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Duris of Samos

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Duris of Samos
Relief inscribed stele with the Samian honorary decree
Bornc. 350BC
DiedAfter 281BC
Samos
Occupation(s)Tyrant
Historian
Known forRuling Samos
Writing history
Notable workA narrative history of Greece

Duris of Samos(orDouris) (Greek:Δοῦρις ὁ Σάμιος;c. 350BC – after 281BC) was aGreekhistorianand was at some periodtyrantofSamos.Duris was the author of a narrative history of events in Greece and especiallyMacedoniafrom 371BC to 281BC, which has been lost. Other works included a life ofAgathocles of Syracuseand a number of treatises on literary and artistic subjects.

Personal and political life[edit]

Duris claimed to be a descendant ofAlcibiades.[1]He had a son,Scaeus,who won the boys' bo xing at theOlympian Games"while the Samians were in exile";[2]that is, before 324BC. From 352 to 324 Samos was occupied byAtheniancleruchswho had expelled the native Samians.[3]Duris therefore may well have been born at some date close to 350BC, and, since his main historical work ended with the death ofLysimachusin 281 BC, must have died at an unknown date after that. Some modern sources assume that the Olympic victor Scaeus must have been the father, not the son, of the historian Duris; hence he is described in at least two encyclopedias as "son of Scaeus".[4]The ancient sources, admittedly meagre, do not support this. Duris was the brother ofLynceus of Samos,author of comedies, letters and the essayShopping for Food.[5][6]

Many 20th century works state that Duris was a pupil ofTheophrastusat Athens.[7]There is no evidence for this claim other than a conjectural emendation byAdamantios Koraisof the text of theDeipnosophistaeofAthenaeus.The emendation was published by J. Schweighäuser in 1802 and has been accepted by all subsequent editors of Athenaeus.[8]The manuscript text says not that Duris studied under Theophrastus, but that his brother Lynceus and Lynceus's correspondent Hippolochus did so.[9]

The only recorded fact about Duris's public life is that he was tyrant, or sole ruler, of Samos.[10]How he attained this position, for how long he held it, and what events took place under his rule, are unknown. "His reign was uneventful", Hazel guesses.[4]

Writings[edit]

Duris was the author of a narrative history of events in Greece andMacedoniafrom thebattle of Leuctra(371BC) down to the death ofLysimachus(281BC). This work, like all his others, is lost; over thirty fragments are known through quotations by other authors, includingPlutarch.It was continued in theHistoriesofPhylarchus.Other works by Duris included a life ofAgathocles of Syracuse,which was a source for books 19-21 of theHistorical LibraryofDiodorus Siculus.Duris also wrote historical annals of Samos arranged according to the lists of the priests ofHera;and a number of treatises on literary and artistic subjects.[11][12]

List of works[edit]

Parts of eight of Duris's works survive, ranging from 33 fragments of hisHistoriesto a single, small fragment from hisOn Sculpture.A full listing is:[11][12]

  • Histories(also listed asMacedonicaandHellenica;33 fragments)
  • On Agathocles(also listed asLibyca;13 fragments)
  • Annals of Samos(22 fragments)
  • On Laws(2 fragments)
  • On Games(4 fragments)
  • On Tragedy(and perhapsOn Euripides and Sophocles;2 fragments)
  • On Painters(2 fragments)
  • On Sculpture(1 fragment)

Later opinions[edit]

Of those later authors who knew Duris's work, few praise it.Ciceroaccords him qualified praise as an industrious writer.[13]Plutarchused his work but repeatedly expresses doubt as to his trustworthiness.[14]Dionysius of Halicarnassusspeaks disparagingly of his style.[15]Photiusregards the arrangement of his work as altogether faulty.[16]By contrast with recent predecessors such as Ephorus, Duris served as the exemplar of a new fashion for "tragic history"[17]which gave entertainment and excitement greater importance than factual reporting. In Plutarch's "Life of Pericles" a telling example is Duris's elaborate (and, according to Plutarch, exaggerated) description of cruelty and extensive destruction at Samos when Athenian forces, led by Pericles, subdued the island.[18]

