Timaeus (historian)

Timaeus of Tauromenium (Ancient Greek: Τιμαῖος; born 356 or 350 BC; died c. 260 BC) was an ancient Greek historian. He was widely regarded by ancient authors as the most influential historian between the time of Ephorus (4th century BC) and Polybius (2nd century BC). In the words of scholar Lionel I. C. Pearson, Timaeus "maintained his position as the standard authority on the history of the Greek West for nearly five centuries."

Biography

Timaeus was born c. 356 or c. 350 BC in Tauromenium (modern Taormina, in eastern Sicily), to a wealthy and influential Greek family. His father, Andromachus, was a dynast who had refounded Tauromenium in 358 with former inhabitants of Naxos (destroyed by Dionysius I in 403), and ruled there with Timoleon's support.

Some time after 316 BC, perhaps in 315 or 312, Timaeus is said to have been banished from Sicily by Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, possibly because of Timaeus' hostility towards him after the tyrant had captured Tauromenium. Some scholars have suggested that he left Sicily earlier, although most researchers agree that he was forced out in the 310s, rather than leaving voluntarily as a young man.

Timaeus spent at least fifty years in Athens. It is not clear if he ever returned to Sicily. Scholar Christopher A. Baron writes that Timaeus may never have returned to his homeland, even after Agathocles' death in 289 BC, while Craige B. Champion argues that he may have come back under the reign of Hiero II (ca. 271–216).