Classical Authors about Ancient Egypt

Compiled for the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum (EEF) by A. K. Eyma (additions & corrections are welcome!).

version 8 (June 1, 2012)


Herodotus of Halicarnassos (5th c. BC)

Author of the Histories of which Book II ("Euterpè") is dedicated to Egypt, a country that he visited at some time between 460 and 456 BC. He quotes an earlier Greek author who visited Egypt and wrote about it, namely Hecataeus of Miletus (6th c. BC), author of a Survey of the Earth (Ges Periodes) that is now lost.
The standard edition (Greek and English) is: A. D. Godley (ed.), Herodotus, Histories, vol. I (Book I and II). The Loeb Classical Library 117, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1920. ISBN 0-674-99130-3. (Other volumes also of the LCL.)
Important is this extensive (and alas expensive) commentary (in 3 vols.) on Book II: Alan B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II. Introduction. Leiden: Brill, 1975; Alan B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II. Commentary 1-98. Leiden: Brill, 1976; Alan B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II. Commentary 99-182. Leiden: Brill, 1988. ISBN 90-04-07737-5. These volumes are complemented by Lloyd in: David Asheri, Alan B. Lloyd, Aldo Corcella, A Commentary on Herodotus I-IV. Edited by Oswyn Murray and Alfonso Moreno. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780198149569 [cp. review]. Another (non-expensive) commentary on Book II is: Typhaine Haziza, Le kaléidoscope hérodotéen. Images, imaginaire et représentations de l’Égypte à travers le livre II d’Hérodote. Études Anciennes 142. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2009, ISBN 9782251326702 [cp. review]. A shorter general commentary [available for free online at URL]: Erich Lüddeckens, "Herodot und Ägypten", in: ZDMG 104 (N F 29), 1954, 330-346. An older work that may be of interest [available online at URL]: Camille Sourdille, La Durée et l'étendue du voyage d'Hérodote en Égypte. Thèse pour le doctorat ès lettres présentée à la Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris. E. Leroux, Paris, 1910. Of course there are many commentaries around on subtopics of Book II and on Herodotus in general; e.g. an older general commentary available online is W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, Oxford 1912 (URL).


Manetho of Sebennytus (3rd c. BC)

Author of a History of Egypt (Aigyptiaka; Aegyptiaca) and a Sacred Book, of which only fragments remain. Large quotes of his Aegyptiaca appear in one of the works of Josephus (2st c. AD), Against Apion (Contra Apionem). An extract of dynastic lists from the Aegyptiaca, forming the so-called Epitome, made its way into the works (Chronicles, Chronographiae or Chronica) of Julius Africanus (3rd c. AD) and Eusebius of Caesarea (3rd-4th c. AD). Fragments from the Sacred Book appear mainly in Plutarch's Isis and Osiris, but some minor quotes may also be found in works of other authors (Diogenes Laertius, Aelian, Porphyrius, and Eusebius).
The standard edition (Greek and English) is: William Gillian Waddell (ed.), Manetho. The Loeb Classical Library 350, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1940. ISBN 0-674-99385-3. A more recent translation: Gerald Verbrugghe, John Wickersham (eds.), Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated. Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1996. ISBN 0-472-1-722-4.


Diodorus of Sicily (Diodorus Siculus) (1st c. BC)

Author of a General History called Library of History (Bibliothèkè; Historike bibliotheke; Bibliotheca historica) of which Book I is dedicated to Egypt. He visited Egypt in ca. 59 BC. His main sources about Egypt are Herodotus' Histories and the lost works of Hecataeus of Abdera (4th c. BC) and Agatharchides of Cnidus (3nd c. BC).
The standard edition (Greek and English) is: C.H. Oldfather (ed.), Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, vol. I (Book I and II, 1-34). The Loeb Classical Library 279, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1935. ISBN 0-674-99307-1. (Other volumes also of the LCL.)


