Praxagoras of Athens

Praxagoras was a late antique historian who lived in the early 4th century AD.

Praxagoras was a pagan and came from Athens. He was probably a member of the aristocratic upper class of Athens, to which the name ( Praxagoras is an inscription for members of the Athenian elite occupied) and his literary activities clearly indicate. He enjoyed a corresponding education and have been close to the literary milieu of the rhetorician.

Praxagoras wrote the excerpt of the Byzantine scholar Photius, according to ( Libraries cod. 62), to whom we owe the most information about Praxagoras, with 22 years of a biography of Emperor Constantine the Great in two books, written in Ionic Greek dialect. According to Photius, the prose was accurate and enjoyable. In Praxagoras dive probably the first time on the epithet "the Great" for Constantine. Praxagoras praised the emperor panegyrisch. According to Photius, he wrote:

Apparently for the pagan Praxagoras was no contradiction to depict Constantine according to the ancient ideal of the ruler as an outstanding emperor, although this promoted Christianity. The biography apparently ended with Constantine's sole reign (324 ), and was probably used by later historians ( possibly by Eusebius of Caesarea ). Reported are only a few fragments ( Fragments of the Greek Historians No. 219 ), which are mainly based on the summary of Photius.

Praxagoras authored two other historical treatises, a history of the kings of Athens in two books and a historical work about Alexander the Great in six books. Of the two works, nothing is handed out the titles that Photios called in his summary. According to Photius wrote Praxagoras Royal History at the age of 19 years, the Alexander history at the age of 31 years; both information will Photios have taken from the work of Praxagoras. Rowland Smith has been suggested that the history of Alexander Praxagoras was possibly read by Julian, who was an admirer of Alexander. It is certain that the Alexander story has been the longest and probably the most mature work of Praxagoras; it also reflected the growing interest in this period of Persia and the East.