Timotheus of Gaza

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Timotheus of Gaza (Greek: Τιμόθεος ὁ Γαζαῖος), sometimes referred to as Timothy of Gaza, was a Greek Christian grammarian active during the reign of Anastasius, i.e. 491–518. His works became very popular within the Byzantine and Arabic scientific literature.[1]

Life and work

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Timotheus was likely linked to the rhetorical school of Gaza, an academy that combined classical Hellenistic tradition with Christian thought.[2] His teacher was Horapollo the grammarian from the village Phenebythis.[3] He was the author of a book on animals[4] which may have been one of the sources of the Arabic Nu'ut al-Hayawan.[5] He also wrote a work in four volumes titled Indian Animals or Quadrupeds and Their Innately Wonderful Qualities or Stories about Animals that survives only in an 11th-century prose summary. This prose summary was a very popular school text, and includes accounts of the giraffe, tiger, and other animals.[6]

Timotheus might have also composed a tragedy lampooning the chrysargyron tax.[7]

References

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  3. ^ Stephanos Matthaios, “Greek Scholarship in the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity,” in History of Ancient Greek Scholarship: From the Beginnings to the End of the Byzantine Age, ed. Franco Montanari (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 287.
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