Crates of Mallus

Crates of Mallus (Ancient Greek: Κράτης ὁ Μαλλώτης, Krátēs ho Mallṓtēs; fl.

2nd century BC) was a Greek grammarian and Stoic philosopher, leader of the literary school and head of the library of Pergamum.

Having broken his leg after falling into an open sewer, he was compelled to stay in Rome for some time and delivered lectures which gave the first impulse to the study of grammar and criticism among the Romans.

A critic, according to Crates, should investigate everything which could throw light upon literature; the grammarian was only to apply the rules of language to clear up the meaning of particular passages, and to settle the text, prosody, accentuation, etc.

Crates was the chief representative of the allegorical theory of exegesis, and maintained that Homer intended to express scientific or philosophical truths in the form of poetry.

[7]The classic drawing of the sphere displays the known world, or Oecumene (Europe, North Africa, and Asia), with three other continents, labeled the Perioeci, the Antipodes, and the Antioeci.

The Terrestrial Sphere of Crates of Mallus ( c. 150 BCE), showing the region of the antipodes in the southern half of the western hemisphere and the torrid zone .
The Globe of Crates of Mallus ( c. 150 BC) as imagined by a 20th century artist [ 5 ]