Logic We have little information concerning his works on
logic. He seems to have written commentaries and supplements to the works of
Aristotle, which eventually became eclipsed by the writings of the master himself. In a passage of
Ammonius we are told that
Eudemus, Phaenias, and
Theophrastus wrote, in emulation of their master,
Categories and
De Interpretatione and
Analytics. There is also an important passage respecting
ideas, preserved by
Alexander of Aphrodisias, from a work of Phaenias,
Against Diodorus, which may possibly be the same as the work
Against the Sophists, from which
Athenaeus cites a criticism on certain musicians.
Natural history A work
On Plants is repeatedly quoted by Athenaeus, and frequently in connection with the work of Theophrastus on the same subject, to which, therefore, it may have been a supplement. The fragments quoted by Athenaeus are sufficient to give us some notion of the contents of the work and the style of the writer. He seems to have paid special attention to plants used in gardens and otherwise closely connected with
humans; and, in his style, we trace the exactness and the care about definitions which characterize the
Peripatetic school.
History Phaenias is spoken of by
Plutarch, who quotes him as an authority, as "a philosopher well read in history." He wrote a sort of
chronicle called
Prytaneis Eresioi, the second book of which is quoted by Athenaeus. It was either a history of his native place or a general history of Greece arranged according to the period of the Eresian magistracy. He also concerned himself with the history of the
tyrants, upon which he wrote several works. One of these was called
On the Tyrants in Sicily. Another was entitled
On Killing Tyrants for Revenge, in which he appears to have discussed further the question touched upon by Aristotle in his
Politics. We have several quotations from this work, and among them the story of
Antileon and Hipparinus, who killed the tyrant of
Herakleia.
Literature Concerning literary history two works of Phaenias are mentioned. In
On Poets, which is quoted by Athenaeus, he seems to have paid particular attention to the Athenian musicians and comedians.
On the Socratic philosophers, is twice referred to by
Diogenes Laërtius. Phaenias of Eresus was also among the first to make systematic collections towards a Greek musical history. His treatise and others, now lost, were key sources for compilers in Imperial times, such as Athenaeus and pseudo-Plutarch, and ultimately supplied much material for the late
lexicons. "Such compilations reflect the Greek cosmopolitanism, with its more generalized forms of language, literature, art and music, which was the hallmark of the
Hellenistic age." ==Notes==