(Φιλόχορος), a celebrated Athenian writer, chiefly known by his Atthis, or work on the legends, antiquities, and history of Attica. According to Suidas (s. v.) Philochorus was an Athenian, the son of Cycnus, a seer and a diviner (μάντις καὶ ἱεροσκόπος); his wife was Archestrate ; he was a contemporary of Eratosthenes, but the latter was an old man, when Philochorus was still young; he was put to death at the instigation of Antigonus, because he was accused of being favourable to Ptolemy. But this statement of Suidas is not correct, so far as it relates to the date of Philochorus, as has been shown by several modern writers. Antigonus Doson died B. C. 220; while Eratosthenes, who died about B. C. 196 at the age of eighty, was only fifty-six at the death of the above-mentioned king : it therefore follows, if we place credit in Suidas, that Philochorus must have been put to death, when he was still a young man, a fact which is excessively improbable, as well on account of the very numerous works which he composed, as of the important office which he held in his native city. We are not, however, left to mere probability, in order to refute Suidas; for Philochorus himself relates that he held the office of ἱεροσκόπος at Athens in B. C. 306, in which year he interpreted a portent that appeared in the Acropolis (Dionys. Deiuarch. 100.3); and he must consequently have been of mature age as early as that year. It would therefore appear that Suidas, with his usual carelessness, reversed the respective ages of Philochorus and Eratosthenes. The latter part of the account of Suidas, namely that Philochorus was put to death by Antigonus, there is no reason to question. Suidas says that the Atthis of Philochorus came down to Antiochus Theos, who began to reign B. C. 261. Now it was about this time that Antigonus Gonatas took possession of Athens, which had been abetted in its opposition to the Macedonian king by Ptolemy Philadelphus; and it would, therefore, appear that Philochorus, who had been in favour of Philadelphus, was killed shortly afterwards, at the instigation of Gonatas. We may accordingly safely place the active life of Philochorus from B. C. 306 to B. C. 260.
These few facts are all that we know of the life of Philochorus, but they are sufficient to show that he was a person of some importance at Athens. He seems to have been anxious to maintain the independence of Athens against the Macedonian kings, but fell a victim in the attempt.