in a (transparent?) glass vessel for testing. Since not in D L 4.23, presum-
ably post 50 BCE; the anonymous epigram against Krateas is probably not relevant: Anth.
Pal. 11.125.
(*)
PTK
Krate ̄s of Khalkis (335 – 325 BCE)
Miner (metalleute ̄s) under Alexander, who cleaned out the drains of Lake Kopais, until
stopped by Boio ̄tian strife, recorded in his letter to Alexander, cited by S 9.2.18;
called a taphro ̄rukhos by D L 4.23; S B, s.v. Athe ̄nai,
cites him for a canal to the sea.
RE 11.2 (1922) 1642 (#21), E. Fabricius.
PTK
Krate ̄s of Mallos (ca 170 – ca 120 BCE)
Greek polymath, from Mallos, Kilikia, son
of Timokrate ̄s, head of the library in Per-
gamon, nicknamed Home ̄rikos and Kritikos
because of his intense engagement in
grammatical and poetic discourses, and
teacher of P. In 168, or perhaps
159, the king of Pergamon sent Krate ̄s to
the Roman senate. He fell into a sewer
opening in the Palatine quarter, broke his
leg and had to stay in Rome. Krate ̄s, lec-
turing frequently, was the first to intro-
duce grammar and literary criticism into
Rome (Suet., Gram. 2). Krate ̄s was mainly
interested in Homeric and linguistic
investigations which became the basis of
his scientific endeavors. Believing H
was the founder of geography (S
2.5.10), he composed a textual analysis of
the Iliad and Odyssey in nine books and constructed a large terrestrial globe at least three
meters in diameter to illustrate Odysseus’ wanderings and to solve the mystery of the two
nations of “Ethiopians” in the Homeric epics (Od. 1.22–23). Combining the geometric and
scientific thinking of E with his own interpretation of Homer, Krate ̄s repre-
sented four inhabited oikoumenai on the surface of his globe (Figure), displayed in Per-
gamon in about 150 BCE. Krate ̄s’ presentation of the Earth was referred to in antiquity as
Sphairopoiia or Sphairikos logos, although recognition of the Earth as a spheroid occurred as
early as the 5th c. BCE.
Ed.: M. Broggiato, Cratete di Mallo: I frammenti (2001).
H.J. Mette, Sphairopoiia: Untersuchungen zur Kosmologie des Krates von Pergamon (1936); Dilke (1985) 36–37;
J.B. Harley and D. Woodward, A History of Cartography 1 (1987) 162–164.
Daniela Dueck
Krate ̄s of Mallos: the four inhabited oik-
oumenai Reproduced with kind permission from
Thames & Hudson, O.A.W. Dilke, Greek and Roman
Maps (1985) 36
KRATE ̄S OF KHALKIS