Ancient Greek bibliography

Abstract

The First bibliography of Ancient Greece is considered Aristotle's Didascaliae, a list of tragedies presented at dramatic festivals, compiled in 335-323 B.C. Further development in the field is connected with the building of large libraries, especially the Alexandrian Library. Its elaborate catalogue, the Tablets, in 120 books compiled by Callimachus, is discussed and compared with the Didascaliae. The later period is characterised by the development of biobibliography and works by Diogenes Laertius, Ptolemy, Dyonysius of Halicarnassus, Galen, Porphyry and Meleager of Gadara. Achievments of Ancient Greek bibliographers have laid the foundations of bibliography and influenced not only the ancient world and the Middle Ages but rules laid down then are still valid in the compilation of modern bibliographies.