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{{Short description|Greek grammarian, philosopher and literary critic (c.400–320 BC)}}
{{for|the Christian saint|Saint Zoilus}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| image            = Zoilus zit bij een gedekte tafel De Gustibus non est disputandum (titel op object), RP-P-1882-A-6040.jpg
| caption          = Zoilus sitting at a table<br>(by {{Q|25771500}})
| region           = Ancient Greek philosophy
| era              = Ancient philosophy
| name             = Zoilus
| other_names      = Zoilos, Zoïlus
| birth_place      = [[Amphipolis]] or [[Ephesus]]
| death_place      = [[Chios]] or [[Smyrna]]
| notable_ideas    = Critique of [[Homer]]
}}
'''Zoilus''' ({{langx|el|Ζωΐλος}} ''Zoilos''; c. 400{{snd}}320 BC) was a [[Greece|Greek]] grammarian and [[literary critic]] from [[Amphipolis]] in [[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace|Eastern Macedonia]], then known as [[Thrace]]. He took the name '''Homeromastix''' (Ὁμηρομάστιξ "Homer whipper"; ''gen''.: Ὁμηρομάστιγος) later in life.

==Biography==
According to [[Vitruvius]] (vii., preface), Zoilus lived during the age of [[Ptolemy Philadelphus]], by whom he was crucified as the punishment of his criticisms on the king; but this account should probably be rejected as a fiction based on Zoilus' reputation.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Zoïlus |volume=28|page=1000}}</ref> Vitruvius goes on to state that Zoilus also may have been stoned at [[Chios]] or thrown alive upon a funeral pyre at [[Smyrna]]. Either way Vitruvius felt it was just as well since he deserved to be dead for slandering an author who could not defend himself. Zoilus appears to have been at one time a follower of [[Isocrates]], but subsequently a pupil of [[Polycrates (sophist)|Polycrates]], whom he heard at [[Athens]], where he was a teacher of rhetoric.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Zoilus was chiefly known for the acerbity of his attacks on Homer, chiefly directed against the fabulous element in the Homeric poems. 

He authored several grammatical works, including ''Against the Poetry of Homer'' (9 speeches), a history spanning from the birth of the gods to the death of [[Philip of Macedon]] (3 books), ''On Amphipolis'', ''Against the Rhetor Isocrates'', and many other works, among them an invective against Homer.<ref name="Suda, zeta, 130">[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/zeta/130 Suda, zeta, 130]</ref> He also wrote responses to works by [[Isocrates]] and [[Plato]], who had attacked the style of [[Lysias]] of which he approved.<ref name="EB1911"/>

However, the [[Homeric Question]] led to his name becoming a byword for harsh and malignant criticism: in antiquity he gained the name "Homeromastix", "scourge of Homer"; in the [[modern period]], [[Miguel de Cervantes|Cervantes]] calls Zoilus a "slanderer" in the preface to ''[[Don Quixote]]'', and there is also a (now-disused) proverb, "Every poet has his Zoilus." Since his writings do not survive, it is impossible to know whether this caricature is justified.

As a result of his mockery of Homer, the people of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] chased him and threw him off the Scironian rocks (this passage from [[Suda]] might suffer from textual corruption, as the Scironian rocks were located between Megara and Corinth, far from Olympia).<ref name="Suda, zeta, 130"/>

== See also ==
* [[wikt:Zoilism|Zoilism]]
* [[-mastix]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110514103749/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3663.html Ancient Library]}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek grammarians]]
[[Category:Homeric scholars]]
[[Category:Ancient Amphipolitans]]
[[Category:4th-century BC Greek people]]
[[Category:400s BC births]]
[[Category:320 BC deaths]]