HECATAEUS OF MILETUS

flourished 5th century BC, , Ionia Greek author of an early history and of a book of travels. During the time of the Persian invasion, he tried to dissuade the Ionians from revolt against Persia, and in 494, when they were obliged to sue for terms, he was one of the ambassadors to the Persian satrap, whom he persuaded to restore the constitution of the Ionic cities. One of his two known works, the Genealogia, or Historiai, seems to have been a systematic account of the traditions and mythology of the Greeks, but comparatively few fragments of it survive. More than 300 fragments, however, remain of the Ges periodos or Periegesis ("Tour Round the World"); it was written in two parts-one covering Europe, the other "Asia" (which included Egypt and North Africa). He was in general the pioneer in those geographical and ethnographical fields that remained always attractive to the Greek historians. His work was used freely by the 5th-century-BC historian Herodotus, who acknowledged it only when he found occasion to complain. That his literary style was good, though simple, was allowed by the 1st-century-BC rhetorician Dionysius of Halicarnassus and other critics.