Charon of Lampsacus () was an Ionian historiographer active in the first half of the 5th century BC, credited with regional histories, a Hellenica, local horoi (chronicles), chronographic lists, and a periplous â all lost and preserved only in fragments and testimonia. The Suda records his patronymic as Pythokles, while Pausanias gives Pythes. Dionysius of Halicarnassus places him among historians earlier than Thucydides and before the Peloponnesian War.
Ancient sources identify him as ("Charon the Lampsacene"). The Suda transmits (Pythokles) as the father's name; Pausanias cites (Pythes).
Testimonia converge on activity in the first half of the 5th century BC, sometimes synchronized with the reign of Darius I or the Persian Wars. Dionysius of Halicarnassus lists Charon among pre-Thucydidean historians, fixing a floruit before 431 BC.
The Suda preserves the titles and book-counts of Charon's corpus; independent fragments confirm select items.
The fragments indicate a logographic mode built from local traditions, ethnographic excursus, chronological catalogues, and concise narrative reports. The Lampsacene dossier centers civic memory and onomastics; the Persica material records Persian-period events in Ionian contexts. No secure dependence by Herodotus has been demonstrated.
All works are lost; the corpus survives through lexicographic entries, antiquarian citations, and anecdotal compilations. The Suda provides the fullest inventory; independent testimonia corroborate the Lampsacene material and the Persica. Modern editors file Charon as FGrHist 262; BNJ provides updated text, translation, and commentary.