Apollodorus of Athens

Artist

Flourished: Fifth century b. c.e.; Athens, Greece Also known as: Sciagraphos; Skiagraphos Category: Art and architecture

Life The particulars of the life of Apollodorus (uh-pahl-uh-DOHR-uhs) of Athens are unknown, and none of his work survives. However, he is known to have continued the advances toward realism in art developed by the earlier fifth century b. c.e. painters Micon, Polygnotus, and Agatharcus. Agatharcus, the first to paint a scene for a production of tragedy, wrote a treatise on the use of perspective for creating the illusion of theatrical distance. Apollodorus furthered the illusion of perspective, employing the use of light and shadow to convey spatial relationships, a technique known as chiaroscuro. Apollodorus came to be known as “Sciagraphos,” or “Shadow-Painter,” from the Greek for “shadow-drawing.” Historian Pliny the Elder spoke of him as the first to paint things as they really appear and to give glory to the brush. Yet he seemed to have been surpassed in realism by painter Zeuxis ofHeraclea, who added highlights to shading and whose paintings of grapes are said to have deceived birds.

Influence Apollodorus contributed to realism in painting, a feature that helped form Western taste for most of its history. The general movement toward realism influenced fourth century philosophical discourse, especially that of Plato, who worried over the moral probity of illusion in art, where a two-dimensional medium gives the false impression of three dimensions. In the Politeia (c. 388-368 b. c.e.; Republic, 1701), Plato’s Socrates observes that the painter is several times removed from the pure reality of the idea—even more removed than the craftsperson, who makes a three-dimensional object.

Further Reading

Bruno, V. J. Form and Color in Greek Painting. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977.

James A. Arieti

See also: Art and Architecture; Plato; Polygnotus; Zeuxis of Heraclea.

Born: c. 180 b. c.e.; Athens, Greece Died: After 120 b. c.e.; Athens, Greece Category: Historiography; scholarship

Life Apollodorus (uh-pahl-uh-DOHR-uhs) of Athens began his studies in his native city but eventually moved to Alexandria, Egypt, where he studied with Aristarchus of Samothrace, the head of Alexandria’s great library. Apollodorus and other scholars were expelled from Egypt in about 145 b. c.e.; Apollodorus may have gone to Pergamum but later returned to Athens.

Apollodorus was a prolific scholar with diverse interests. All of his works have been lost, but they included treatises on the Greek gods, Athenian comedy, and Homer. He was best known for his Chronica (after 120 b. c.e.; “chronicles”), an account of Greek history from the fall of Troy (1184 b. c.e.) to 145/144 b. c.e. Apollodorus later added a chapter covering the period to 120 b. c.e. The Chronica provided dates for many historical events, but Apollodorus also touched on the careers of philosophers and poets. Curiously, Apollodorus wrote the Chronica in verse, perhaps to make it easier to memorize.

Influence The Chronica of Apollodorus quickly became the standard work on Greek chronology in the ancient world. Apollodorus’s reputation as a scholar was so great that works were falsely attributed to him, including the Library, an encyclopedic account of Greek mythology that still exists.

Further Reading

Habicht, Christian. Athens from Alexander to Antony. Translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,

1999.

Mosshammer, Alden A. The Chronicle of Eusebius and the Greek Chrono-graphic Tradition. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1979.

James P. Sickinger

See also: Alexandrian Library; Aristarchus of Samothrace; Historiography; Homer; Literature; Troy.