Apollodorus of Athens
Apollodorus of Athens is best known for a book he did not write. Born around 180 BC, the son of Asclepiades, he died sometime after 120 BC. His genuine work has nearly all been lost. In its place, the Bibliotheca, a wide-ranging account of Greek mythology, has carried his name across the centuries. It was written by someone else. How that happened, and what Apollodorus actually produced during his lifetime, is a question worth pursuing carefully.
Three teachers shaped Apollodorus's intellectual formation: Diogenes of Babylon, the Stoic philosopher Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace. Under Aristarchus at Alexandria, Apollodorus studied alongside a contemporary named Dionysius Thrax. The two are linked in the historical record as pupils of the same classroom.
Around 146 BC, Apollodorus left Alexandria. The account hedges on the reason: he left, or perhaps fled, though the circumstances are not recorded. His most likely next destination was Pergamon. He eventually settled in Athens. What he produced there, and at Pergamon before it, became influential enough to attract imitators in his own lifetime.
Attalus II Philadelphus, the king of Pergamon in the second century BC, received a dedication from Apollodorus. His Chronicle, a verse history, was addressed to this king. The poem traced Greek history from the fall of Troy, which Apollodorus placed in the 12th century BC, down to roughly 143 BC. That sweep covers something close to a thousand years. The meter Apollodorus chose was the comic trimeter, more commonly associated with stage comedy than with historical writing.
ApolloDoorus organized the Chronicle's dates not around kings or dynasties but around the archons of Athens. Archons were the city's annual magistrates, most serving for only a single year. Later scholars found they could work backward through the Chronicle's references and reconstruct which specific year Apollodorus intended for any given event. The chronological framework he inherited came from Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
Later editors extended the Chronicle past its original endpoint. Apollodorus had brought the narrative to roughly 143 BC; the extended version pushed it as far as 109 BC, well beyond his own lifetime.
On the Gods, Apollodorus's prose study of Greek religion, ran to 24 books. It examined the names and epithets used for the gods, working through their etymologies one by one. The work is lost, but the Roman Epicurean philosopher Philodemus quoted from it extensively. Fragments have also turned up in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
A separate twelve-book work addressed Homer's Catalogue of Ships, the section of the Iliad that lists Greek forces city by city. Apollodorus treated it as a geographic document, tracing how the landscapes it described had shifted across the centuries. He drew on Eratosthenes of Cyrene and on Demetrius of Scepsis. The geographer Strabo found this work essential; he relied on it across books eight through ten of his Geographica.
Among Apollodorus's other possible works was an early etymology, possibly the earliest produced by an Alexandrian writer. He also wrote critical analyses of the poets Epicharmus of Kos and Sophron. The record notes that he produced numerous other critical and grammatical writings as well. None of them have survived. The eminence he had earned was substantial enough to attract imitations, forgeries, and misattributions in his own name.
Castor the Annalist is not a famous name. But a single citation of his name embedded in the Bibliotheca unraveled an attribution that had stood for centuries. Castor was a contemporary of Cicero. Cicero worked in the first century BC, well after Apollodorus had died. A work that cites Castor cannot predate Castor's own active period.
This established a terminus post quem: the earliest possible date for the Bibliotheca's composition. That date falls well after the death of Apollodorus. The true author is unknown. Scholars now refer to that unnamed writer as Pseudo-Apollodorus.
ApolloDoorus's standing as a scholar was high enough that his name carried real weight as an attribution. His genuine work spanned mythology, grammar, and history. The misattribution was credible, which is why it lasted. The Castor citation remains the anchor of modern scholarship on Pseudo-Apollodorus. Without it, the Bibliotheca might still carry Apollodorus's name without challenge.
Common questions
Who was Apollodorus of Athens?
Apollodorus of Athens was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian born around 180 BC, the son of Asclepiades. He studied in Alexandria under Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, before settling in Athens.
What did Apollodorus of Athens actually write?
Apollodorus wrote the Chronicle, a verse history from the fall of Troy to roughly 143 BC; On the Gods, a 24-book prose study of divine names and epithets; and a twelve-book essay on Homer's Catalogue of Ships. Most of his work has been lost.
Did Apollodorus of Athens write the Bibliotheca?
No. The Bibliotheca cites Castor the Annalist, a contemporary of Cicero, establishing that the text was composed well after the death of Apollodorus. The unknown author is now called Pseudo-Apollodorus.
Who were the teachers of Apollodorus of Athens?
Apollodorus studied under three teachers: Diogenes of Babylon, the Stoic philosopher Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace. He studied alongside Dionysius Thrax in Aristarchus's school in Alexandria.
What is the Chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens?
The Chronicle is a verse history written in comic trimeters and dedicated to Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon. It covers Greek history from the fall of Troy in the 12th century BC to roughly 143 BC, and was later extended to 109 BC.
Who is Pseudo-Apollodorus and why is the Bibliotheca not attributed to Apollodorus of Athens?
Pseudo-Apollodorus is the conventional name for the unknown author of the Bibliotheca. The work cites Castor the Annalist, who lived in the time of Cicero, providing a terminus post quem that places the Bibliotheca's composition well after the death of Apollodorus of Athens.