer of mythological works", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2221, ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5, retrieved 2023-07-09
- ^ "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Diony'sius or Diony'sius Scytobrachion". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
- ^ Seutonius De Illustribus Grammaticis 7.
- ^ Rusten, Jeffrey S. (1982). Dionysius Scytobrachion. Westdeutscher Verlag. p. 18.
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