Mnaseas

For the genus of grass skipper butterflies, see Mnaseas (butterfly).

Mnaseas of Patrae was a Greek historian of the late 3rd century BCE, who is reckoned to have been a pupil or Eratosthenes. His Periegesis or Periplus described Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, but whether in six or eight books cannot now be determined. His On Oracles appears to have consisted of a catalogue of oracular responses with commentary. Only fragments of his work survive, embedded as scholia or as quotations in other works, often selected, apparently, because of the unusual interpretations they offer.

References

• Pietro Cappelletto (ed.), I frammenti di Mnasea: Introduzione testo e commento. (Milan: Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia Diritto) 2003. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review)
• Pietro Cappelletto, I frammenti di Mnasea: Introduzione testo e commento, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2003, ISBN 88-791-209-8