The Souda on Aristeas’ poetry mislabeled as Peisander’s

Peisander, son of Peison and Aristaichma, a Kamirian from Rhodes … His poems: a Herakleia in 2 books; it is the deeds of Herakles; in it he first gave Herakles a club. The rest of the poems are thought to be spurious, made by the poet Aristeus and others.

Author: Anonymous (or Suidas)

Title of Work: The Souda (or Lexicon)

Location in Work: Π 1465 or s.v. Πείσανδρος, Πείσωνος

Date of Work: c. 1000 CE

Original Language: Greek (Byzantine Attic)

Original Text:

Πείσανδρος, Πείσωνος καὶ Ἀρισταίχμας, Καμιραῖος ἀπὸ Ῥόδου· […] ποιήματα δὲ αὐτοῦ Ἡράκλεια ἐν βιβλίοις β΄· ἔστι δὲ τὰ Ἡρακλέους ἔργα· ἔνθα πρῶτος Ἡρακλεῖ ῥόπαλον περιτέθεικε. τὰ δὲ ἄλλα τῶν ποιημάτων νόθα αὐτοῦ δοξάζεται, γενόμενα ὑπό τε ἄλλων καὶ Ἀριστέως τοῦ ποιητοῦ.

Reference Edition: Adler, Suidae Lexicon.

Source of Date of Work: Baldwin, Aspects.

Commentary:

Since Aristeas’ name was frequently misspelled, no poet named Aristeus is known, and Peisander and Aristeas both belong to the Archaic period, this terse mention almost certainly refers to Aristeas of Prokonnesos. It indicates that aside from the Arimaspeia and the prose theogony mentioned in Aristeas’ entry in the Souda, at least one more verse text was sometimes attributed to Aristeas. It’s very doubtful that any genuine texts by the Arimaspeia’s author aside from the Arimaspeia itself were known.

Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T dubious; BNJ Aristeas (35) T6; EGF Aristeas T19; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 28; FGrH Aristeas (35) T3