Appendix 2 - Archytas' name

Summary

The ancient evidence unambiguously shows that the upsilon in Archytas' name is long. Herodian, the great Greek grammarian of the second century ad, explicitly says in two places that the upsilon in Ἀρχύτας is long (Hdn. Gr. iii. 1, p. 77.12 Lentz; iii. 2, p. 851.33; see also iii. 1, p. 57.9–10; 3.2, p. 654.27–28; 3.2, p. 656.15. See also [ps-?] Arcadius,De Accentibus 28.17 and Theognostus, Canones sive De Orthographia 244.2 and 249.5). Moreover, the name Archytas appears in poems by Bion of Borysthenes (335–245 bc) and Eratosthenes of Cyrene (285–194 bc) and in each case the upsilon is shown to be long by the meter.