Ephorus of Cyme ( ;
Ephoros; c. 400 – 330 BC), often named in conjunction with his birthplace
Cyme,
Aeolia, was an
ancient Greek historian. Information on his biography is limited; he was the father of Demophilus, who followed in his footsteps as a historian, and to
Plutarch's claim that Ephorus declined
Alexander the Great's offer to join him on his Persian campaign as the official
historiographer. Together with the historian
Theopompus, he was a pupil of
Isocrates, in whose school he attended two courses of
rhetoric. But he does not seem to have made much progress in the art, and it is said to have been at the suggestion of Isocrates himself that he took up literary composition and the study of
history.