Heracleodorus (1st century BCE)

For other people named Heracleodorus, see Heracleodorus.

Heracleodorus (Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλεόδωρος) was a critic, writer, grammarian, or philosopher of some sort, whose views earned him criticism from several other writers of the ancient world.[1] We only know of him from a small number of sources, but from their descriptions he seems to have been a well known and respected critic of his time.[2] He is usually assumed to have lived in the 1st century BCE, but some scholars, notably Richard Janko, put his time as early as the 3rd century BCE.[3]

He was criticized by Philodemus in his book on poetic theory written around the 1st century BCE, and was also the target of a work by the obscure writer Aristocritus titled Positions Against Heracleodorus, which is mentioned by the 2nd century theologian Clement of Alexandria.[1]

  1. ^ a b Curnow, Trevor (2006). The Philosophers of the Ancient World: An A-Z Guide. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780715634974. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
  2. ^ McOsker, Michael (2021). The Good Poem According to Philodemus. Oxford University Press. pp. 70–74. ISBN 9780190912819. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
  3. ^ Morrison, A. D. (2007). The Narrator in Archaic Greek and Hellenistic Poetry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 9780521201056. Retrieved 2023-03-26.