Antidorus of Cyme

Antidorus (Ancient Greek: Ἀντίδωρος) of Cyme or Cumae was a Greek grammarian. He influenced Eratosthenes,^[1] chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria. He played a role in the development of the science of grammar,^[2] which emerged during his time as a noted grammarian between 340–330 BC.^[3] Thus he lived in the time of Alexander the Great.

Various definitions of grammar

In Ancient Greece, the term γραμματική (grammar) had many meanings that evolved over time:

• The term ″grammarian″ as understood in the earlier classical sense: knowledge of the letters of the alphabet (this being the common meaning) and the number of alphabets known; thus implying a person knowing how to read.
• As understanding developed, the term was used for a teacher of reading. Theagenes of Rhegium (floruit 550 BC) was the earliest allegorical interpreter of Homer, and thus perhaps the first person to have the term γραμματική acceptably applied.
• During the Alexandrian age, it meant "a student of literature, especially of poetry".^[3]

Arguments

According to a tradition, the first person to have a developed designation of γραμματικός applied to his activities,^[2] ergo himself^{[clarification needed]} was a pupil of Theophrastus, the philosopher of the peripatetic school of Praxiphanes of Rhodes, active and flourishing about 300 BC,^[3] although another tradition suggests that Antidorus might instead have been the first γραμματικός.^[4]

They say that Antidorus of Chyme was the first person to call himself a grammarian; he wrote a treatise about Homer and Hesiod ^[5]

See also

• Cyme

• Dionysius Thrax^[2]