description Julius Pollux Overview
Julius Pollux was a Greek rhetorician, grammarian, and sophist from Naucratis who taught in Athens during the 2nd century AD. He is best remembered for his principal surviving work, the *Onomasticon*, a thesaurus of Attic Greek vocabulary organized by subject rather than alphabetically. The text served as a crucial educational tool for Greek rhetoric, compiling terms related to topics like government, religion, and daily life. It preserved fragments of lost literature and heavily influenced the compilation of later Byzantine lexicons.
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What is Julius Pollux's Onomasticon?
The Onomasticon is a Greek thesaurus of Attic vocabulary and phrases compiled by Julius Pollux in ten books. It is organized by subject rather than alphabetically, so it groups words according to topics and activities.
Who was Julius Pollux, and where did he teach?
Julius Pollux was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian from Naucratis who lived in the 2nd century AD. He held a chair of rhetoric at Athens during the reign of the emperor Commodus. [Oxford Classical Dictionary](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/61673/chapter-abstract/549702645)
Why is the Onomasticon useful to classicists?
It preserves vocabulary for objects, occupations, institutions, and social practices that may not survive elsewhere. Its ten subject-based books can help scholars reconstruct how ancient Greek writers discussed specific parts of life.
How should someone search the Onomasticon if it is not alphabetical?
Start with a subject such as theatre, military equipment, food, law, or rhetoric rather than the first letter of a word. The work is designed as a themed vocabulary collection, not like a modern A-to-Z dictionary.
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