Ephorus the Younger

Ephorus the Younger was an ancient Greek historian . He lived during the imperial crisis of the 3rd century .

Ephoros, who like his namesake, the well-known historian Ephoros (the Elder) , is said to have come from Kyme in Aeolia , is only mentioned in the Central Byzantine lexicon Suda . According to the information provided there, he wrote a history of Emperor Gallienus in 27 books. In addition, a treatise on events in Corinth , a work on the Aleuads and other unnamed writings are ascribed to him in the Suda . Nothing of these works has survived.

Some researchers believe that the entry in the Suda is incorrect. Accordingly, several works were wrongly ascribed to Ephorus. It is also controversial whether a historian by the name of Ephorus lived in the time of Gallienus and wrote such an extensive work on the emperor. It is quite possible that Ephorus wrote a comprehensive historical work about this time and did not limit himself to a biography of Gallienus; but the historian could also be a phantom author.

Should the historian Ephorus the Younger be historical, however, then he belonged to a number of Greek-speaking historians who were active in the 3rd century, for example Cassius Dio , Herodian , Nicostratos of Trebizond , Dexippus and an otherwise little-known Eusebius . The activity of Ephoros in this case is further evidence of the vitality of the Greek-language historiography of the time, of which relatively little is known today due to the poor tradition.

Edition with translation

Bruno Bleckmann , Jonathan Gross: Historians of the Imperial Crisis of the 3rd Century I ( Small and fragmentary historians of late antiquity ). Paderborn 2016, ISBN 978-3-506-78490-2 , pp. 99-105.

literature

Pawel Janiszewski: The Missing Link. Greek Pagan Historiography in the Second Half of the Third Century and in the Fourth Century AD. Warszawa 2006, pp. 329-331.
Arnold Hugh Martin Jones et al .: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire . Volume 1. Cambridge 1971, p. 279.

Remarks

↑ The Fragments of the Greek Historians No. 212.
↑ Suda, Epsilon 3952 .
^ Pawel Janiszewski: The Missing Link. Greek Pagan Historiography in the Second Half of the Third Century and in the Fourth Century AD. Warszawa 2006, pp. 330f.
↑ Hartwin Brandt : Dexipp and the historiography of the 3rd century AD . In: Martin Zimmermann (eds.): History and political change in the 3rd century AD.. . Stuttgart 1999, p. 179.

personal data
SURNAME	Ephorus the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ephorus of Kyme
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Greek historian
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century or 3rd century
PLACE OF BIRTH	unsure: Kyme
DATE OF DEATH	3rd century

[1] The Fragments of the Greek Historians No. 212.

[2] Suda, Epsilon 3952 .

[3] Pawel Janiszewski: The Missing Link. Greek Pagan Historiography in the Second Half of the Third Century and in the Fourth Century AD. Warszawa 2006, pp. 330f.

[4] Hartwin Brandt : Dexipp and the historiography of the 3rd century AD . In: Martin Zimmermann (eds.): History and political change in the 3rd century AD.. . Stuttgart 1999, p. 179.