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Aspasios of Tyre (793)

T1
S u d a , s . v. A s p a s i o s o f T y r e Translation
Subject: g e n r e : b i o g r a p h y
Source Date: 1 0 t h c e n t u r y A D
Historian's Date: U n k n o w n
Historical Period:

!"#$!%&' (!%")$*+'. ,-)./0 10)2 34)"5 Sophist, historian. He wrote a work O n

*.2 %67 87 .9%:$; <=!%")>.7 !4??$*%"7 87 T y re a n d i t s i n h a b i t a n t s ; a
@$@A>"$' *B; 10)2 %CD7E' FE%")$*:'; *.2 M i s c e l l a n e o u s H i s t o r y in twenty books;
GAA.. O n t h e A r t o f R h e t o r i c ; etc.

Commentary

A s p a s i o s o f T y r e 's historical writings (OOn T y r e a n d i t s i n h a b i t a n t s and M i s c e l l a n e o u s

H i s t o r y ) are only attested through their mention in this S u d a entry.

There might be a slight clue about his activities as a rhêtôr: M. Heath, HAspines and Pseudo-
Aspines’ AJP 119 (1998), 89-111, proposes to identify A s p a s i o s ’ O n t h e A r t o f R h e t o r i c with a
rhetorical treatise attributed in the manuscripts to A s p i n e s (see M.R. Dilts and G.A. Kennedy,
Two Greek Rhetorical Treatises from the Roman Empire : Introduction, Text, and Translation of the Arts of
Rhetoric Attributed to Anonymous Seguerianus and to Apsines of Gadara (Leiden 1997)). Traditionally,
this A s p i n e s has been understood as V a l e r i u s A s p i n e s o f G a d a r a , a rhêtôr mentioned in
P h i l o s t r a t u s and the S u d a and born probably in the late second century AD.
Heath’s complex and conjectural argument rests mainly on the fact that A s p i n e s himself is
suspiciously mentioned several times in the treatise (Dilts-Kennedy, Two Greek Rhetorical Treatises,
xxiv-xxv). Given the fact that a Scholion to D e m o s t h e n e s (20.4 16a, 99.1-2 Dilts) refers to
‘A
As p i n e s and A s p a s i o s ’, Heath suggests that this A s p a s i o s should be the author of the
treatise and that he was referring to his master’s work. Therefore, Heath argues that P s e u d o -
A s p i n e s could be identified with A s p a s i o s o f T y r e , the only one of the three rhetoricians
named Aspasios who could be a pupil of Aspines and fit the chronology. This proposition has
been rejected (prudently, I think) by H. Yunis in BMCR 1998.08.08 (
h t t p : / / c c a t . s a s . u p e n n . e d u / b m c r / 1 9 9 8 / 1 9 9 8 - 0 8 - 0 8 . h t m l ).

Biographical Essay
It is impossible to supply certain details on this man: see commentary on T 1.
Bibliography
E. Schwartz, HAspasios (1)’, RE II.2 (1896), col. 1722

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Aspasios of Tyre (793): Brill's New Jacoby : Brill Online http://brillonline.nl/subscriber/uid=2016/entry?entry=bnj_a7...

M. Heath, HAspines and Pseudo-Aspines’, AJP 119 (1998), 89-111

Busine, Aude (Bruxelles)

Citation:

Busine, Aude. "Aspasios of Tyre (793)." Brill's New Jacoby. Editor in Chief: Ian
Worthington (University of Missouri) . Brill, 2011. Brill Online. BNJ-contributors. 16 August 2011
<http://brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=bnj_a793>
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