For others of this name see Archagathus (disambiguation)

Archagathus (disambiguation)

Archagathus was an ancient well-attested local Greek name in Sicily and can refer to:* Archagathus , a Syracusan Greek Prince and first son of Agathocles of Syracuse...

Caecilius, of Calacte in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, Greek rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

ian, flourished at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 during the reign of Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

.

Originally called Archagathus, he took the name of Caecilius from his patron, one of the Metelli. According to the Suda

Suda

The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...

, he was of the Jewish faith

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

. Next to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, he was the most important critic and rhetorician of the Augustan age.

Only fragments are extant of his numerous and important works, among which may be mentioned:

• On the Style of the Ten Orators (the lives and a critical examination of the works of the Ten Orators), the basis of the pseudo-Plutarch
  Plutarch
  Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
  
  ian treatise of the same name, in which Caecilius is frequently referred to;
• On the Sublime, attacked by (?) Longinus
  Longinus (literature)
  Longinus is the conventional name of the author of the treatise, On the Sublime , a work which focuses on the effect of good writing. Longinus, sometimes referred to as Pseudo-Longinus because his real name is unknown, was a Greek teacher of rhetoric or a literary critic who may have lived in the...
  
   in his essay on the same subject;
• History of the Servile Wars, or slave risings in Sicily, the local interest of which would naturally appeal to the author;
• On Rhetoric and Rhetorical Figures, an Alphabetical Selection of Phrases, intended to serve as a guide to the acquirement of a pure Attic style—the first example of an Atticist lexicon, mentioned by Suidas in the preface to his lexicon as one of his authorities;
• Against the Phrygians, probably an attack on the florid style of the Asiatic school of rhetoric.