The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Dares Phrygius
(dâr´z frj´s) (KEY) , supposed author of a history of the Trojan War. Dares of Phrygia is mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as a priest of Troy. During the Middle Ages he was widely regarded as the author of De excidio Troiae historia [history of the destruction of Troy], which reputedly had been translated into Latin in the 5th cent. A.D. This work and the supposed diary of Dictys Cretensis became, through Benoît de Sainte-Mores Roman de Troie, the most popular sources for medieval stories of the Trojan War.