Autolycus, (1) a son of Hermes, maternal grandfather of Ulysses. He lived on Mount Parnassus, and was famous for his cunning and robberies; similarly, in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, Autolycus is a 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.' A 'literary Autolycus' is a plagiarist.—
(2) A Greek astronomer and mathematician of Pitane in Æolia, about 330 B.C., who wrote two works, on the revolving sphere, and on the rising and setting of the fixed stars.