Last modified on 27 August 2014, at 10:30

Hecataeus of Miletus


Hecataeus of Miletus (/ˌhɛkəˈtəs/; Greek: Ἑκαταῖος;[1] c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC[2]), was an early Greek historian of a wealthy family. He flourished during the time of the Persian invasion. After having travelled extensively, he settled in his native city, where he occupied a high position, and devoted his time to the composition of geographical and historical works. When Aristagoras held a council of the leading Ionians at Miletus to organize a revolt against the Persian rule, Hecataeus in vain tried to dissuade his countrymen from the undertaking.[3] In 494 BC, when the defeated Ionians were obliged to sue for terms, he was one of the ambassadors to the Persian satrap Artaphernes, whom he persuaded to restore the constitution of the Ionic cities.[4] Hecataeus is the first known Greek historian,[5] and was one of the first classical writers to mention the Celtic people.


Reconstruction of Hecataeus' map

Some have credited Hecataeus with a work entitled Περίοδος γῆς (Periodos ges, "Travels round the Earth" or "World Survey"), written in two books. Each book is organized in the manner of a periplus, a point-to-point coastal survey. One, on Europe, is essentially a periplus of the Mediterranean, describing each region in turn, reaching as far north as Scythia. The other book, on Asia, is arranged similarly to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea of which a version of the 1st century AD survives. Hecataeus described the countries and inhabitants of the known world, the account of Egypt being particularly comprehensive; the descriptive matter was accompanied by a map, based upon Anaximander’s map of the earth, which he corrected and enlarged. The work only survives in some 374 fragments, by far the majority being quoted in the geographical lexicon Ethnika compiled by Stephanus of Byzantium.

The other known work of Hecataeus was regarded as the Γενεαλογίαι (Genealogiai) or the Ἱστορία (Historia), a rationally systematized account of the traditions and the myths of the Greeks, a break with the epic myth-making tradition, which survives in a few fragments, just enough to show what we are missing.


Hecataeus' work, especially the Genealogiai, shows a marked scepticism of oral history, opening with "Hecataeus of Miletus thus speaks: I write what I deem true; for the stories of the Greeks are manifold and seem to me ridiculous."[6]




  1. ^ Named after the Greek goddess Hecate
  2. ^ Livius: Hecataeus of Miletus, Jona Lendering
  3. ^ Herodotus, Histories (Herodotus) 5.36, 125
  4. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 10.25


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