Parthenius of Nicaea
Parthenius of Nicaea (Greek: Παρθένιος ὁ Νικαεύς) or Myrlea (Greek: ὁ Μυρλεανός) in Bithynia was a Greek grammarian and poet. According to the Suda, he was the son of Heraclides and Eudora, or according to Hermippus of Berytus, his mother's name was Tetha.[1] He was taken prisoner by Helvius Cinna in the Mithridatic Wars and carried to Rome in 66 BC.[2][3] He subsequently visited Neapolis, where he taught Greek to Virgil, according to Macrobius.[4] Parthenius is said to have lived until the accession of Tiberius in 14 AD.
Parthenius was a writer of elegies, especially dirges, and of short epic poems.
He is sometimes called "the last of the Alexandrians".
The surviving manuscript[edit]
Parthenius is one of the few ancient writers whose work survives in only one manuscript. The only surviving manuscript of Parthenius was called Palatinus Heidelbergensis graecus 398 (P), probably written in the mid-9th century AD. It contains a diverse mixture of geography, excerpts from Hesychius of Alexandria, paradoxography, epistolography and mythology.[5]