an ancient historian of Mitylene, in Lesbos, was son of Andromenes or Aristomenes, born b.c. 496, if we credit the statement of Aulus Gellius (xx. 23), that he was sixty-five years old b.c. 431, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. Herodotus was then fifty-three, and Thucydides forty years of age. According to Lucian (Macrobius, c. 22), he lived to the age of eighty-five (which extends the life of Hellanicus to b.c. 411), and died at Perperena, a village of Æolis, opposite the island Lesbos (Suid.). It is impossible to say in what dialect of the Greek language he wrote, as those authors who have quoted him may have changed his words to suit their own style. He is accused by Diodorus (i. 37) of overlaying his history with fable, so that the entire loss of his works is a matter of little regret. He seems to have been a voluminous writer, having been employed on the history partly of foreign nations, and partly of Greek races and states. His style is said to have been simple and unadorned, without eloquence or ornament. The following are a few of his works: Antiquities of Egypt, of Phoenicia, of Persia, of Scythia, of Troy, and of Barbarian Nations; Journey to the Temple of Ammon; Foundation of Chios. The fragments of Hellanicus have been collected by Sturz, Lips. 1826.