Editing Didymus Chalcenterus

{{Short description|Greek scholar and grammarian (c.63 BC–c.AD 10)}}

'''Didymus Chalcenterus''' (Latin; Greek: {{lang|grc|Δίδυμος Χαλκέντερος}}, ''Dídymos Chalkéderos'', "Didymus Bronze-Guts"; c. 63 BC – c. AD 10) was an [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] scholar and grammarian who flourished in the time of [[Cicero]] and [[Augustus]].

== Life ==
The epithet "Bronze-Guts" came from his indefatigable industry: he was said to have written so many books that he was unable to recollect what he had written in earlier ones, and so often contradicted himself.{{efn|'It is known to have happened to Didymus, than whom no one wrote more books, that when he objected to someone's account as being false, a book of his that contained the same account was produced.'('Nam Didymus, quo nemo plura scripsit,accidisse compertum est ut, cum historiae cuidam tamquam vanae repugnaret, ipsius proferretur liber qui eam continebat.') [[Quintilian]] 1.9.19.{{sfn|Gibson|2002|p=56}}}} [[Athenaeus]] (4.139c) records that he wrote 3,500 [[treatise]]s,{{sfn|Athenaeus|1928|p=136}} while [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] gives the figure of 4,000.{{efn|'quattuor milia librorum Didymus grammaticus scripsit'.[[Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium|Letters]] 88:37.{{sfn|Gibson|2002|pp=55-56}}}}  As a result, he acquired the additional nickname ({{lang|grc|βιβλιολάθας}}, ''biblioláthas''), meaning "Book-Forgetting" or "Book-forgetter", a term coined by Demetrius of Troezen.{{sfn|Athenaeus|1928|p=136}}{{sfn|Pfeiffer|1968|p=275}}

He lived and taught in [[Alexandria]] and [[Rome]], where he became the friend of [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]. He is chiefly important as having introduced Alexandrian learning to the Romans.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Didymus Chalcenterus |volume=8 |page=208}}</ref>

== Works ==
He was a follower of the school of [[Aristarchus of Samothrace|Aristarchus]], and wrote a treatise on Aristarchus' edition of [[Homer]] entitled ''On Aristarchus' recension'' ({{lang|grc|περὶ τῆς Ἀριστάρχου διορθωσέως}} ''perí tís Aristárchou diorthoséos''), fragments of which are preserved in the [[Venetus A]] manuscript of the ''[[Iliad]]''.{{sfn|Schironi|2018|pp=18ff.,20}}

He also wrote [[monograph]]s on many other Greek [[poet]]s and prose authors.<ref name="EB1911"/> He is known to have written on [[Hesiod]], the Greek [[lyric poem|lyric poets]], notably [[Bacchylides]] and [[Pindar]], and on [[Theatre of ancient Greece|drama]]; the better part of the Pindar and [[Sophocles]] [[scholia]] originated with Didymus. The [[Aristophanes]] scholia also cite him often, and he is known to have written treatises on [[Euripides]], [[Ion of Chios|Ion]], [[Phrynichus (comic poet)|Phrynichus]]'s ''Kronos'',{{sfn|Athenaeus|1940|p=184 (9:371f)}} [[Cratinus]], [[Menander]],<ref>''Etymol. Gud''. 338.25.</ref> and many of the Greek [[orator]]s including [[Demosthenes]], [[Aeschines]], [[Isaeus]], [[Hypereides]] and [[Dinarchus|Deinarchus]].{{sfn|Braswell|2017|pp=80-84}}

Besides these commentaries there are mentions of the following works, none of which survives:

* ''On phraseology in tragedy'' ({{lang|grc|περὶ τραγῳδουμένης λέξεως}} ''perí tragodouménis léxeos''), which comprised at least 28 books<ref>[[Macrobius]] ''Sat''. 5.18; [[Harpocration]] s.v. {{lang|grc|ξηραλοιφεῖν}}.</ref>
* ''Comic phraseology'' ({{lang|grc|[[Lexis (linguistics)|λέξις κωμική]]}} ''léxis komikí''), of which [[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]] made much use<ref>Hesychius, letter to Eulogius; cf. ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' 492.53, [[scholia]] on [[Apollonius the Sophist|Apollonius]] 1.1139 and 4.1058.</ref>
* a third linguistic work on words of ambiguous or uncertain meaning, comprising at least seven books
* a fourth linguistic work on false or corrupt expressions
* a collection of Greek proverbs ({{lang|grc|περὶ παροιμιῶν}} ''perí parimión'') in 13 books,{{sfn|Braswell|2017|pp=98-99}} from which most of the proverbs in [[Zenobius]]' collection are taken.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}
* ''On the law-tablets of Solon'' ({{lang|grc|περὶ τῶν ἀξόνων Σόλωνος}} ''perí tón axónon Sólonos''), a work mentioned by [[Plutarch]].{{sfn|Braswell|2017|p=99}}
* He is attributed with writing a critique of [[Cicero]]'s ''[[De re publica]]'', comprising six books, referred to by [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] (22.16), which provoked [[Suetonius]] to counter with a defense of that Roman writer. The authenticity of the attribution has been questioned on the grounds there is no evidence Didymus knew Latin, and the suggestion the source may have confused Didymus Chalcenterus with [[Claudius Didymus]], who wrote a critique of [[Thucydides]]' style, and a work comparing Latin and Greek.{{sfn|Braswell|2017|p=100}}

