Apollodo'rus

Apollodo'rus, (1) an Athenian painter, who flourished about 408 B.C., and was the predecessor of Zeuxis. He introduced improved colouring and distribution of light and shade.—(2) An Athenian grammarian who flourished about 140 B.C., wrote a work on mythology, giving an arrangement of old myths from the earliest times to the historical period; also a geography, a chronicle in iambic verse, and several grammatical works. The account of the mythology and the heroic gods of Greece, known as the Bibliotheca, is the only work preserved (except a few fragments). It is a valuable work, but is reckoned by some only a later extract from a larger work by Apollodorus. A late edition is Hercher's (Berl. 1874).—(3) Another Apollodorus was a celebrated architect in the time of the Emperor Trajan, by whom he was employed to construct a bridge over the Danube in Lower Hungary. He was sentenced to death in 129 A.D. by Hadrian, offended at his fearless criticism of a temple designed by the emperor himself.