Editing Caecilius of Calacte

{{short description|Greek critic and rhetorician during the reign of Augustus}}
{{distinguish|Lucius Caecilius Iucundus}}
[[File:Caecilius of Calacte.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Caecilius of Calacte]]
'''Caecilius of Calacte''' was a rhetorician and literary critic active in Rome during the reign of Augustus.{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=302}}

The main source of information about Caecilius' life is the [[Suda]], which says that he was from Sicily, originally called '''Archagathus''', possibly of slave origins, and Jewish.{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=302}}  He was born about 50 BC in [[Calacte]], and was probably a student of [[Apollodorus of Pergamon]].{{sfn|Weißenberger|2006}}  Both the Suda and [[Hermagoras of Temnos|Hermagoras]] say that he taught in Rome during the reign of Augustus.{{sfn|O'Sullivan|2005|p=34}}  The Suda reports that he lived until the reign of Hadrian, more than a century after the death of Augustus; this is possibly due to confusion with the [[quaestor]] Quintus Caecilius Niger.{{sfn|Roberts|1897|pp=302&ndash;3}}  A mention of Caecilius by [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], who describes him as a friend in his ''Epistle to Pompey'',{{sfn|Roberts|1900|p=439}} may have been written as early as 30 BC and suggests that he may already have been an established critic by then.{{sfn|O'Sullivan|2005|p=34}}

He apparently wrote works of both history and literary criticism,{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=303}} but only a few fragments of his writings are extant.{{sfn|Weißenberger|2006}} [[Athenaeus]], the main source of information about Caecilius' historical works, reports that he wrote a history of the [[Servile Wars]] (slave revolts) in Sicily, and refers to a work in which Caecilius mentioned the Sicilian tyrant [[Agathocles]].{{sfn|Roberts|1897|pp=303&ndash;4}}  He also apparently wrote about the literary merits of historians, praising [[Thucydides]] but criticising [[Timaeus (historian)|Timaeus]] and [[Theopompus]].{{sfn|O'Sullivan|2005|pp=36&ndash;37}}

In his literary criticism, Caecilius was one of the first proponents of [[Atticism]], alongside his friend Dionysius of Halicarnassus.{{sfn|Weißenberger|2006}}  He wrote a treatise ''Against the Phrygians'' which apparently criticised the [[Asiatic style]] of rhetoric, producing a glossary of Attic phrases,{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=304}} and a treatise on the difference between the Attic and Asiatic styles of rhetoric.{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=305}}  He wrote an ''Art of Rhetoric'' and a work on rhetorical figures, which is quoted by [[Quintilian]].{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=304}}  He also wrote a treatise on the [[Ten Attic Orators]], and individual works on the speeches of [[Demosthenes]], [[Antiphon]], and [[Lysias]].{{sfn|Roberts|1897|p=305}}

Longinus' treatise ''[[On the Sublime]]'' was written in response to a work by Caecilius on the same topic.{{sfn|O'Sullivan|2005|p=36}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book|last=O'Sullivan|first=Neil|editor-last=Dominik|editor-first=William J.|title=Roman Eloquence: Rhetoric in Art and Society|chapter=Caecilius, 'Canons', and the Origins of Atticism|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-203-43275-4}}
* {{cite journal|last=Roberts|first=W. Rhys|title=Caecilius of Calacte|journal=American Journal of Philology|year=1897|volume=18|issue=3|pages=302–312 |doi=10.2307/287826 |jstor=287826 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Roberts|first=W. Rhys|title=The Literary Circle of Dionysius of Halicarnassus|journal=The Classical Review|year=1900|volume=14|issue=9|pages=439–442 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X0008197X |s2cid=162999601 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1813121 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Weißenberger|first=Michael|entry=Caecilius [III 5]|title=Brill's New Pauly|year=2006|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e222580}}

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[[Category:1st-century BC Greek writers]]
[[Category:1st-century Greek writers]]
[[Category:1st-century BCE Jews]]
[[Category:1st-century Jews]]
[[Category:1st-century people]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:1st-century writers]]
[[Category:1st-century BC historians]]
[[Category:1st-century historians]]
[[Category:Atticists (rhetoricians)]]
[[Category:Sicilian Greeks]]
[[Category:Roman-era Greeks]]
[[Category:Greek-language historians from the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Hellenistic Jewish writers]]
[[Category:Caecilii]]

[[Category:50s BC births]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek historians known only from secondary sources]]