Dionysius Periegetes
{{Short description|2nd century AD Greek travel writer}}
Dionysius Periegetes ({{langx|grc|Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής}}, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to Dionysius Periegeta), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,Encyclopædia Britannica, 4th edition, 1810, 9:[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dv1MAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA506 506] was the author of a description of the then-known world in Greek hexameter verse. He is believed to have been from Alexandria and to have lived around the time of Hadrian (r. 117–138), though some date his lifetime as late as the end of the 3rd century.
The work enjoyed popularity in ancient times as a schoolbook. It was translated into Latin by Rufius Festus Avienius, and by the grammarian Priscian. Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica wrote a commentary on his work for John Doukas.
References
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Editions and translations
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- {{cite book |title=The Surveye of the World, or Situation of the Earth, so muche as is inhabited |editor-first=Thomas |editor-last=Twyne |editor-link=Thomas Twyne |place=London |date=1572 }}
- {{cite book |author=Dionysius Periegetes |editor-first=Georg Heinrich |editor-last=Ursin |title=Οἰκουμένης περιήγησις – Dionysii Orbis Terrae Descriptio |place=Ratisbon |year=1705 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjJFAAAAMAAJ}}
- {{cite book |title=Geographi Graeci minores ... 1. Dionysius Periēgētes Graece et Latine cum vetustis commentariis et interpretationibus |place=Leipzig |year=1828 |editor-first=Gottfried |editor-last=Bernhardy |editor-link=Gottfried Bernhardy |url=https://archive.org/details/dionysiusperiege00dion }}: reprinted Hildesheim: Olms, 1974 {{ISBN|3-487-04910-4}} (this book contains also Eustathius' comment, the scholia, Avienius' Descriptio orbis terrarum and Priscian's Periegesis).
- {{cite book |title=Geographi Graeci minores e codicibus recognovit prolegominis annotatione instruxit tabulis aeri incisis illustravit Carolus Mullerus ... 2. Orbus descriptio |place=Paris |publisher=Didot |year=1861 |series=Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum |volume=26 |editor-first=Karl |editor-last=Müller |editor-link=Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDcOAAAAYAAJ }}: reprinted Hildesheim: Olms, 1974 {{ISBN|3-487-04911-2}}.
- {{cite book |first=John |last=Free |title=Tyrocinium geographicum Londinense, or, The London geography, consisting of Dr. Free's Short lectures, compiled for the use of his pupils, to which is added by the editor, translated from the Greek into English blank verse, the Periegesis of Dionysius ... from the edition of Dr. Wells, containing the antient and modern science |place=London |year=1789 }}
- {{cite book |first=Christian |last=Jacob |title=La Description de la terre habitée de Denys d'Alexandrie ou la leçon de géographie |publisher=Albin Michel |place=Paris |year=1990 |isbn=2-226-03958-9 |language=fr}}
- {{cite book |author=Dionisio di Alessandria |title=Descrizione della Terra abitata |editor-first=Eugenio |editor-last=Amato |publisher=Bompiani Testi a fronte |place=Milan |year=2005 |isbn=88-452-3372-3 |language=it}}
- {{cite web |url=https://topostext.org/work/201 |title=Dionysius of Alexandria, Description of the Known World |last=Khan |first=Yumna |access-date=July 27, 2021}}
- {{cite book |author=Dionysius Periegetes |title=Description of the Known World |editor-first=J.L. |editor-last=Lightfoot |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=Oxford |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-967558-6 }}
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Further reading
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- Ulrich Bernays: Studien zu Dionysius Periegetes. Heidelberg: Winter, 1905.
- E. H. Bunbury, A history of ancient geography among the Greeks and Romans from the earliest ages till the fall of the Roman Empire, 2 vols, London, 1879; 2nd edn 1883. Bunbury (vol. 2, p. 480) regards Dionysius as having flourished from the reign of Nero (54–68 CE) to that of Trajan (98–117 CE).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Periegetes, Dionysius}}
Category:Ancient Greek travel writers
Category:Roman-era Alexandrians
Category:2nd-century Greek writers
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
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