a Greek rhetorician and historian, was a son of Ptolemaeus and born in the Attic demos of
Herms. (Böckh, Corp. Inscript. i. n. 380, p. 439, &c.) He lived
in the third century after Christ, in the reigns of Claudius Gothicus, Tacitus, Aurelian, and
Probus, till about Vit.
Porphyr. p. 21.) He was regarded by his contemporaries and later writers as a man of
most extensive learning; and we learn from the inscription just referred to, that he was
honoured at Athens with the highest offices that existed in his native city. In Exc. de Bell. Scyth. p. 26, &c.; Trebell. Poll. Gallien.
13.)
We are not informed whether Dexippus wrote any rhetorical works; he is known to us only as
an historical author. Photius (Bibl. Cod. 82) has preserved some account
of three historical works of Dexippus.
It was a history of Macedonia from the time of Alexander, and by way of introduction the author prefixed a sketch of the preceding
history, from the time of Caranus to Alexander. (Comp. Euseb. Chron. 1.)
s. v.
Alex. Sev. 49; Capitolin.
Maximin. Jun. 6, Tres Gord. 2, 9, Maxim. et Balbin. 1; Treb. Poll. Gallien. 15, Trig. Tyr. 32, Claud. 12; comp.
Evagrius, Hist. Eccles. 5.24.)
Photius praises the style and diction of Dexippus, especially in the third work, and looks upon him as a second Thucydides ; but this praise is highly exaggerated, and the fragments still extant shew, that his style has all the faults of the late Greek rhetoricians.
The fragments of Dexippus, which have been considerably increased in modern times by the
discoveries of A. Mai (Collect. Script. Vet. ii. p. 319, &c.), have
been collected by