Hecataeus of Abdera
Hecataeus of Abdera was a 300 BC acting Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.
Life
Accurate survival data are not known. It is not identical with Hecataeus of Miletus, who lived around 500 BC. Hecataeus of Abdera was a contemporary of Alexander the Great ( 356-323 BC) and lived during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt ( 305-283 BC). Even in ancient times Hecataeus of Abdera was confused with the eponymous researchers from Miletus. Discrepancies there were in ancient times also about the birth city of Hecataeus: In addition to Abdera and Teos is specified. Under Ptolemy I Hecataeus lived in Egypt, of which 15 years in Alexandria; later, he moved as a civil servant of the Egyptian king to Sparta. Further stations of his life are not known.
According to ancient tradition Hecataeus to have been a pupil of the skeptic Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-270 BC).
Works of Hecataeus
As the author of Hecataeus was versatile. His main work was the history of Egypt, a font of valuable cultural and historical information. Since Hecataeus himself lived in Egypt, he is many things have described from my own experience, but have also compiled numerous older traditions. Presumably it was a font of political tendency, as Hecataeus wrote this at the instigation of King Ptolemy I.. He took a Hellenistic concept, Hecataeus idealized the Nile, claiming all culture had its origin in Egypt. The work served as Diodorus as a source for the history of Egypt.
Another font dealt with the Greek poet Homer and Hesiod. In his book on the Hyperboreans Hecataeus described a mysterious mythical and fictional people in the far north of Europe. It is unclear whether he has attributed to him writing about the Jews really written; in modern research is usually not assumed.
All works of Hecataeus are preserved only in fragments ( Fragments of the Greek Historians, No. 264).
Hecataeus of Abdera saw in a fairly constructed chain of reasoning by the memory of the Jews to the experience of Xenelasie (Moses) justified their misanthropy and foreclosure customs. However, recent research in it sees no philo -Semitic or even anti -Semitic author more.