Timaeus (c. 345—c. 250 BC), ancient Greek historian, was born at Tauromenium in Sicily. Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC - 340s BC - 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC Years: 350 BC 349 BC 348 BC 347 BC 346 BC - 345 BC - 344 BC 343 BC... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC - 250s BC - 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC Years: 255 BC 254 BC 253 BC 252 BC 251 BC - 250 BC - 249 BC 248 BC... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ... Generally speaking, a historian is a person who studies history. ... Greek Theater in Taormina Taormina is a town on the island of Sicily in Italy, and in ancient times was a Greek colony (Tauromenium), dating from about 400 BC, which submitted to Roman authority in 212 BC during the Second Punic War. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ...

Life

Driven out of Sicily by Agathocles, he migrated to Athens, where be studied rhetoric under a pupil of Isocrates and lived for fifty years. During the reign of Hiero II he returned to Sicily (probably to Syracuse), where he died. Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ... Agathocles (361 BC - 289 BC), tyrant of Syracuse (317 BC - 289 BC) and king of Sicily (304 BC - 289 BC). ... The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Rhetoric (from Greek ρητωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar). ... Isocrates (436–338 BC), Greek rhetorician. ... Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse from 270 to 215 BC, was the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble, Hierocles, who claimed descent from Gelo. ... Map of central Mediterranean Sea, showing location of Syracuse on the island of Sicily. ...

Work

While at Athens he completed his great historical work, The Histories, probably some 40 books. This work was divided into unequal sections, containing the history of Greece from its earliest days till the first Punic war. The Histories treated the history of Italy and Sicily in early times; of Sicily alone; of Sicily and Greece;... History -- Military History -- War The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage. ...

Timaeus devoted much attention to chronology, and introduced the system of reckoning by Olympiads. This system, although not adopted in everyday life, was afterwards generally used by the Greek historians. Chronology is the science of locating events in time. ...

Timaeus recognised in his work the importance of Rome, that was gaining power. History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome This is a List of Ancient Rome-related topics, that aims to include aspects of both the Ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. ...

Very few parts of the elaborate work of this historian were preserved after Antiquity: Antiquity means ancient times, and may be used of any period before the Middle Ages. ...

• some fragments of the 38th book of the Histories (the life of Agathocles);
• A reworking of the last part of his Histories, On Pyrrhus, treating the life of this king of Epirus until 264 BC;
• History of the cities and kings of Syria (unless the text of Suidas is corrupt);
• The chronological sketch (The victors at Olympia) perhaps formed an appendix to the larger work.

Timaeus' work was however well spread in antiquity, as many ancient historians and other writers refer to it, and/or based their work on his writings. Agathocles (361 BC - 289 BC), tyrant of Syracuse (317 BC - 289 BC) and king of Sicily (304 BC - 289 BC). ... Pyrrhus (318 BC - 272 BC) (Greek Πυρρος, the color of fire, reddish, red-blonde) was the king of Epirus in 306 - 301 BC and again in 297 - 272 BC. Pyrrhus of Epirus Prince of one of the Alexandrian successor states, Pyrrhus was dethroned at the age of 17 when he... Epirus (Greek Ήπειρος, Albanian Çamëria), a province in northwestern Greece (a Greek periphery) bounded by West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, by the Ambracian Gulf and the province of West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and Albania to the north. ... The Syrian Arab Republic or Syria is a country in the Middle East, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. ... Suda (Σουδα or alternatively Suidas) is the name of a massive medieval lexicon, not an author as was formerly supposed. ... Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympía or Ολύμπια Olýmpia, older transliterations, Olimpia, Olimbia), a city of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. ...

Reception

Timaeus was bitterly attacked by other historians, especially by Polybius, and indeed his unfairness towards his predecessors, which gained him the nickname of Epitimaeus (fault-finder), laid him open to retaliation. Polybius was a practical soldier and statesman, Timaeus a bookworm without military experience or personal knowledge of the places he described. The most serious charge against Timaeus is that he wilfully distorted the truth, when influenced by personal considerations: thus, he was less than fair to Dionysius and Agathocles, while loud in praise of his favourite Timoleon. Polybius (ca 203 BC - 120 BC) was a Greek historian of the Mediterranean world, especially the rise of the Roman Republic, which he attributed to Roman fitness and to the excellence of Roman civic and military institutions. ... Several people in history have been known by the name Dionysius: Dionysius of Syracuse, a tyrant Dionysius the Elder, a Greek mythological figure Dionysius the Areopagite, a citizen of Corinth who was converted by Paul of Tarsus Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, identified by some with a Georgian theologist Peter the... Agathocles (361 BC - 289 BC), tyrant of Syracuse (317 BC - 289 BC) and king of Sicily (304 BC - 289 BC). ... Timoleon (c. ...

On the other hand, as even Polybius admits, Timaeus consulted all available authorities and records. His attitude towards the myths, which he claims to have preserved in their simple form (hence probably his nickname, Old Ragwoman, or "collector of old wives' tales", an allusion to his fondness for trivial details), is preferable to the rationalistic interpretation under which it had become the fashion to disguise them.

Both Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the pseudo-Longinus characterized him as a model of "frigidity", although the latter admits that in other respects he is a competent writer. Dionysius Halicarnassensis (of Halicarnassus), Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, flourished during the reign of Augustus. ...

Cicero, who was a diligent reader of Timaeus, expresses a far more favourable opinion, specially commending his copiousness of matter and variety of expression. Timaeus was one of the chief authorities used by Trogus Pompeius, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch (in his life of Timoleon). For other uses see Cicero (disambiguation) Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BC - December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. ... Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, 1st century BC Roman historian, of the Celtic tribe of the Vocontii in Gallia Narbonensis, flourished during the age of Augustus, nearly contemporary with Livy. ... Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the Province of Enna). ... Mestrius Plutarch (c. ... Plutarchs Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...