Deinon (a)

The chapter's subject is Deinon, one of the most obscure authors from antiquity. It treats Plutarch's employment of Deinon in which the ascription is explicit or plausible. Plutarch uses Deinon mostly in the Artaxerxes, but also refers to his work in the Themistocles (27.1), Alexander (36.4) and De Iside et Osiride (31.363c). Plutarch's employment of Deinon or acquaintance with his text was more widespread than his use of Ctesias, and may have even spanned several periods of his writing. The chapter begins with an analysis of Plutarch's passages, and explores what we can learn about Deinon from these sections, proceeds to compare them with what can be said of Deinon and his work in general from other sources, and then presents some ideas on Plutarch's adaptation of Deinon's work.