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.
c. Apion. 1.22;
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
(
He was the author of several works, of which, however, only a small number of fragments have come down to us.
(Bibl. Cod. 244, where
he is confounded with Hecataeus of Miletus.) Whether the work on the philosophy of the
Egyptians, attributed to him by Diogenes Laertius (i. Prooem. § 10), was a distinct
work, or only a portion of the History of Egypt, is uncertain. (Comp. Plut. De Is. et Os. p. 354d.) This work on Egypt is one of the causes of the confusion of
our Hecataeus with the Milesian, who in his Periegesis had likewise written on Egypt.
(Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.675; s. vv.
Of this the book on Abraham mentioned by Josephus (c. Apion. 1.22 ; Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix. p. 408,
xiii. p. 680; c. Cels. 1.15),
and modern critics are divided in their opinions. Suidas attributes to our Hecataeus works
on Homer and Hesiod, but makes no mention of the historical works which we have
enumerated.
Hecataci Abderitae Fragmenta, Altona, 1730, 8vo.
Comp. Creuzer, Hist. Graec. Antiquiss. Fragm. p. 28, &c.; Vossius,
De Hist. Graec. p. 86, &c., ed. Westermann.