Pherecydes of Athens’ Treatise in the Context of Early Classical Greek Historical Writing
Surikov Igor E.
The article is devoted to Pherecydes of Athens, an undeservedly neglected historian and mythographer of the early to mid-fifth century B.C., the author of a treatise (entitled, most probably, History or Histories), of which a rather considerable number of fragments have survived. Pherecydes belonged to the circle of the aristocratic house of Philaids, whose head at his time was the outstanding politician and general Cimon. Besides, one of the most significant (but at the same time the most problematic) fragments of Pherecydes contains a genealogy of the Philaids, which embraces several centuries. The article considers, in particular, the following questions. Was the difference between Pherecydes, a fairly conservative writer, and Hecataeus, with his reputation of a “revolutionary” and rationalist, as great as it is usually postulated? Did Pherecydes and his work influence Herodotus’ Histories? What was Pherecydes’ relation to the later tradition of local Athenian historical writing (the so-called Atthides)? It is argued here that although Pherecydes mainly wrote on mythography, he undoubtedly must be ranked among representatives of early (6th–5th cent. B.C.) Greek historiography. Moreover, he should be regarded as one of the greatest historians of that cohort, side by side with Hecataeus, Hellanicus, Herodotus, and Thucydides.
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