Aethlius of Samos (Ἀέθλιος ὁ Σάμιος) Aethlius of Samos was a Hellenistic historian of the 3rd–2nd century BCE. No biographical details survive beyond his name and origin. As a Samian, he belonged to the Ionian island of Samos, a region with a strong historiographical tradition [1].

His only known work is the Samian History or Samian Annals (Σαμίων ὧροι or Σαμιακὰ ὧροι). This chronicle of Samos is entirely lost, preserved only in fragments cited by later authors, primarily the geographer Strabo and the Byzantine scholar Constantine Porphyrogennetos in his Excerpta de virtutibus et vitiis [1][2].

Aethlius is a minor, fragmentary author significant only as a source for Samian local history and mythology. His Annals provided later compilers with details on the island’s mythical and early historical traditions, representing the Hellenistic genre of local history (horography) [1][2].

Sources 1. ToposText: Aethlius of Samos (Author). https://topostext.org/people/141 2. Perseus Digital Library: Aethlius, Samius. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=aethlius-harpers