Cornelio Nepote e la datazione di Omero

It is well-known that C. Nepos’ Chronica strongly depended from Apollodorus of Athens’ homonymous work but, though accepting the latter’s datation of many important events of Greek archaic epoch, offered a different date of Homer’s akmé – 914, against Apollodorus’ 944. Jacoby argued that Nepos confused akmé and nomoqesiva in the biography of Lycurgus, which was related to – and helped to determine – Homer’s one. This correct view can be precised : Nepos, in the passage of Apollodorus’ Chronikà dedicated to the Spartan lawgiver, read that Lycurgus lived 30 years later than Homer ; wrongly, Nepos intended that 884, when the Spartan lawgiver was 70 years old and began the renowned constitutional reforms, was the latter’s akmé – i.e. 40th year of the man. Accordingly, Nepos deduced a new Homeric acme at 914 : the Leichtigkeitsfehler Jacoby charges him with, is that Nepos did not check this datation in the previous passage, within Apollodorus’ Chronikà, dedicated to Homer’s biography. The authour of the Latina historia, source of Jerome’ Canons for the Alban period, put Homer at an even lower date, near to Lycurgus’ reforms : probably he relied on Nepos, but wrongly intended that the poet and the lawgiver were contemporary – a misunderstanding in addition to the previous one.