It has been revealed that editing, which has an important function in the written, visual, audio media and the publishing sector, first began in Western Anatolia. Recent historical findings have proven that Zenodotus, a grammarian and literary critic who lived during the Ptolemaic period, was the first critical editor of Homer’s epic works, the Odyssey and the Iliad. According to the documents that have emerged, in 284 BC the Ptolemaic Palace promoted Zenodotus to the First Directorate of the Library of Alexandria. Zenodotus was also appointed as the official tutor of the royal children.
WORKED ON LYRIC POETRY
Given the task of creating canonical texts for the Homeric poems and the early Greek lyric poets, Zenodotus worked on the texts of the famous epic writers Hesiod and Anacreon.
It is stated that Zenodotus’ readings reveal much information about his work on the Iliad and the Odyssey. According to historical data, more than 400 of his readings of Zenodotus have been preserved, but there is little evidence of his work on Hesiod’s poetry.
FOUNDER OF CRITICISM
Zenodotus is described as the first “editor” of Homer because of his revisions of Homer. Research suggests that Zenodotus’ text is the earliest revised text known to the Alexandrians. Modern scholars agree that he was the first of the Alexandrian editors. However, it is stated that the meaning of the word “editor” is controversial. Academics who have written articles on the subject state that he is the founder of Homer’s textual criticism.
ORGANIZATION METHOD
The ancient scientist and librarian is known to have written a dictionary of rare and unusual words selected from the works of Homer. It is stated that the text is arranged in alphabetical order, making Zenodotus the first person to use alphabetical order as a method of organization. Since the collection at the Library of Alexandria was arranged alphabetically from a very early period according to the first letter of the author’s name, historian Casson concludes that Zenodotus was the most likely person to have arranged the collection in this way.
LIBRARY LAYOUT
Zenodotus’ alphabetical ordering system used only the first letter of the word. According to research, no one applied the same alphabetical ordering method to the remaining letters of the word until the 2nd century AD. In addition to his academic studies and alphabetical ordering, Zenodotus also established the organization system of the materials in the Library of Alexandria. The texts were placed in different rooms according to their subject (poetry, literary or scientific) and their sub-classification. Zenodotus then arranged the works alphabetically according to the first letter of their author’s name.
IT WAS A TURNING POINT
Zenodotus’ contributions to the library system are also included in the study. Accordingly, Zenodotus would attach a small label to the end of each scroll. These labels provided the names of the authors as well as other identification marks. Many scrolls contained more than one work. On the other hand, many works, such as collections of poetry, deserved more than a single title. These labels allowed the scrolls to be easily returned to the area where they were classified. Additionally, library users did not have to open each scroll to view its contents. This was the first recorded use of metadata, a milestone in library history.
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