Daimachos (3rd century BC)

Daimachos (also Deimachos , Greek Δαίmαχος or Δηίmαχος) was an ancient Greek historian and diplomat in the 3rd century BC. Chr.

Daimachos, like another historian of the same name , came from Plataiai . He was in the service of the Seleucid Antiochus I and acted as the successor of Megasthenes as Seleucid ambassador to the court of the Indian Maurya king Bindusara in Pataliputra (Palimbothra), as Strabon reports: "You were sent to Palimbothra - Megasthenes to Sandrokottos ( Chandragupta Maurya ) , Deimachos to his son Amitrochades (Bindusara). "

During this time, Daimachos wrote a historical work entitled Indicá , of which only a few fragments have survived. Daimachos seems to have polemicized against other authors in it, but its credibility was rated as very low even in antiquity. Strabo, for example, not only denied the information in Daimachos' Indicá , he also came to a damning verdict on the two authors mentioned at the same point (although Megasthenes does not have a bad reputation in research): “Now applies to all authors who have written about India that they mostly cheat, but to the greatest extent for Deimachos; second prize goes to Megasthenes; Onesikritos, Nearchus and others of this type are already stammering the truth. "

Text output

The fragments of the Greek historians No. 716 or Brill's New Jacoby (with English translation, commentary and biographical sketch by Johannes Engels ).

literature

José María Camacho Rojo: Daïmachos de Platées. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 537-540, here: 539-540
Otto Lendle : Introduction to Greek historiography: from Hekataios to Zosimos . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft , Darmstadt 1992, ISBN 3-534-10122-7 , p. 273.
Klaus Meister : The Greek historiography . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-17-010264-8 , p. 142.
Eduard Schwartz : Daïmachos 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 2008-209.

Remarks

↑ Strabo 2,1,9 on the translation by Stefan Radt : Strabo Geographika. Volume 1. Göttingen 2002, p. 175.
↑ Strabo 2,1,9 after translation by Stefan Radt: Strabo Geographika. Volume 1. Göttingen 2002, p. 175.

personal data
SURNAME	Daimachos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	ancient Greek historian and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	3rd century BC Chr.

[1] Strabo 2,1,9 on the translation by Stefan Radt : Strabo Geographika. Volume 1. Göttingen 2002, p. 175.

[2] Strabo 2,1,9 after translation by Stefan Radt: Strabo Geographika. Volume 1. Göttingen 2002, p. 175.