Crates, of
Mallus in
Cilicia (modern day
Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey), was a
Greek language grammarian and
Stoic philosopher of the 2nd century BC, leader of the literary school and head of the library of
Pergamum. His chief work was a critical and exegetical commentary on
Homer. He is also famous for constructing the earliest known
globe of the
Earth.
He was born in Mallus in Cilicia, and was brought up at Tarsus, and then moved to Pergamon, and there lived under the patronage of Eumenes II, and Attalus II. He was the founder of the Pergamon school of grammar, and seems to have been at one time the head of the library of Pergamon.
He visited Rome as ambassador of either Eumenes, in 168 BC, or Attalus in 159 BC. Having broken his leg and been compelled to stay there for some time, he delivered lectures which gave the first impulse to the study of grammar and criticism among the Romans.[1]
Crates made a strong distinction was made between criticism and grammar, the latter of which he regarded as subordinate to the former. A critic, according to Crates, should investigate everything which could throw light upon literature; the grammarian was only to apply the rules of language to clear up the meaning of particular passages, and to settle the text, prosody, accentuation, etc. From this part of his system, Crates derived the surname of Kritikos.
