Hesychius the Alexandrian (Ἡσύχιος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς)

Life Hesychius of Alexandria was a Greek grammarian and lexicographer who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE [1]. No reliable biographical details about his personal life or education survive.

Works His sole surviving work is the Lexicon (Συναγωγὴ πασῶν λέξεων κατὰ στοιχεῖον), a comprehensive Greek dictionary. It is preserved only in a single, damaged 15th-century manuscript (Marc. Gr. 622) [1][2].

Significance Hesychius’s lexicon is a crucial source for ancient Greek language and literature. This alphabetical dictionary preserves countless rare, dialectal, and obscure terms, drawing extensively on now-lost lexicographical works and scholarly commentaries [1][2]. It serves as an invaluable repository for fragments of lost Greek texts and is particularly important for the study of Homeric glosses, Attic comedy, and Greek dialects.

Sources 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford University): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/byzantine-philosophy/#HesLex 2. Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=hesychius-harpers