Ephorus

Ephorus,
of Cyme (c.405–330 BC), a historian whose now lost work is of great importance because Diodorus Siculus followed it extensively. In antiquity, he was thought to have been a student of Isocrates; there are in fact clear echoes of Isocratean sentiments in the Ephoran parts of Diodorus, and some of the character assessments found in Diodorus are in the Isocratean style. His pro-Athenian bias might also have come from Isocrates.

The 30-book History avoided the mythological period—although it included individual myths—beginning with the Return of the Heraclidae and reaching the siege of Perinthus, in 340. His son, Demophilus, completed the work with an account of the Third Sacred War. His work was grand in scope and far longer than 5th-cent. histories. According to Polybius, he was the first universal historian, combining a focus on Greek history with events...

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