Editing Suda (section)

==Content and sources==
{{Cquote|quote= {{lang|la|pecus est Suidas, sed pecus aurei velleris}}<br>
[Suidas is cattle, but cattle with a golden fleece]|author=[[Justus Lipsius|Lipsius]]}}

The ''Suda'' is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense. It explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the [[philology]] of its period, using such earlier authorities as [[Harpocration]] and [[Helladius (grammarian)|Helladios]].{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}} It is a rich source of ancient and Byzantine history and life, although not every article is of equal quality, and it is an "uncritical" compilation.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}

Much of the work is probably interpolated,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}} and passages that refer to [[Michael Psellos]] (c. 1017–1078) are deemed [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolations]] which were added in later copies.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}

===Biographical notices===
This [[lexicon]] contains numerous biographical notices on political, ecclesiastical, and literary figures of the Byzantine Empire to the tenth century, those biographical entries being condensations from the works of [[Hesychius of Miletus]], as the author himself avers. Other sources were the encyclopedia of [[Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus]] (reigned 912–959) for the figures in ancient history, excerpts of [[John of Antioch (chronicler)|John of Antioch]] (seventh century) for [[History of Rome|Roman history]], the chronicle of [[George Hamartolus|Hamartolus]] ([[George Hamartolos|Georgios Monachos]], 9th century) for the Byzantine age{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}}{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{Refn|[[Karl Krumbacher]] concluded the two main biographical sources were "Constantine VII for ancient history, Hamartolus (Georgios Monarchos) for the Byzantine age".<ref>Krumbacher, Karl (1897), ''Byzantinische Literatur'', p. 566, cited by {{harvp|Herbermann|1913}}</ref>}}, the biographies of [[Diogenes Laërtius]], and the works of [[Athenaeus]] and [[Philostratus]]. Other principal sources include a lexicon by "[[Eudemus of Rhodes|Eudemus]]," perhaps derived from the work ''On Rhetorical Language'' by Eudemus of Argos.<ref>Krumbacher, Karl, ''Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=hRtZVWDfBw8C&pg=PA268 pp. 268f.]</ref>

===Lost scholia===
The lexicon copiously draws from [[scholia]] to the classics ([[Homer]], [[Aristophanes]], [[Thucydides]], [[Sophocles]], etc.), and for later writers, [[Polybius]], [[Josephus]], the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'', [[George Syncellus]], [[George Hamartolus]], and so on.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911}}{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}} The ''Suda'' quotes or paraphrases these sources at length. Since many of the originals are lost, the ''Suda'' serves as an invaluable repository of literary history, and this preservation of the "literary history" is more vital than the lexicographical compilation itself, by some estimation.{{sfnp|Herbermann|1913}}