Recent critics, believing that Duris was a pupil of Theophrastus, have attempted either to demonstrate that "tragic history" agreed with the teachings of the Peripatetic school[19]or to analyse Duris's motives for taking a different line from his supposed teachers.[20]The debate was inevitably inconclusive.[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^Plutarch,Life of Alcibiades32
  2. ^Pausanias,Guide to Greece6.13.5.
  3. ^Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)."Duris".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 711.
  4. ^abHazel, John (2000).Who's who in the Greek world.London: Routledge.ISBN0203159713.OCLC49414903.
  5. ^Athenaeus,Deipnosophists,4.128.
  6. ^Athenaeus,Deipnosophists,Book 4.
  7. ^E.g. Barron (1962); Brink (1960); Kebric (1974), (1977); even as late as Hazel (1999); but not J. G. Frazer (Pausanias's Description of Greecevol. 4 [1898] p. 41), and not von Albrecht (1975).
  8. ^Dalby (1991).
  9. ^Athenaeus128a;Lynceus is also named as a student of Theophrastus at Athenaeus100eandSudas.v. Lynkeus.
  10. ^Athenaeus337d;Sudas.v. Lynkeus.
  11. ^abC. Müller,Fragmenta historicorum Graecorumvol. 2 (Paris, 1848) pp. 466–488. [Greek with Latin translation and commentary]
  12. ^abF. Jacoby,Die Fragmente der griechischen Historikervol. 2A pp. 1136–1158 [Greek text]; vol. 2C pp. 115–131 [German commentary]
  13. ^Cicero,Letters to Atticus6.1.
  14. ^Plutarch,Life of Alcibiades32;Life of Demosthenes23;Plutarch,Life of Eumenes1.
  15. ^Dionysius,On Composition4.
  16. ^Photius,Library176.
  17. ^Michael Grant,The Ancient Historians(New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970) p. 142.
  18. ^Plutarch,Life of Pericles28.
  19. ^Brink (1960); Okin (1974), (1980).
  20. ^Kebric (1974), (1977); Walbank (1960); see Walbank'sPolybius(Berkeley, 1972) p. 35.
  21. ^A. Lesky,A History of Greek Literature(2nd ed., Eng. trans., London, 1966) p. 765; Dalby (1991).

Bibliography[edit]

Editions of the fragments[edit]

Modern scholarship[edit]

  • J. P. Barron, "The Tyranny of Duris of Samos" inClassical Reviewnew series vol. 12 (1962) pp. 189–192.
  • C. O. Brink, "Tragic History and Aristotle's School" inProceedings of the Cambridge Philological Societyvol. 186 (1960) pp. 14–19.
  • A. Dalby,"The Curriculum Vitae of Duris of Samos" inClassical quarterlynew series vol. 41 (1991) pp. 539–541.
  • R. B. Kebric,In the Shadow of Macedon: Duris of Samos.Wiesbaden, 1977.
  • R. B. Kebric, "A Note on Duris in Athens" inClassical Philologyvol. 69 (1974) pp. 286–287.
  • F. Landucci Gattinoni,Duride di Samo.Roma, 1997.
  • L. Okin,Studies on Duris of Samos.University of Michigan dissertation, 1974.
  • L. Okin, "A Hellenistic Historian Looks at Mythology" inPanhellenica(Lawrence, Kansas, 1980).
  • P. Pédech,Trois historiens méconnus: Théopompe, Duris, Phylarque.Paris, 1989.
  • E. Schwartz, "Duris (3)" inPaulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft: neue Bearbeitung(Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1894-1980) vol. 5 pt 2 cols 1853-1856.
  • F. W. Walbank,"History and Tragedy" inHistoriavol. 9 (1960) pp. 216–234.
  • C. Baron,Timaeus of Tauromenium and Hellenistic Historiography(2012) pp. 247–255.

Other encyclopedias[edit]

  • M. von Albrecht, "Duris (1)" inDer kleine Paulyed. Konrat Ziegler, Walther Sontheimer (Munich: Artemis, 1975).
  • D. Bowder, "Duris of Samos" inWho Was Who in the Greek World(Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1982) pp. 101–102.
  • "Duris of Samos"inThe Columbia Encyclopedia,6th ed. (2008).
  • J. Hazel, "Duris (2)"in J. Hazel,Who's Who in the Greek World(London, 1999) p. 89.
  • R. Schmitt, "Duris of Samos"inEncyclopædia Iranica.OCLC 311688910
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