The Same Observation Will Not Apply To
Agatharcides, Who Was President Of The Library After Eratosthenes.
The
exact time at which he flourished is not known:
According to Blair, he was
contemporary with Eratosthenes, though younger than him, and flourished 177
A.C., Eratosthenes having died at the age of eighty-one, in the year 194
A.C. Dodwell, however, fixes him at a later period; viz. 104 A.C.; but this
date must be erroneous, because Artemidorus of Ephesus, who evidently
copies Agatharcides, undoubtedly lived 104 A.C. Agatharcide's was born at
Cnidus in Caria: no particulars are known respecting him, except that he
was president of the Alexandrian library, in the reign of Ptolemy
Philometor, if he flourished 177 A.C.; and in the reign of Ptolemy
Lathyrus, if, according to Dodwell, he did not flourish till 104 A.C.
The only work of his which is preserved, is a Treatise on the Erythraean
Sea; and this we possess only in the Bibliotheca of Photius, and
incorporated in the history of Diodorus Siculus. The authority of
Agatharcides was very high among the ancients. Strabo, Pliny, and Diodorus,
always mention him with the utmost respect, and place implicit confidence
in his details. Diodorus expressly states that Agatharcides and Artemidorus
(who, as we have already mentioned, was merely his copyist) are the only
authors who have written truth concerning Egypt and Ethiopia; and Strabo
follows him in all that relates to the latter country, the countries lying
to the south of Egypt, and the western coast of Arabia.
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