A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Ἀθήναιος), a native of Naucratis, a town on the left side of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, is called by Suidas a γραμματικός, a term which may be best rendered into English, a literary man. Suidas places him in the "times of Marcus," but whether by this is meant Marcus Aurelius is uncertain, as Caracalla was also Marcus Antoninus. We know, however, that Oppian, who wrote a work called Halieutica inscribed to Caracalla, was a little anterior to him (Athen. 1.13), and that Commodus was dead when he wrote (xii. p. 537), so that he may have been born in the reign of Aurelius, but flourished under his successors. Part of his work must have been written after A. D. 228, the date given by Dio Cassius for the death of Ulpian the lawyer, which event he mentions. (xv. p. 686.)

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