Timotheus of Gaza explained

Timotheus of Gaza (Greek, Modern (1453-);: 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

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]

Notes and References

1. Book: Masalha . Nur . Palestine across millennia: a history of literacy, learning and educational revolutions . 2022 . I. B. Tauris . London . 9780755642977 . 94-95 . 7 January 2024.
2. Book: Penella . Robert J. . Rhetorical Exercises from Late Antiquity A Translation of Choricius of Gaza's Preliminary Talks and Declamations . September 2009 . Cambridge University Press . 9781139480581 . 6 January 2024.
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.
4. Book: Gaza, Timothy of. On Animals.... 1949. Paris/Leiden. F.S. Bodenheimer, A. Rabinowitz.
5. Kopf. L.. The Zoological Chapter of the Kitab al-Imta' wal-Mu'anasa of Abu Hayyan al-Tauhidi (10th Century). Osiris. 1956. 12. 390–466. 10.1086/368605 . 147651396 .
6. Book: Scarborough. John. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 2005. 9780195187922.
7. Book: Cameron . Averil . Procopius and the sixth century . 1985 . Univ. of California Press . Berkeley u.a . 9780520055179 . 60 . 7 January 2024.