Dicaearchus of Messana ( Dikaiarkhos; c. 370/350), also written Dikaiarchos, was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains extant. He wrote on geography and the history of Greece, of which his most important work was his Life of Greece. Although modern scholars often consider him a pioneer in the field of cartography, this is based on a misinterpretation of a reference in Cicero to Dicaearchus's tabulae, which does not refer to any maps made by Dicaearchus but is a pun on account books and refers to Dicaearchus's Descent into the Sanctuary of Trophonius. He also wrote books on ancient Greek poets, philosophy and politics.

Life

He was the son of one Pheidias, and born at Messana in Sicily, Magna Graecia, though he passed part of his life in Greece, and especially in Athens and the Peloponnesus. He also travelled to make his measurements of mountains. He was a disciple of Aristotle and a friend of Aristoxenus (a letter written to him is attested in Cicero ). Eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century scholarship often considered him a friend of Theophrastus as well, but this is based on the reference to a man named Theophrastus in the spurious Description of Greece, which is transmitted under Dicaearchus's name but actually consists of excerpts from a geographic poem written by Dionysius, son of Calliphon, and from a prose periegesis of Greece, written by Heraclides Criticus. It is uncertain when Dicaearchus died. The only certain terminus post quem is the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC). According to Pliny, Dicaearchus measured mountains "with the support of the kings" (cura regum). Most scholars identify these kings as Cassander and Ptolemy I Soter. If this identification is correct, this would put Dicaearchus's activity between 306 and 287 BC. However, the kings might also refer to Philip III Arrhidaeus and Alexander IV, who were the nominatim kings after the death of Alexander the Great. If that identification is correct, this moves his activity to 323–317 BC.

Writings

Dicaearchus was highly esteemed by the ancients as a philosopher and as a man of most extensive and learned information upon a great variety of things. His work is known only from the many fragmentary quotations of later writers. His works were geographical, political, historical and philosophical; but it is difficult to draw up an accurate list of them, since some that are quoted as distinct works may have been only sections of greater ones, and many titles are only attested once. The fragments extant, moreover, do not always enable us to form a clear notion of the works to which they once belonged. The geographical works of Dicaearchus were, according to Strabo, criticised in many respects by Polybius, though Strabo himself was more forgiving of Dicaearchus's ignorance of western and northern Europe, since – unlike Polybius – Dicaearchus had never visited these places. Dicaearchus wrote on cultural history, music and literature: Among his geographical works may be mentioned: Of a political nature was: Among his other philosophical works may be mentioned: Dicaearchus also wrote speeches: There is lastly one spurious work and one doubtful work:

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