Son of Plistonicus;[1] nicknamed Mochthus ["Toil"]; of Egypt (but according to Heliconius, a Cretan). Grammarian. A pupil of Apollonius son of Archibius;[2] he also attended Euphranor's[3] lectures when he was an old man, more than 100 years old; he was a slave born in the house of Didymus the great.[4] He taught in the time of Caesar Tiberius and Claudius in Rome. He was the successor of the grammarian Theon,[5] and a contemporary of Dionysius of Halicarnassus.[6] He wrote a history organised by nation; and certain other works.[7]