Of Tauromenium in Sicily, c.350–260bc, the most important western Greek historian. Timaeus was exiled in c.315 and spent at least 50 years of his exile in Athens, where he wrote his great historical work.
Works
1. Olympionīkai: a synchronic list of Olympic victors, Spartan kings and ephors, the Athenian archontes, and the priestesses of Hera in Argos (2). Thereafter it became standard practice to date historical events by the years of the Olympic Games; see olympiads; time‐reckoning. 2. Sicilian History in 38 books from mythical times to the death of Agathocles 289/8. The arrangement is known only in outline: the five books of the introduction dealt with the geography and ethnography of the west and accounts of ‘colonies, the foundation of cities, and their relations’. Bks. 6–15 contained the earlier history of Sicily until Dionysius 1 I's accession to power in 406/5; bks. 16–33 treated the tyranny of Dionysius I and II (406/5–344/3) and events down to Agathocles. The last five (bks. 34–38) were devoted to the history of Agathocles. The work is known through 164 fragments, the extensive use made of it by Diodorus (2), and Polybius' criticism.
1. Olympionīkai: a synchronic list of Olympic victors, Spartan kings and ephors, the Athenian archontes, and the priestesses of Hera in Argos (2). Thereafter it became standard practice to date historical events by the years of the Olympic Games; see olympiads; time‐reckoning. 2. Sicilian History in 38 books from mythical times to the death of Agathocles 289/8. The arrangement is known only in outline: the five books of the introduction dealt with the geography and ethnography of the west and accounts of ‘colonies, the foundation of cities, and their relations’. Bks. 6–15 contained the earlier history of Sicily until Dionysius 1 I's accession to power in 406/5; bks. 16–33 treated the tyranny of Dionysius I and II (406/5–344/3) and events down to Agathocles. The last five (bks. 34–38) were devoted to the history of Agathocles. The work is known through 164 fragments, the extensive use made of it by Diodorus (2), and Polybius' criticism.
Characteristics
1. Subject‐matter: Timaeus did not restrict his treatment to Sicily but dealt with the whole west including Carthage. He was the first Greek historian to give a comprehensive if summary account of Roman history until 264. 2. Conception of history: Timaeus took a broad view of history, including myth, geography, ethnography, political and military events, culture, religion, and marvels. 3. Sicilian patriotism: Timaeus frequently distorted events in favour of the Siceliots (Greeks who had settled in Sicily), and conversely wrote less favourably about the Athenians and Carthaginians; he always emphasized the contribution of the western Greeks to Greek intellectual life (e.g. Pythagoras, Empedocles, Gorgias). 4. Hatred of tyrants: Timaeus, a conservative aristocrat, distorted not only the historical picture of Agathocles, who had exiled him, but also of other tyrants, e.g. Hieron 1 I and Dionysius I. 5. Historical classification of his work: Timaeus' work displays rhetorical, tragic, and ‘pragmatic’ (see polybius) features in equal proportion; hence it is an excellent example of the early blend of different kinds of historiography. 6. Historical criticism: Timaeus was the first Greek historian critically to appraise almost all of his predecessors, historians and other writers alike. He often went too far, which earned him the nickname Epitimaeus (‘slanderer’). Timaeus in turn was criticized by Polybius for factual errors, his harsh criticism, and his historical methods (mere book‐learning, want of autopsy, lack of political and military experience).
[...]
