# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/hecataeus-of-miletus
# Generated: 2026-08-31T16:50:48.940Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/hecataeus-of-miletus"
name: "Hecataeus of Miletus"
slug: "hecataeus-of-miletus"
description: "One of the first Greeks to write down the world as a map and a story, rather than leave it to poets and myth—centuries before Herodotus, he was already counting coastlines and calling out Homer's exaggerations."
tagline: "Greek historian and geographer (c.550–c.476 BC)"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Turkey"
  isoCode: "TR"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "-600"
deathDate: "-475"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           55.08
  momentum:             0
  historical:           23.30897733333333
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  55
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "History"
    slug: "history"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecataeus_of_Miletus"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q242270"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Hecataeus%20of%20Miletus"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%89"
    title: "هكتيوس الملطى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecat%C3%A9u_de_Miletu"
    title: "Hecatéu de Miletu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miletli_Hekatey"
    title: "Miletli Hekatey"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8D%D0%B9_%D0%9C%D1%96%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%BA%D1%96"
    title: "Гекатэй Мілецкі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%BE%D1%82_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82"
    title: "Хекатей от Милет"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B9%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8"
    title: "হেকাটিয়াস"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios"
    title: "Hekataios"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecateu"
    title: "Hecateu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios"
    title: "Hekataios"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecataeus_o_Filetos"
    title: "Hecataeus o Filetos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios_von_Milet"
    title: "Hekataios von Milet"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%95%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%BF_%CE%9C%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%AE%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82"
    title: "Εκαταίος ο Μιλήσιος"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekateo_el_Mileto"
    title: "Hekateo el Mileto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecateo_de_Mileto"
    title: "Hecateo de Mileto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios"
    title: "Hekataios"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekateo_Miletokoa"
    title: "Hekateo Miletokoa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A6%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "هکاتئوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios_Miletoslainen"
    title: "Hekataios Miletoslainen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9cat%C3%A9e_de_Milet"
    title: "Hécatée de Milet"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecateo_de_Mileto"
    title: "Hecateo de Mileto"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%90%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A1_%D7%9E%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A1"
    title: "הקטאיוס ממילטוס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%9F%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%B8"
    title: "हिकैटियस"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hecateu_de_Mileto"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://zh.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E7%B1%B3%E5%88%A9%E9%83%BD%E7%9A%84%E8%B5%AB%E5%85%8B%E6%B3%B0%E9%98%BF%E6%96%AF"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekataios_von_Milet"
    title: "Hekataios von Milet"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B3_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A"
    title: "هكتيوس الملطي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Hecataeus, son of Hegesander, was born around 550 BC in Miletus, the prosperous Greek city on the Ionian coast that had already produced philosophers who tried to explain the world through reason rather than gods. He turned that same cool eye to geography and the past, writing prose accounts of the lands around the Mediterranean and attempting to trace genealogies and events without leaning on divine intervention. His work—now lost except in fragments quoted by later writers—represented an early split: history and geography as disciplines you could investigate and record, not just sing about. He died around 476 BC, his name preserved mainly because Herodotus read him, borrowed from him, and gently mocked his credulity even while walking the path Hecataeus had cleared.