Lost works attributed to Marsyas of Philippi

This article describes an entity that is not directly attested as an extant surviving work. The works are known through later citations, testimonia, fragment catalogues, and modern attribution arguments.

Epistemic status

Fragment-attested lost-work cluster with disputed attribution.

Summary

Several works are attributed to Marsyas of Philippi in later reference and citation traditions, including Makedonika, Archaiologia, and Muthika. The works do not survive complete, and the dossier is complicated by confusion between Marsyas of Philippi, Marsyas of Pella, and other namesakes.

What is being inferred

The inferred object is a lost-work cluster attributed to Marsyas of Philippi. It is not a surviving manuscript or a clean ancient bibliography; it is a bounded reconstruction from citations, testimonia, and modern attribution control.

What is attested

The Smith/Perseus-derived entry records Marsyas of Philippi and attributed works. Digital Harpocration provides passage-level evidence for citations to Marsyas and Makedonika. Modern scholarship confirms that attribution between Marsyas namesakes remains disputed.

Why infer this entity

The same author/work nexus appears in reference tradition and passage-level citation control. That is enough to draft a lost-work cluster, provided the article keeps attribution uncertainty and fragment dependence visible.

Evidence ledger

• The Smith/Perseus-derived GTP entry lists Marsyas of Philippi, ancient witnesses, and attributed works including Makedonika, Archaiologia, and Muthika.
• Digital Harpocration supplies passage-level citation evidence for Marsyas and Makedonika.
• Muller 2022 confirms that attribution between Marsyas of Pella and Marsyas of Philippi is contested.

Counterarguments

The main counterevidence is attribution instability. Some fragments or titles traditionally assigned to Marsyas of Philippi may fit Marsyas of Pella better. Some attributions may also reflect Suda corruption or later reference-work harmonization.

Confidence scores

• Direct attestation score: 66
• Existence warrant score: 78
• Specificity score: 72
• Reconstruction dependence score: 62
• Counterevidence score: 45

What would change the score

The score would rise if a reviewed BNJ/FGrHist fragment dossier assigned each fragment to Marsyas of Philippi with source-by-source confidence. It would fall if the named works were shown to belong mainly to Marsyas of Pella or to a corrupted attribution tradition.