Eutychius Proclus

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Eutychius Proclus (Latin; Greek Εὐτυχίος Πρόκλος Eutychios Proklos) was a grammarian who flourished in the 2nd century CE. He was born at Sicca in Africa. He was the instructor of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

It is probably this Proclus who is mentioned by Trebellius Pollio as the most learned grammarian of his age. He was made consul by Marcus Aurelius.

Works

No works by Eutychius Proclus are known for sure to survive, and little is known about him personally. However, it is widely thought that he is to be identified with the author of a Chrestomathy which is our most important source of information on the Epic Cycle.

If so, Eutychius Proclus is to be identified with the Proklos discussed by the 9th century scholar and patriarch Photius. Photius writes that the Chrestomathy comprised four books, which covered numerous topics to do with ancient Greek literature, and he describes the contents of the first two books as follows:

• biographies of the "five greatest" epic poets, Homer, Hesiod, Peisander, Panyasis, and Antimachus
• an account of a long version of the Epic Cycle (including the Titanomachy and Theban Cycle as well as the Trojan War)
• a discussion of the authorship of the Cypria
• discussions of various iambic and lyric poets and prose writers

A famous manuscript of the Iliad known as Venetus A preserves a Life of Homer, and summaries of the Epic Cycle, except that the section on the Cypria is damaged. Several other manuscripts preserve the Life, or the Cypria summary, or both (but none of the rest of the Epic Cycle).

References

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Last updated on Tuesday October 02, 2007 at 09:28:42 PDT (GMT -0700)
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