Aelius Herodianus
Encyclopedia
Aelius Herodianus or Herodian (fl. 2nd c. CE) was one of the most celebrated grammarians of Greco-Roman antiquity. He is usually known as Herodian except when there is a danger of confusion with the historian also named Herodian
.
He was the son of Apollonius Dyscolus
and was born in Alexandria
. From there he seems to have moved to Rome
, where he gained the favour of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, to whom he dedicated a work on prosody
.
describes him as maximus auctor artis grammaticae ("the greatest creator of grammatical art"). He wrote many works, but they are mostly fragmentary and it is very difficult to compile an accurate list of them. In numerous instances it is impossible to tell whether the titles given by writers who quote from his works are distinct treatises, or only portions of larger works. In addition, there are ongoing debates over which works were written by him and which were not. Some works by lesser-known figures are known to have been reattributed to Herodian, presumably in order to increase the prestige of the works.
In total some fifty titles are known in connection with Herodian's name. The main works attached to his name (both rightly and wrongly) are as follows (the most usual way of citing each title is highlighted in bold):
Earlier publications:
Herodian
Herodian or Herodianus of Syria was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus in eight books covering the years 180 to 238. His work is not entirely reliable although his relatively unbiased account of Elagabalus is...
.
He was the son of Apollonius Dyscolus
Apollonius Dyscolus
Apollonius Dyscolus is considered one of the greatest of the Greek grammarians. He was born at Alexandria, son of Mnesitheus. The dates for his life are not known...
and was born in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. From there he seems to have moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he gained the favour of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, to whom he dedicated a work on prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
.
Works
He was held in very high esteem by subsequent grammarians; PriscianPriscian
Priscianus Caesariensis , commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. He wrote the Institutiones grammaticae on the subject...
describes him as maximus auctor artis grammaticae ("the greatest creator of grammatical art"). He wrote many works, but they are mostly fragmentary and it is very difficult to compile an accurate list of them. In numerous instances it is impossible to tell whether the titles given by writers who quote from his works are distinct treatises, or only portions of larger works. In addition, there are ongoing debates over which works were written by him and which were not. Some works by lesser-known figures are known to have been reattributed to Herodian, presumably in order to increase the prestige of the works.
In total some fifty titles are known in connection with Herodian's name. The main works attached to his name (both rightly and wrongly) are as follows (the most usual way of citing each title is highlighted in bold):
- On peculiar style . Probably the only complete work of Herodian's to have survived.
- Categories . Devoted to explanations of difficult words found in HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
; many important quotations from the Partitiones are found in the scholia on Homer. - General prosody , in twenty books. Herodian dedicated this work to Marcus Aurelius. It covered prosodyProsody (linguistics)In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
and etymologyEtymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
. Two epitomes and an index survive. It is possible that several other titles known to us were in fact parts of the Prosody: namely the Homeric prosody ; Attic prosody ; and Equal prosody . A work entitled On accents , attributed to ArcadiusArcadiusArcadius was the Byzantine Emperor from 395 to his death. He was the eldest son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius...
but compiled by a later grammarian, Theodosius of Byzantium, seems to be an extract from Herodian's Prosody. - On figures . This work is known to be spurious, i.e. it is transmitted under Herodian's name but was not written by him. The author is referred to as "pseudo-Herodian".
- Philetaerus . This work is also known to be spurious; it has been suggested that it was in fact by CornelianusCornelianusSulpicius Cornelianus was a Roman rhetorician. He lived in the reign of the Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Verus. This puts him in the late 2nd century...
.
Editions
- General edition. August Lentz and Arthur Ludwich 1979 [1867-70], Herodiani Technici reliquiae, reprint (Hildesheim, orig. Lentz); cited by volume and page number.
- Scholia on the Iliad. Erbse, H.Hartmut ErbseHartmut Erbse was a German classical philologist.-Life:The son of a dentist from Thüringen, Erbse studied classical philology in Hamburg, where he was well known for his lively hat-wear and received his doctorate in 1940...
1969-1988, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem, 7 vols. (Berlin). - De figuris (spurious). Kerstin Hajdú 1998, Ps.-Herodian, De figuris: Überlieferungsgeschichte und kritische Ausgabe (Berlin, New York). ISBN 3-11-014836-6
Earlier publications:
- Partitiones. Boissonade, J.F. 1963 [1819], Herodiani Partitiones, reprint (Amsterdam).
- De prosodia catholica. August Lentz 1965 [1867], Grammatici Graeci vol. 3.1, reprint (Hildesheim).
- Epitome of De pros. cath. Moritz Schmidt 1983 [1860], Epitome tes katholikes prosodias, reprint (Hildesheim).
- Works reconstructed from Iliad scholia. Lehrs, K.Karl LehrsKarl Ludwig Lehrs , was a German classical scholar.Born at Königsberg, he was of Jewish extraction, but in 1822 he converted to Christianity...
1857 [1848], Herodiani scripta tria emendatiora, 2nd ed. (Berlin). - Philetaerus (spurious). Johann Pierson et al. 1969 [1830-31], Moeridis Atticistae Lexicon Atticum, reprint (Hildesheim); Philetaerus ed. Georg Aenotheus Koch.
- Other works. TLG Canon