(first century b.c.) mythologist
Apollodorus is largely responsible for the information modern scholars possess concerning the religion and mythology of ancient Greece. Very little is known about his life, and the dates of his birth and death cannot be established with any certainty. It is known that he studied in the city of Alexandria, which in the first century was the intellectual heart of the classical world, under the tutelage of the astronomer Aristarchus and the philosopher Panaetius. He spent most of his life in his native Athens.
Apollodorus is best known for his work Biblio-theke (Library). In essence, this work is a summary and description of the identities and activities of the Greek gods. It discusses famous events in Greek mythology, such as the war between the Titans and Olympians and Prometheus’s gift of fire to humanity. It is a straightforward story that Apol-lodorus tells uncritically and without digressions. From this compilation comes much of the modern knowledge of Greek mythology, although only fragments of the work survive to the present day.
Apollodorus also wrote a work entitled Chronicle, a historical reference covering Greek history from the time of the Trojan War to Apollodorus’s own time. Again, only fragments of this work remain. Apollodorus wrote other works, some dealing with geography, which is said to have influenced the geographer strabo, and grammar, but it is his works on mythology that are of greatest importance and that have influenced such writers as John Milton and Ben Jonson.
English Versions of Works by Apollodorus
Loeb Classical Library. Translated by J. G. Frazer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Church, Alfred Jr., ed. Stories from the Greek Comedians: Aristophanes, Philenon, Diphilus, Menander and Apollodorus. Cheshire, Conn.: Biblo and Tanner Booksellers, 1998.
The Library of Greek Mythology. Translated by Keith Aldrich. Lawrence, Kans.: Coronado Press, 1974.
