(Μνασέας), literary.
1. Of PATARA, in Lycia, the most celebrated literary person of this name. He is sometimes called ὁ Πατρεύς, and at other times ὁ Πατρεύς: the former would make him a native of Patara in Lycia; the latter, of Patrae in Achaia. Clinton calls him (F. H. vol. iii. p. 534) Mnaseas of Patrae; but it appears more probable that Πατρεύς is a corruption of Παταρεύς than the contrary; and we know that Asia Minor produced many literary persons from the time that literature flourished at Alexandria. From a passage in Suidas (s. v. Ἐρατοσθένης), Vossius, Clinton, and others have supposed that Mnaseas was a disciple of Aristarchus; but the words may also mean that he was a pupil of Eratosthenes; and that this is their real meaning, Preller has shown, from another source, in the essay referred to below. (Comp. Epimerism. Hom. p. 277, 29; Welcker, Epische Cyclus, p. 459.) Mnaseas belonged to the period when the school of Callimachus and Eratosthenes was prosecuting literary and grammatical studies; but when likewise a very large number were devoting themselves to a description of lands and places, with an account of their local traditions, monuments, and antiquities. Such were Polemon of Ilion, Neanthes of Cyzicus, Philostephanus of Cyrene, and many others, who were contemporary with Mnaseas, and who were called by the general name of Periegetae (Περιηγηταί). To these Mnaseas belonged, and was one of the worst of his class. It is true that he was diligent and learned, and that he travelled in Europe, Africa, and Asia, for the purpose of collecting materials for his work; but he was singularly destitute both of taste and judgment, and belonged to that class of Alexandrine compilers who placed more value upon the quantity of their materials than their quality or arrangement, and who recorded more diligently all extraordinary and fabulous tales in history and nature than events and occurrences of real interest and importance. He was also a follower of the rationalistic school of Evemerus, and resolved many of the ancient legends into ordinary natural occurrences, quite in accordance with the principles of the school. [EVEMERUS.]