Didymus Chalcenterus
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Through Rome
Life
The epithet "Bronze-Guts" came from his indefatigable industry: he was said to have written so many books that he was unable to recollect what he had written in earlier ones, and so often contradicted himself. Athenaeus (4.139c) records that he wrote 3,500 treatises, while Seneca gives the figure of 4,000. As a result, he acquired the additional nickname (βιβλιολάθας, biblioláthas), meaning "Book-Forgetting" or "Book-forgetter", a term coined by Demetrius of Troezen.
He lived and taught in Alexandria and Rome, where he became the friend of Varro. He is chiefly important as having introduced Alexandrian learning to the Romans.
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In fiction
- Didymus is a lead character in Michael Livingston's 2015 historical fantasy novel The Shards of Heaven.
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