Timaeus
2. Of LOCRI, in Italy, a Pythagorean philosopher, is said to have been a teacher of Plato. (Cic. de Fin. 5.29, de Re Publ. 1.10.)
Works
περὶ ψυχᾶς κόσμου καὶ φύσιος
There is an extant work, bearing his name, written in the Doric dialect, and entitled περὶ ψυχᾶς κόσμου καὶ φύσιος; but its genuineness is very doubtful, and it is in all probability nothing more than an abridgment of Plato's dialogue of Timaeus.
Editions
Latin Edition
This work was first printed in a Latin translation by Valla, along with several other works, Venice, 1488 and 1498.
Greek Editions
It was first printed in Greek at Paris, 1555, edited by Nogarola. It is also printed in many editions of Plato, and in Gale's Opuscula Mythologica, Physica et Ethica, Cambridge, 1671, and Amsterdam, 1688. The Greek text was published with a French translation by the Marquis d'Argens, Berlin, 1762.
The last and best edition is by J. J. de Gelder, Leyden, 1836. (Comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 93, foll.)
Life of Pythagoras mentioned by Suidas
Suidas says (s. v.) that Timaeus wrote the life of Pythagoras, but as no other writer mentions such a work by the Locrian Timaeus, it is not improbable that this life of Pythagoras was simply a portion of the history of Timaeus of Tauromenium, who must have spoken of the philosopher in that portion of his work which related to the early history of Italy.
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.