Dictys of Crete

Dictys of Crete, a follower of Idomeneus in the Trojan war, whose name is attached to a professed journal of the leading events of the contest, which has come down to us in Latin prose, under the title Ephemeris Belli Trojani. An introduction relates how the narrative, inscribed in Phœnician characters on bark-paper, was found in a coffer of tin in Dictys's tomb, which had been burst open by an earthquake in the reign of Nero, and how the emperor caused it to be translated into Greek; this is accompanied by a letter from one Quintus Septimius, who claims to have prepared the condensed Latin version that follows. This dates probably from the 4th century A.D., and though of no intrinsic value, was a chief source of the romances of the middle ages. The best editions are those of Dederich (Bonn, 1832 and 1837) and Meister (Leip. 1872). See Dunger, Dictys-Septimius: über die ursprüngliche Abfassung u. die Quellen der Ephemeris (Dresd. 1878).