Duris of Samos
Duris (c. 330 BC in Sicily ) was an ancient Greek historian and author of the early Hellenistic period.
Life
About Duris himself Little is known, especially as they become available hardly ancient information. His family was at least from Samos; his father called Kaio and Duris had at least two brothers ( Lynkeus and Lysagoras ). Duris was born during the exile, after the Athenians Island 366/365 BC conquered under Timotheos and transformed into a cleruchy; the exact date of his birth is unknown. It is believed that the family fled to Sicily and Duris was also born there.
As Duris 320/321 BC returned with his family to Samos, conflicts arose between the new and the previous landowners. Duris ' father Kaio took over in this crisis a crucial role and made it into a not precisely datable time a kind of tyranny with Kaio at the top out. Lynceus was the end of the 4th century pupil of Theophrastus the Peripatetic school founded by Aristotle in Athens; whether Duris also studied there, is controversial in recent research.
Duris joined the successor of his father as a tyrant of Samos, which he probably remained until the island 281 BC, went to King Ptolemy II at an unknown date. It is due to a remark by Pliny the Elder ( Pliny, Naturalis historia, 8, 40) that Duris was still alive this year, and has written on a work. Possibly acted Duris continue as a ruler, as his brother Lynceus was a guest friend of Ptolemy.
Works
His voluminous writings are preserved only in fragments. The principal work is a History of Time by Philip II to Demetrios Poliorketes (281 BC). It included at least 23 books, was anti - Macedonian in the trend and is known by various titles: Histories ( Ίστορίαι ) Hellenika ( Ἑλληνικά ) and Makedonika ( Μακεδονικά ). Duris practiced in the preface criticism of various other historians ( including Ephorus of Kyme and Theopompus ) and was of the view that history must bind in a tragic style and imitation ( mimesis ) the reader. This style is often referred to in the research as a " tragic history ", but the term is rather inappropriate; the opposite direction is the so-called "pragmatic history " ( Polybius ). In this respect, Duris is not only as a historian but also in his development of the theory of historiographical significance. Duris, however, seems to be the artful depiction often larger than the value given to accuracy of the representation; in ancient times, his style was in terms of " sensationalism " criticized. The most sensational as a form of representation was not entirely new, but is found in previous historians since Herodotus; but can the work of Duris be described as " sensational history ".
Furthermore Duris wrote several other works, a history of his native Samos and a work on Agathocles of Syracuse in four books. There are also literary-historical and art historical essays with titles like about the tragedy About the Painting and gone ( title only after handed ) over the competitions, but these are in fact lost. His writings are often quoted by Diodorus, Plutarch and Athenaeus.
The fragments obtained are in Felix Jacoby FrGrHist edited (No. 76).