Acusilaus

Acusilaus of Argos (* end of the 6th century BC, † first half of the 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek historian and genealogist. After Hecataeus of Miletus one of the first known Greek prose writer and historian at all, it will be counted like Pherecydes of Athens at the so-called logographers and dealt mainly with mythography.

Acusilaus wrote three books, of which we have knowledge of fragments ( together called Historiai or genealogiai ) and treated within each of the divine, heroic and finally human genealogy. Especially in the divine genealogy are differences to the model Hesiod determine: While Hesiod mythology can start with the four orphaned Protogonoi Chaos, Tartarus, Ge and Eros, Acusilaus takes only chaos as a starting point and moved Eros probably only in the fourth generation.

Overall Acusilaus under apparently took the test as Hesiod to transform the very different local gods myths in a genealogical ( with him in contrast to his role model but at the outset strictly hierarchically structured ) overall system; also in the field of the history of heroes and people he might have similar plans. His naive - critical approach in this case is, however, judged more negatively by later historians, such as Herodotus, as well as by many historians today. Most modern historians consider his as well as the approach of the other ancient authors, who are counted among the logographers tend as scientific step backwards compared to its predecessor Hecataeus of Miletus.

Edition of the fragments

• Felix Jacoby, The fragments of Greek historians, No. 2