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DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20335421 PDFMarkdown

Historical Parallels and Anecdotes by Myronianus of Amastris

The Historical Parallels and Anecdotes is a lost prose compilation attributed to the Hellenistic historian Myronianus of Amastris. According to the tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda, the work comprised nine books. No continuous text survives; it is known solely through fragments preserved by later authors, most prominently Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae. Based on these citations, the compilation collected historical anecdotes and cultural parallels concerning notable figures, alongside antiquarian details on objects, foods, and social customs. The fragments also include etiological lore, such as an anecdote explaining the origin of the name for the month of June. A later reference appears in the sixth-century scholar John the Lydian. The work exemplifies the Hellenistic interest in anecdotal and antiquarian scholarship. Its fragments, preserved primarily by encyclopedists like Athenaeus, offer valuable, if indirect, glimpses into historical storytelling and social history, forming part of the source material for later Greco-Roman learning.

ΟΜΟΙΩΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΩΝ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΑ.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Μυρωνιανὸς δʼ ἐν Ὁμοίοις φησὶν, ὅτι Κούρητα αὐτὸν ἐκάλουν Κρῆτες.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Μυρωνιανὸς δʼ ἐν Ὁμοίοις φησὶ Φίλωνα παροιμίας μνημονεύειν περὶ τῶν Πλάτωνος φθειρῶν, ὡς οὕτως αὐτοῦ τελευτήσαντος.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Καὶ δὴ καὶ αὐταρκέστατος ἦν. Ἀλεξάνδρου γοῦν ποτὲ συχνὸν ἀργύριον ἀποστείλαντος αὐτῷ, τρισχιλίας Ἀττικὰς ἀφελὼν, τὸ λοιπὸν ἀπέπεμψεν, εἰπὼν ἐκείνῳ πλειόνων δεῖν πλείονας τρέφοντι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπʼ Ἀντιπάτρου πεμφθὲν μὴ προσέσθαι, ὥς φησι Μυρωνιανὸς ἐν Ὁμοίοις. Καὶ χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ τιμηθέντα ἐπʼ ἄθλῳ πολυποσίας τοῖς Χοῦσι παρὰ Διονυσίῳ, ἐξιόντα θεῖναι πρὸς τὸν ἱδρυμένον Ἑρμῆν, ἔνθαπερ τιθέναι καὶ τοὺς ἀνθινοὺς εἰώθει.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ ὅμως αὐτὸν ὄντα τοιοῦτον ἐπίπρασκόν ποτε, τὸ μετοίκιον ἀτονοῦντα θεῖναι. Καὶ αὐτὸν ὠνεῖται Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς, καὶ ἑκάτερον ἀποκατέστησε· Ξενοκράτει μὲν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, Ἀθηναίοις δὲ τὸ μετοίκιον. Τοῦτό φησι Μυρωνιανὸς ὁ Ἀμαστριανὸς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἱστορικῶν ὁμοίων κεφαλαίων.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Φέρεται δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ δοῦλος φιλόσοφος, ὄνομα Πομπύλος, καθά φησι Μυρωνιανὸς Ἀμαστριανὸς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ὁμοίων ἱστορικῶν κεφαλαίων.

Λαέρτιος Διογένης Συνεφιλοσόφουν δʼ αὐτῷ προτρεψαμένῳ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τρεῖς ὄντες, Νεοκλῆς, Χαιρέδημος, Ἀριστόβουλος, καθά φησι Φιλόδημος ὁ Ἐπικούρειος ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ τῆς τῶν φιλοσόφων συντάξεως· ἀλλὰ καὶ δοῦλος Μῦς ὄνομα, καθά φησι Μυρωνιανὸς ἐν Ὁμοίοις ἱστορικοῖς κεφαλαίοις.