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SIGION (Ancient city) TROAS
Damastes, of Sigeum, a Greek historian, and a contemporary of Herodotus and Hellanicus of
Lesbos, with the latter of whom he is often mentioned. Suidas even calls him a
disciple of Hellanicus, while Porphyry (ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix.) states,
that Hellanicus borrowed from Damastes and Herodotus several statements concerning
the manners and customs of foreign nations. This latter statement has led some
critics to assume, that Porphyry alludes to a later Hellanicus of Miletus; but
there is no reason for such a supposition, and the simpler solution is, that the
work of Damastes was published before that of Hellanicus, or what is more likely,
that Porphyry made a blunder. According to Suidas, Damastes wrote, - 1. A History
of Greece (peri ton en Helladi genomenon). 2. On the ancestors of those who had
taken part in the war against Troy, and 3. A catalogue of nations and towns (ethnon
katalogos kai poleon), which is probably the same work as the one quoted by Stephanus
of Byzantium (s. v. huperboreoi) under the simple title of peri ethnon. Besides
these, a teriplous also is mentioned as the work of Damastes by Agathemerus (i.,
ed. Hudson), who states, that Damastes copied from Hecataeus. All these works
are lost, with the exception of a few insignificant fragments, Eratosthenes made
great use of them, for which he is censured by Strabo (i., xiii., xiv.), who set
little value upon the opinions of Damastes, and charges him with ignorance and
credulity. From Dionysius of Ilalicarnassus (A. R. i. 72) we learn that Damastes
spoke of the foundation of Rome. (Comp. Val. Max. viii. 13, Ext. 6; Plut. Camill.
19; Dionys. Hal. Jud. de Thuc.; Plin. H. N. Elench. libb. iv. v. vi. vii. and
vii. 48; Avienus Ruf. de Ora Marit.; Sturz. Fragm. Hellanici; Ukert, Untersuchung.
uber die Geographie des Hecataeus und Damastes, Weimar, 1814).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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