Herodotus, Polycrates – and Maybe Stesimbrotus Too?

Abstract

Abstract:The late fifth-century or sixth-century AD writer Fulgentius appears to quote Stesimbrotus of Thasos for a grisly detail of the death of Polycrates, describing how his corpse was carried away on a stretcher. Fulgentius is not a source to command confidence, and Jacoby dismisses this fragment as ‘unecht’ without further discussion. There is a case for being more cautious. It is not impossible that Stesimbrotus described Polycrates’ death, and, if so, Herodotus may be setting himself against that narrative when he says that Polycrates was killed ‘in a way which does not bear mentioning’. There may be a broader sense too in which both Herodotus and Thucydides are ‘defining their narratives against’ the work of Stesimbrotus among others.