logographi

LOGO´GRAPHI(λογογράφοι) is a name applied by the Greeks to two distinct classes of persons.

1. To the earlier Greek historians previous to Herodotus, though Thucydides (Thuc. 1.21) applies the name logographer to all historians previous to himself, and thus includes Herodotus among the number. The Ionians were the first of the Greeks who cultivated history; and the first logographer, who lived about Olymp. 60, was Cadmus, a native of Miletus, who wrote a history of the foundation of his native city. The characteristic feature of all the logographers previous to Herodotus is, that they seem to have aimed more at amusing their hearers or readers than at imparting accurate historical knowledge. They wrote in the unperiodic style called λέξις εἰρομένη. They described in prose the mythological subjects and traditions which had previously been treated of by the epic and especially by the cyclic poets. The omissions in the narratives of their predecessors were probably filled up by traditions derived from other quarters, in order to produce, at least in form, a connected history. In many cases they were mere collections of local and genealogical traditions. (Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, 2. p. 127, &c.; Müiller, Hist. of Greek Lit. 1. p. 206, &c.; Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterth. 2.2, p. 443; Curtius, Hist. of Greece, translated by Ward, 2. p. 499.)

2. To persons who wrote judicial speeches or pleadings and sold them to those who were in want of them. These persons were called λογοποιοὶ as well as λογογράφοι. Antiphon, the orator, was the first who practised this art at Athens, towards the close of the Peloponnesian war (Plut. Vit. Dec. Orat. p. 832; Aristot. Rhet. 1.33). After this time the custom of making and selling speeches became very general; and though the persons who practised it were not very highly thought of and regarded as pedants (Demosth. de Fals. Leg. pp. 417, 420, where see Shilleto's note; Plat. Phaedr. p. 257 C; Anaxim. Rhet. 36.22 and 24; compare Plat. Euthydem. p. 272 A, 289 D, 305 A), yet we find that orators of great merit did not scruple to write speeches of various kinds for other persons. Thus Lysias wrote for others numerous λόγους εἰς δικαστήριά τε καὶ βουλὰς καὶ πρὸς ἐκκλησίας εὐθέτους, and besides πανηγυρικούς, ἐρωτικούς, and ἐπιστολικούς. (Dionys. Lys. 1.3; compare Att. Proc. p. 707=919 Lipsius; Jebb's Attic Orators, 1.3.)

(λογογράφοι, i. e. writers in prose). The name given to the oldest Greek historians, who by their first attempts at disquisitions in prose marked the transition from narrative poetry to prose history (Thuc.i. 21). As in the case of epic poetry, so these earliest historical writings emanated from Ionia, where the first attempts at an exposition of philosophic reflections in prose were made at about the same time by Pherecydes, Anaximander, and Anaximenes; and, in both cases alike, it was the Ionic dialect that was used. This class of writing long preserved in its language the poetic character which it inherited from its origin in the epic narrative. It was only by degrees that it approached the tone of true prose. It confined itself absolutely to the simple telling of its story, which was largely made up of family and local traditions. It never classified its materials from a more elevated point of view, or scrutinized them with critical acumen. The logographers flourished from about B.C. 550 down to the Persian Wars. Their latest representatives extend, however, down to the time of the Peloponnesian War. When true history arose with Herodotus, they soon lapsed into oblivion, whence they were rescued in Alexandrian days. Many of the works ascribed to them were, however, believed to be spurious, or at least interpolated. There remain fragments only of a few. The larger number of the historic writers who are described as logographers were Asiatic Greeks, e. g. Cadmus of Miletus, author of a history of the founding of Miletus and the colonization of Ionia (he lived about B.C. 540, and was considered the first writer of historic prose); further, Dionysus of Miletus, a writer of Persian history; Hecataeus (q.v.) of Miletus (550-476); Xanthus of Sardis (about 496), a writer of Lydian history; Hellanicus (q.v.) of Lesbos (about 480-400); Charon of Lampsacus (about 456), a compiler of Persian history and annals of his native town; Pherecydes of the Carian island Leros (died about B.C. 400), who lived at Athens, and in his great collection of myths in ten books treated chiefly of the early days of Attica. Some belonged to the colonies in the West—e. g. Hippys of Rhegium, at the time of the Persian War the oldest writer on Sicily and Italy. The only representative from Greece itself is Acusilaüs of Argos in Boeotia, the author of a genealogical work. The scanty remains of the logographers are collected by Müller in his Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (Paris, 1856). See historia.