A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. Of Abdera has often been confounded in ancient as well as in modern times with Hecataeus of Miletus. He was a contemporary of Alexander the Great and Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, and appears to have accompanied the former on his Asiatic expedition as far as Syria. He was a pupil of the Sceptic Pyrrho, and is himself called a philosopher, critic, and grammarian. (Suid. s. v. Ἑκαταῖος ; Joseph. c. Apion. 1.22; Diod. 1.47; D. L. 9.61; Plut. Sympos. p. 666e.) From the manner in which he is spoken of by Eusebius (Praep. Evang. ix. p. 239), we must infer that he was a man of great reputation on account of his extensive knowledge as well as on account of his practical wisdom (περὶ τὰς ιραξεις ἱκανώτατος). In the reign of the first Ptolemy he travelled up the Nile as far as Thebes.