HECATÆUS, one of the earliest of the Greek historians. He was sprung from a noble family of Miletus; his father's name was Hegesander. The dates of his birth and death are not ascertained; but he is known to have taken part in the counsels of the Ionians when they were deliberating to throw off the Persian yoke. He tried to dissuade his countrymen from this attempt; and as he was well acquainted with the strength and resources of the Persian empire, he dwelt on the hopelessness of a contest with so powerful an antagonist. His advice was neglected, and the consequence followed which he had predicted. This fixes his floruit about 500 B.C. Like Herodotus, Hecataeus seems to have visited foreign countries, and to have described, from personal observation, their physical characteristics, and the manners and customs of their inhabitants. His works

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1 The McNeills were originally of Irish origin. It is related that when the chief dined, a horn was sounded from the battlements of the castle tower in Barra, and a herald proclaimed, "Hear, O ye people, and listen, O ye nations! The great McNeill of Barra, having finished his meal, the princes of the earth may dine!" The charters granted by the Macdonalds ran in a similar mock-heroic strain—"I, Macdonald, give you a right to your farm from this day till to-morrow, and every day thereafter, so long as you have food for the great Macdonald of the Isles." were of three kinds, historical, genealogical, and geographical, and were held in some esteem by the ancients. Herodotus sometimes refers to him as an authority. The numerous fragments of his works which have come down to us have been collected by Creuzer in his Historicon Antiquissimum Fragmenta. (See Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. vi., p. 475; Vossius de Hist. Graec., p. 440; and Ulrici, Charakteristik der antiken Historiographie, Berlin, 1833.)