Strabo of Amasia (1st c. BC - 1st c. AD)

Author of the Geography (Geographika; Geographica), of which Book XVII is dedicated to Egypt. He visited the country in 25/24 BC. Herodotus and Artemidoros of Ephesos (the latter's lost work Geographoumena) are among his sources.
The accessible standard edition (Greek and English) is: Horace Leonard Jones (ed.), Strabo, Geography, vol. VIII (Book XVII). The Loeb Classical Library 267, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1932. ISBN 0-674-99295-4. (Other volumes also of the LCL.). However, it has been superseded by a recent critical scholarly edition, in two (alas, very expensive) volumes, with Greek text, German translation, and extensive commentary: Stefan Radt (ed.), Strabons Geographika, Band 4, Buch XIV-XVII: Text und Übersetzung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2005. ISBN 3-525-25953-8.; Stefan Radt (ed.), Strabons Geographika, Band 8. Buch XIV- XVII: Kommentar. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. ISBN 9783525259573. Some other commentaries on Book XVII: J. Yoyotte and P. Charvet, Strabon. Le voyage en Égypte: un regard romain, Paris 1997; M. Knight, A Geographical, Archaeological, and Scientific Commentary on Strabo's Egypt (Geographika, Book 17, sections 1-2), (Diss. New York University 1998), Ann Arbor 1999; N. Biffi, L'Africa di Strabone. Libro XVII della Geografia. Introduzione, traduzione e commento, (Quaderni di 'Invigilata Lucernis' 7), Modugno 1999.


Pliny the Elder (1st c. AD)

Author of the Natural History (Naturalis Historia) in which Egypt regularly features, notably in Book V, but also in Books VI and XXXVI.
The standard edition (Latin and English) is: H. Rackham (ed.), Pliny, Natural History, vol. II (Book III-VII). The Loeb Classical Library 352, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1942. ISBN 0-674-99388-8. (Other volumes also of the LCL.)


Plutarch of Chaeronea (1st-2nd c. AD)

Author of a book dealing with Egyptian religion, called (On) Isis and Osiris (De Iside et Osiride), part of his Moralia. Among his sources are Manetho of Sebennytos, Hecataeus of Abdera, and Eudoxus of Cnidus.
The standard edition (Greek and English) is: Frank C. Babbit (ed.), Plutarch, Moralia, vol. V (incl. Isis and Osiris). The Loeb Classical Library 306, London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press, 1936. ISBN 0-674-99337-3. (Other volumes also of the LCL.)


Claudius Ptolemaeus (2nd c. AD)

Author of the Geography (Geographica), of which Book IV Chapter V deals with his native country, Egypt.
An available reprint of an English translation from 1932, including the Maps, is: Edward Luther Stevenson (ed.), Ptolemy, The Geography, Dover Publications, New York, 1991. ISBN 0-486-26896-9.
Stevenson's translation is very poor, though; for a scholarly edition, see:
Alfred Stückelberger, Gerd Graßhoff (eds). Ptolemaios, Handbuch der Geographie, Griechisch-Deutsch. 2 vols. Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2006. ISBN 978-3-7965-2148-5.


Ammianus Marcellinus (4th c. AD)

Author of a Roman History (Res Gestae / Rerum gestarum libri), in which he briefly gave attention to Egyptian topics. In Book 17, Ch. 4 he describes the transport and setting up of a Theban obelisk at Rome in the Circus Maximus (357 AD), which leads to an account of obelisks and hieroglyphs. In Book 22, Ch. 15-16 he provides a description of Egypt (a country which he himself visited, some time between ca. 360-366 AD), and of the Nile, some Egyptian animals, and the Pyramids.


Horapollo Nilous (5th c. AD)

Author of the Hieroglyphs (Hieroglyphica). It is not clear whether one of his sources was an earlier work on this topic, the lost book called Hieroglyphs (Hieroglyphica) of Chaeremon (1st c. AD); this Chaeremon also wrote another lost book, Egyptian History, which is quoted in Josephus' Contra Apionem and by some other authors (Porphyrius, Eusebius, Iamblichus, Jerome).
An available reprint of an English translation, from 1950, of Horapollo's work is: George Boas (ed.), The Hieroglyphs of Horapollo. Bollongen series 23, Princeton University Pres, 1993. ISBN 0-691-00092-1


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