(Ἴστρος), or ISTRUS.
1. A Greek historian, who is sometimes called a native of Cyrene, sometimes of Macedonia, and sometimes of Paphus, in the island of Cyprus. (Suid. s. v. Ἴστρος.) These contradictory statements are reconciled by Siebelis, in the work cited blow, by the supposition that Ister was born at Cyrene, that thence he proceeded with Callimachus to Alexandria, and afterwards lived for some time at Paphus, which was subject to the kings of Egypt. (Comp. Plut. Quaest. Graec. 43, who calls him an Alexandrian.)
Ister is said to have been at first a slave of Callimachus, and afterwards his friend, and this circumstance determines the age of Istrus, who accordingly lived in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, i. e. between about B. C. 250 and 220. Polemon, who was either his contemporary or lived very shortly after him, wrote against Ister.