Demetrius Phalereus

Related Category: Ancient History, Greece: Biographies

(dĭmē´trēəs fəlēr´s, fəlēr´ēəs) [Lat.,=of Phalerum], d. c.280 B.C., Athenian orator. One of the first Peripatetics, he wrote extensively in history, rhetoric, and literary criticism. He was governor of Athens (317–307 B.C.) under Cassander. In 307 B.C., when Demetrius I took Athens, Demetrius Phalereus was overthrown. Escaping to Egypt, he rose in the favor of Ptolemy I, to whom he is said to have suggested a library. On the accession of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Demetrius again went into exile, dying soon afterward.