THEOPOMPUS OF CHIOS

born c. 380 BC, , Chios, Ionia Greek historian and rhetorician whose Philippica, though lost in original, has survived through the work of later writers to form one element in the tradition concerning the reign of Philip II of Macedon. Twice exiled from his native town, where he was one of the leaders of the aristocratic party, Theopompus spent time in Athens and Egypt. His works, which were chiefly historical, also included the Hellenica, which treated the history of Greece, in 12 books, from 411 (where Thucydides breaks off) to 394the date of the Battle of Cnidus. Of this work only a few fragments survive. A far more elaborate work was the Philippica, a history in 58 books of Philip's reign (359336). In spite of some extravagance both of style and of judgment, examples of which can be seen in the extant fragments, it seems likely that Theopompus was the most interesting and considerable of all the Greek historians who are lost.