Atthis was the title given in post-*Alexandrian scholarship to the genre of Greek *historiography that narrated the local history of *Attica. The title, derived from the name of the daughter of the ...
MoreAtthis was the title given in post-*Alexandrian scholarship to the genre of Greek *historiography that narrated the local history of *Attica. The title, derived from the name of the daughter of the mythical king Cranaus (Strabo 9. 1. 8), was probably invented by *Callimachus (3) for cataloguing purposes. The authors themselves used a variety of titles (Protogonia, Attika, Attikē Syngraphē) or none. The genre was probably created by *Hellanicus (1) in the late 5th cent., though *Pausanias (3) (10. 15. 5) credits *Cleidemus. It was most popular in the 4th cent. when Atthides were written by Cleidemus, *Androtion, *Phanodemus, and perhaps *Melanthius (3). *Demon and *Philochorus, the last and most respected atthidographer, wrote in the 3rd. Later *Ister compiled an epitome of these Atthides.In structure the Atthis was a chronicle, based upon a hypothetical list of kings (for the mythical period) and, after 683/2 bce, on the eponymous archons.
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