Life Menecles the Historian (Μενεκλῆς ὁ ἱστορικός) was a 4th-century BCE Greek historian known only from fragments. The Byzantine scholar Photius is the primary source, noting that Menecles was active in the late 4th century and wrote about the period following Alexander the Great’s death. No details of his birthplace or background survive.

Works His only known work is The Affairs of Alexander (Τὰ περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον), a lost history concerning the events after Alexander’s demise, as recorded by Photius [1].

Significance Menecles is significant as one of the earliest historians to treat the Wars of the Diadochi. His lost work represents an early strand of Hellenistic historiography documenting the fragmentation of Alexander’s empire. Photius groups him with the historian Callistratus, suggesting they were part of a contemporary effort to narrate these complex events, contributing to the fragmentary record of this critical transition.

Sources 1. Photius, Bibliotheca, Codex 92 (Perseus Digital Library): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0625%3Achapter%3D92