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Ctesias, of Cnidus in Caria, was a Greek physician and historian, who flourished in the 5th century BC.In early life he was physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BC on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger.
Ctesias was the author of treatises on rivers, and on the Persian revenues, of an account of India (which is of value as recording the beliefs of the Persians about India), and of a history of Assyria and Persia in 23 books, called Persica, written in opposition to Herodotus in the Ionic dialect, and professedly founded on the Persian royal archives.
The first six books treated of the history of Assyria and Babylon to the foundation of the Persian empire; the remaining seventeen went down to the year 398 BC. Of the two histories we possess abridgments by Photius, and fragments are preserved in AthenaeusAthenaeus (ca. AD 200) CE was a Greek author. He is also called Athenaeus of Naucratis since he was born and lived in Naucratis, Egypt. Little is known about him, except from what his books tell. Athenaeus wrote a history that has been lost, but is rememb, PlutarchMestrius Plutarch (c. 120) was a Greek historian/ biographer and essayist. Born in the small town of Chaeronea, in the Greek region known as Boeotia, probably during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, Mestrius Plutarch travelled widely in the Medite and especially Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the province of Enna). Jerome dates Diodorus' floruit to 49 BC Chronica s. Abraham 1968), which is supported by Diodorus' own statements. The earliest date Diodorus me, whose second book is mainly from Ctesias. As to the worth of the Persica there has been much controversy, both in ancient and modern times. Being based upon Persian authorities, it was naturally looked upon with suspicion by the Greeks and censured as untrustworthy.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica. 1911 Britannica
Roman era writers