In addition, there survive extracts on [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|agriculture]] and botany,<ref>Preserved in the ''Geoponica''.</ref> mention of a commentary on [[Hippocrates]], and a completely surviving treatise ''On all types of marble and wood'' ({{lang|grc|περὶ μαρμάρων καὶ παντοίων ξύλων}} ''perí marmáron kai pantoíon xýlon'').{{sfn|Braswell|2017|pp=100-101}} In view of the drastic difference in subject matter, it is possible that these represent the work of a different Didymos.<ref>See Gräfenheim, ''Geschichte der klassische Philologie im Alterthum'' i.405, etc.</ref>

The [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], in his ''[[Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium]]'', claims that Didymus wrote 4,000 books, while making a commentary on the acquisition of useless knowledge.

Further insight into Didymus' methods of writing was provided by the discovery of a [[papyrus]] fragment of his commentary on the [[Philippic]]s of [[Demosthenes]].  This confirms that he was not an original researcher, but a scrupulous compiler who made many quotations from earlier writers, and who was prepared to comment about chronology and history, as well as rhetoric and style.<ref>L.D.Reynolds & N.G.Wilson, ''Scribes and Scholars'' (OUP,1968), p.17.</ref>

==In fiction==
* Didymus is a lead character in [[Michael Livingston]]'s 2015 [[historical fantasy]] novel ''[[The Shards of Heaven]]''.<ref name="PW Shards">{{cite web |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7653-8031-9 |title=''The Shards of Heaven'' by Michael Livingston |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |access-date=January 29, 2016}}</ref><ref name="KR Shards">{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-livingston/the-shards-of-heaven/ |title=Review: ''The Shards of Heaven'' by Michael Livingston  |work=[[Kirkus Reviews]] |date=September 3, 2015 |access-date=January 29, 2016}}</ref>

== Sources ==

=== Editions ===
* Scholia on the ''Iliad'': <br /> [[Hartmut Erbse|Erbse, H.]] 1969-88, ''Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem'', 7 vols. (Berlin)
* Didymus' work reconstructed from the ''Iliad'' scholia: <br /> [[Moritz Schmidt|Schmidt, M.]] 1964 [1854], ''Didymi Chalcenteri grammatici Alexandrini fragmenta quae supersunt omnia'', reprint (Amsterdam)
* The commentary on Demosthenes:,<br /> ''Didymos: On Demosthenes'', edited with a translation by Philip Harding, 2006 (OUP)

==See also==
* [[Homeric scholarship]]
* [[Venetus A]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{Cite book| title = Deipnosophistae
 | last = Athenaeus
 | author-link = Athenaeus
 | year = 1928
 | editor-last = Gulick | editor-first = Charles Burton | editor-link = :de:Charles Burton Gulick
 | volume = 2
 | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]]
 }}
*{{Cite book| title = Deipnosophistae
 | last = Athenaeus
 | author-link = Athenaeus
 | year = 1940
 | editor-last = Gulick | editor-first = Charles Burton | editor-link = :de:Charles Burton Gulick
 | volume = 4
 | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]]
 }}  
*{{cite book| title = Didymos of Alexandria: Commentary on Pindar
 | last =  Braswell  | first = Bruce Karl
  | year =  2017 
 | publisher = Schwabe AG  
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tV_KCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100
 | isbn =978-3-796-53493-5
 }}
* {{cite book|title = Interpreting a Classic: Demosthenes and his Ancient Commentators | first = Craig A. | last= Gibson | year = 2002 | publisher = University of California Press }}
*{{cite book| title = History of classical scholarship from the beginnings to the end of the Hellenistic age
 | last = Pfeiffer | first = Rudolf
 | author-link = Rudolf Pfeiffer
 | year = 1968
 | volume = 1
 | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]]
 | isbn = 9780198143420 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AoN4AAAAIAAJ
 }}  
*{{cite book| title = The Best of the Grammarians: Aristarchus of Samothrace on the Iliad 
 | last =  Schironi  | first = Francesca
 | year = 2018 
 | publisher = [[University of Michigan Press]]
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GZ92DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18   
 | isbn = 978-0-472-13076-4
 }}

 {{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Russell, H.A. 1948, "Old Brass-Guts", [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3293125 ''The Classical Journal'' 43.7: 431-432]
*{{SmithDGRBM}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Didymus Chalcenterus}}
[[Category:60s BC births]]
[[Category:10s deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek grammarians]]
[[Category:1st-century BC Greek writers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek lexicographers]]