The Chronica of Apollodorus of Athens between Pergamon and Rome

Apollodorus of Athens, a versatile and prolific scholar of the second century bce, studied in Athens and maintained connections with Aristarchus in Alexandria, but he was also closely connected to Pergamon and clearly interested in Roman history. He dedicated his major work, the Chronica, to Attalus II; this was a chronographic tour de force, presenting the entire history of the Greek world in poetic form. Noteworthy for its content, the Chronica recorded historical events in chronological order and carefully established relative dates for notable figures and events. It also translated existing scholarly practices into the iambic trimeter of the comic tradition, celebrating order and knowledge as the hallmarks of Pergamene cultural politics. With the Chronica, Apollodorus thus composed a work which was both ‘technical’ and ‘literary’ and which, precisely because of its sophisticated nature, proved successful both in the Greek world and in Rome.