Editing Dionysius Thrax (section)

==Life==
His place of origin was not [[Thrace]], as the epithet "Thrax" denotes, but probably [[Alexandria]]. His Thracian background was inferred from the name of his father Tērēs (Τήρης),{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} which is considered to be a Thracian name.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} One of his co-students during his studies in Alexandria under [[Aristarchus of Samothrace|Aristarchus]] was [[Apollodorus of Athens]], who also became a distinguished grammarian.{{sfn|Robertson|2008|p=4, n. 10}}{{sfn|De Jonge|2008|p=101}} [[Rudolf Pfeiffer]] dates his shift to the isle of [[Rhodes]] to {{Circa|144/143 BC}}, when political upheavals associated with the policies of [[Ptolemy VIII Physcon|Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II]] are thought to have led to his exile. According to a report in [[Athenaeus]]' [[Deipnosophistae]] (11,489a, b), his Rhodian pupils, grateful for his learning,{{sfn|Pfeiffer|1968|p=266}} gathered enough silver to enable him to fashion a cup whose shape aspired to recreate [[Nestor's Cup (mythology)|that]] of [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] mentioned in the [[Iliad]] ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+11.632&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133 Book 11, lines 632–637]).{{sfn|Athenaeus|1933|pp=174–175}}{{sfn|Robins|1998|p=15}}

Dionysius was primarily a [[Homeric scholarship|Homeric scholar]], which was integral to his training under Aristarchus in Alexandria. His work shows some influence of earlier [[Stoic logic|Stoic grammatical theory]], particularly on word classes.{{sfn|De Jonge|2008|pp=100, 137}} He is also reported by [[Varro]] to have been an erudite analyst of Greek lyric poetry, perhaps referring to his linguistic and [[Prosody (Greek)|prosodic]] use of that material.{{sfn|Pfeiffer|1968|p=267}} He wrote prolifically in three genres: philological questions (γραμματικά); running commentaries (ὑπομνήματα) and treatises (συνταγματικά). Of the last genre, he wrote a polemical monograph criticizing the Homeric interpretations of [[Crates of Mallus|Krates]]. Another work he is said to have written was the Περὶ ποσοτήτων ([[Metre (poetry)|On quantities]]). From the [[scholia]]{{efn|There are extensive scholia to the ''Techne'', which have been edited by A. Hilgard in 1901: ''Scholia in Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, recensuit et apparatum criticum indicesque adiecit Alfredus Hilgard, Lipsiae: in aedibus B.G. Teubneri'' 1901. The collections of scholia are the following: ''Prolegomena Vossiana'' (p. 1); ''Commentarius Melampodis seu Diomedis'' (p. 10); ''Commentarius Heliodori'' (p. 67); ''Scholiorum collectio Vaticana'' (p. 106); ''Scholiorum collectio Marciana'' (p. 292); ''Scholiorum collectio Londinensis'' (p. 442); ''Commentariolus Byzantinus'' (pp. 565–586).}} preserved from the critical works of [[Aristonicus of Alexandria|Aristonicus]] and [[Didymus Chalcenterus|Didymus]] who excerpted Dionysius' work it is clear that he was decidedly independent in his textual judgements on the Homeric corpus, since he frequently contradicts his master's known readings.{{sfn|Pfeiffer|1968|p=267}} His teaching may have exercised a formative impact on the rise of Roman grammatical studies if as an entry in the [[Suda]] suggests, the elder [[Tyrannion of Amisus|Tyrannion]] was one of his pupils. The founder of classical scholarship in Rome, [[Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus|L. Aelius Stilo]], may have profited from Dionysius' instruction, since he accompanied to Rhodes [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus|Q. Metellus Numidicus]] when the latter went into voluntary exile, and while Dionysius was still teaching there.{{sfn|Pfeiffer|1968|p=266}}