Pythocles (Πυθόκλης) Life Pythocles was a figure of the 3rd century BCE. No secure biographical details survive for a historian of this name from the Hellenistic period. The name was common, and the primary individual known as Pythocles was an Epicurean philosopher and friend of Epicurus [2].

Works A single historical work is tentatively associated with the name. The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, the Suda, records a Pythocles as the author of On the Festivals in Athens (Περὶ τῶν Ἀθήνησιν ἑορτῶν) [1]. This attribution is undated, leaving it uncertain whether this refers to the 3rd-century BCE figure or a later namesake.

Significance If Pythocles authored On the Festivals in Athens, the work would be a contribution to Atthidography, providing valuable evidence for Athenian religious customs. The historically significant Pythocles, however, remains the Epicurean philosopher to whom Epicurus addressed his Letter to Pythocles on meteorological phenomena [2].

Sources 1. Suda, pi, 3120 (Suda On Line): https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/pi/3120 2. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Epicurus": https://iep.utm.edu/epicurus/