Charon
Χάρων
(Χάρων), literary.
1. A historian of Lampsacus, is mentioned by Tertullian (de Anim. 46) as prior to Herodotus, and is said by Suidas (s. v.) according to the common reading, to have flourished (γενόμενος) in the time of Dareius Hystaspis, in the 79th Olympiad (B. C. 464); but, as Dareius died in B. C. 485, it has been proposed to read ξθ́ for οθ́ in Suidas, thus placing the date of Charon in Ol. 69 or B. C. 504. He lived, however, as late as B. C. 464, for he is referred to by Plutarch (Plut. Them. 27) as mentioning the flight of Themistocles to Asia in B. C. 465.
Works
We find the following list of his works in Suidas: 1. Αἰθιοπικά 2. Περσικά. 3. Ἑλληνικά. 4. Περὶ Λαμψάκου. 5. Λιβυκά. 6. Ὅροι Λαμψακηνῶν, a work quoted by Athenaeus, thus making its subject to be the annals of Lampsacus. 7. Πρυτάνεις ἢ Ἄρχοντες οἱ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, a chronological work. 8. Κτίσεις πόλεων. 9. Κρητικά. 10. Περίπλους ὁ ἐκτὸς τῶν Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν.
Editions
The fragments of Charon, together with those of Hecataeus and Xanthus, have been published by Creuzer, Heidelberg, 1806, and by Car. and Th. Müller, Fragm. Histor. Graec. Paris, 1841.
Further Information
Besides the references above given, comp. Plut. de Mul. Virt. s. v. Λαμψάκη; Strab. xiii. p.583; Paus. 10.38; Athen. 12.520d.; Ael. V. H. i 15; Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. 2.2, 479; Voss. de Hist. Graec. b. 1.100.1; Clint. Fast. sub annis 504, 464.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.