Aelius Herodianus was a Greek scholar and grammarian who lived and worked during the 2nd century CE, under the Roman Empire. He was the son of the famous grammarian Apollonius Dyscolus and was likely born and educated in Alexandria, Egypt. He later moved to Rome, where he found favor at the imperial court of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Herodian was an exceptionally prolific writer, credited in antiquity with over fifty works. However, none of his writings survive in full today; they are known only through fragments, summaries, and quotations in later texts. His most important work was a massive, 21-book treatise titled On General Prosody, which systematically detailed the rules for accenting Greek words. He also wrote on subjects like peculiar word usage, rhetorical figures, orthography, and syntax.
His historical importance lies in his role as a systematizer of Greek grammar. According to modern scholars, his work on prosody became the standard reference on Greek accents for centuries. Although his original texts are lost, his influence was preserved because later Byzantine grammarians and lexicographers relied heavily on his research, quoting and summarizing it in their own compilations. Alongside his father, Herodian is considered a leading figure in the high point of ancient grammatical science.
Available Works
Παρεκβολαὶ τοῦ μεγάλου ῥήματος
Digressions of the Great Speech
34 passages
Ἐκλογαὶ ἐκ τοῦ Ἡρωδιανοῦ
Excerpts from Herodian
67 passages
Ἐκλογαὶ ἐξ Ἡρωδιανοῦ
Excerpts from Herodian
26 passages
Γραμματικὸν ἀπόσπασμα ἀρχόμενον ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων
Fragment on Ares
9 passages
Ὁμηρικὰ Σχήματα
Homeric Schemes
44 passages
Μονόβιβλον περὶ τοῦ ἦν
Monobiblos-Being
2 passages
Μονόβιβλον περὶ τοῦ μὴ πάντα τὰ ῥήματα κλίνεσθαι
Monobiblos-Not All Verbs Being Conjugated in All Tenses
6 passages
Περὶ ἐπιρρημάτων
On Adverbs
4 passages
Περὶ Ἀττικῆς προσῳδίας
On Attic Prosody
4 passages
Περὶ συζυγιῶν
On Conjugations
1 passages
Περὶ κλίσεως ὀνομάτων
On Declension of Names
144 passages
Περὶ διχρόνων
On Dichronous
14 passages
Περὶ παραγωγῶν γενικῶν ἀπὸ διαλέκτων
On General Derivations from Dialects
9 passages
Περὶ Ἰλιακῆς προσῳδίας
On Iliadic Prosody
107 passages
Περὶ ἐγκλινομένων
On Inclinations
14 passages
Περὶ γάμου καὶ συμβιώσεως
On Marriage and Cohabitation
2 passages
Περὶ μονοσυλλάβων
On Monosyllables
4 passages
Περὶ κυρίων καὶ ἐπιθέτων καὶ προσηγορικῶν
On Nouns, Adjectives, and Appellatives, Monobiblos
6 passages
Περὶ ὀρθογραφίας
On Orthography
205 passages
Περὶ παρωνύμων
On Paronyms
48 passages
Περὶ μετοχῶν
On Participles
4 passages
Ἐκ τῶν Ἡρωδιανοῦ ὑπομνημάτων τῶν περὶ παθῶν
On Passions
224 passages
Περὶ ἀντωνυμιῶν
On Pronouns
2 passages
Περὶ αὐθυποτάκτων καὶ ἀνυποτάκτων
On Self-Submissive and NSubmissive
3 passages
Περὶ μονήρους λέξεως
On Singular Words
45 passages
Περὶ σολοικισμοῦ καὶ βαρβαρισμοῦ
On Solecism and Barbarism
19 passages
Περὶ πνευμάτων
On Spirits
3 passages
Περὶ τῶν φθορῶν τῆς φωνῆς
On the Corruptions of Speech, Earlier Part
17 passages
Περὶ τῶν Διαφθορῶν τοῦ Λόγου
On the Corruptions of Speech, Later Part
2 passages
Περὶ λέξεως τῶν στίχων
On the Expression of Verses
1 passages
Εἰς τὴν Ἀπολλωνίου εἰσαγωγήν
On the Introduction of Apollonius
2 passages
Περὶ τοῦ ζώς
On the Living
1 passages
Περὶ Ὀδυσσειακῆς προσῳδίας
On the Odyssean Prosody
37 passages
Περὶ συντάξεως τῶν στοιχείων
On the Syntax of Elements
17 passages
Περὶ τῶν εἰς μι
On Those to Mi
20 passages
Περι Καθολικης Προσῳδιας
On Universal Prosody
545 passages
Περὶ ῥηματικῶν ὀνομάτων
On Verbal Nouns
6 passages
Ἐπιμερισμοί
Partitions, From Paris Codices 2543 and 2570
274 passages
Μονόβιβλον περὶ τοῦ ὕδωρ
Single Book-Water
3 passages
Εἰς τὸ περὶ γενῶν Ἀπολλωνίου ὑπόμνημα
To the Commentary-Genera by Apollonius
2 passages