eul_aid: etw
Ἀμάσιδος Ἐπιστολαί
Amasis Letters
1 work

The Amasis Letters are a pseudepigraphical collection of fictional letters attributed to the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis II, a contemporary of Polycrates of Samos. The work is a product of Greek literary tradition, composed as a rhetorical exercise, though its precise date of compilation remains uncertain.

The sole known work is the fragmentary Amasis Letters, preserved primarily through citations in later authors such as Athenaeus.

This collection is a significant early example of Greek fictional epistolography, part of a broader tradition of pseudonymous letters attributed to figures like Phalaris or Socrates used for rhetorical education. It contributes to the Greek literary portrayal of Amasis as a wise ruler, an image also found in Herodotus, and offers insight into the practice of composing such rhetorical exercises in the Hellenistic period and later.

Available Works

Ἐπιστολαί
Amasis on Fortune and Rule
2 passages