Xanthus the Lydian was a native Lydian historian of the mid-5th century BCE and a contemporary of Herodotus. Later testimonia indicate he lived through the Persian invasion of Greece and into the period of the Peloponnesian War. He wrote in the Ionic dialect, as did the early Greek historians, though no details of his personal life or education survive.
His major work was the Lydiaca, a four-volume history covering Lydian mythology, geography, customs, and royal history from the mythical era to his own time. A second work, the Magica, addressed the Magi and Persian religion. Both texts are lost, preserved only in fragments cited by later authors such as Strabo and Athenaeus.
Xanthus wrote of Lydian history and culture from a native perspective. His work served as a source for later historians, including Herodotus, and his fragments remain a principal source for the study of Greek historical writing and ancient Near Eastern history. His accounts of the Magi contributed to the early Greek understanding of Zoroastrianism.
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