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Philostephanus

2. Of Cyrene, an Alexandrian writer of history and geography, the friend or disciple of Callimachus, flourished under Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, about B. C. 249 (Ath. viii. p. 331d.). We have quotations from the following works of his: Περὶ παραδόξων ποταμῶν (Ath. l.c.), περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ πόλεων (Ath. vii. p. 297f.); περὶ νήσων (Harpocr. s. v. Στρύμη; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 3.1242; Schol. as Lycophr. 447, 586), of which work a history of Cyprus formed a part (Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 17; Siebelis, Phanodemi Frag. p. 70); τὰ ἠπειρωτικά (Harpoer. s. v. Βούχετα); περὶ εὑρημάτων (Clem. Al. Strom. i. p. 133. s. 308; Plin. Nat. 7.56. s. 57); and an historical work, the title of which is not specified. (Plut. Lyc. 23.)

To the above citations several others might be added, but all the extant titles of the writings of Philostephanus have been mentioned. Some writers identify him with the comic poet; whether rightly or not can hardly be determined (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 150, n., vol. iii. p. 314; Vessius, de Hist. Graec. p. 129, ed. Westermann; Clinton, F. H. s. a. 249.)

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.