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[German version] (αἴλινος; aílinos). A cry, usually in the refrain of a dirge αἴλινον αἴλινον ( aílinon aílinon; Aesch. Ag. 121; Soph. Aj. 627; Eur. Or. 1395), but also used as the term for a spinning song (Ath. 14,618d) or a song of joy (Eur. Her. 348-9). These opposite meanings lead to the common basic meaning ‘song’ (cf. λίνος; línos, Hom. Il. 18,570) [3. II, 84 ff.]. In spite of its uncertain origin (Frisk s. v.), the Greeks associated it with the dying god Linus because of the sounds αἴ and λίνος (Hdt. 2,79; Pind. fr. 128c,6 Snell-Maehler). Some saw the ailinos as an adaptation of a cult…

[German version] (Οἰνιάδης; Oiniádēs). Aulos player and dithyrambic poet from Thebes. IG II2 3064 records his victory in the aulos competition at Athens in 384/3. His father, Pronomus, was probably the famous aulētḗs in Paus. 4,27,7; 9,12,5; Anth. Plan. 16,28,2. Didymus [1] mentions O. as one of three poets to compose a dithyramb entitled Cyclops (840 PMG). Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) Bibliography D.A. Campbell, Greek Lyric 5, 1993, 208  H. Reimann, s.v. O., RE Suppl. 8, 369  D.F. Sutton, Dithyrambographi Graeci, 1989, 38F1.

(ἐπινίκιον; epiníkion, sc. μέλος; mélos, ᾆσμα; âisma), ‘victory song’. [German version] A. Term The adjective epiníkios is used for the closer definition of ἀοιδή ( aoidḗ; song) in Pind. Nem. 4,78, whereas in Aesch. Ag. 174 the neutr. pl. epiníkia represents a shout of victory. In prose, the term, in conjunction with θύειν ( thýein) or ἑστιᾶν ( hestiân), generally refers to the sacrifices (sc. ἱερά; hierá), which followed a victory in battle (Dem. Or. 19,128) or took place as part of festival celebrations ([Dem. or.] 59,33; cf. Pl. Symp. 173a). The neutr. sing. epiníkion was first used b…

[German version] I. Greek A genethliakón (γενεθλιακόν, sc. μέλος, ᾷ̓σμα) is a poem in honour of a birthday (γενέθλιος ἡμέρα, γενέθλιον ἦμαρ), in association with a gift or standing alone. Callim. Fr. 202 is a iamb to a friend in celebration of the seventh day after the birth of his daughter. There is an isopsephic epigram written by Leonides of Alexandria (Anth. Pal. 6,321) as a birthday present to Caesar γενεθλιακαῖσιν ἐν ὥραις. Other epigrams, particularly by  Crinagoras, accompanied birthday gifts…

[German version] (σκόλιον; skólion). A Greek song at a symposium (Banquet). Unlike elegy, also sung at the symposium, it was accompanied by the lyre and was in lyric metre. The origin of the term is most likely the practice of holding a myrtle branch, which singers passed to each other in haphazard fashion (cf. Aristoph. fr. 444 PCG vol.3.2), though other far-fetched derivations were advanced, in particular from dýskolon ('difficult'), because inferior or drunken singers could not manage them (cf. Schol. Pl. Grg. 451e, Ath. 15,693f.-694c). First mention is in Pi…

[German version] (Μελιννώ; Melinnṓ). Greek female poet who composed a hymn in five Sapphic stanzas to the goddess Roma. Stobaeus (ecl. 3,7,12), who cites her, gives Lesbos as her place of origin, probably on account of the metre because there are only hints of an Aeolian dialect in het poetry. Her date is much disputed: most scholars propose the Republican period because - despite some similarities in images and ideas - there is no reason to suppose that she was influenced by Latin poetry and because she made no mention of the princeps [1]; others assign her to the 2nd cent. AD by poin…

(Σαπφώ/ Sapphṓ; in her self-designation, fr. 1: Ψάπφω/ Psápphō). Greek poet c. 600 BC. [German version] A. Life Lyric poet, born at Mytilene or Eresus on Lesbos. Was regularly synchronized in Antiquity with the poet Alcaeus [4] and the statesman Pittacus (e.g., Str. 13,617). The date recorded in the Suda s.v. Σ. - the 42nd Olympiad = 612-609 BC - could refer either to her birth or to her akme. The latter is the more likely and accords with the notice in the Marmor Parium that she went into exile in Sicily between 603/02 and 596/95 (FGrH 239,36), when she s…

(Ὑμέναιος; Hyménaios). Wedding song (cf.  Hymenaeus) Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) I. Greek [German version] A. Etymology The meaning of hyménaios is shared by ὑμήν ( hymḗn), as it is usually found in the cry Ὑμὴν ὦ Ὑμέναιε [1. vol. 2,361]. The origin of the word ὑμήν is disputed: some claim its origin is pre-Greek and not Indo-European [2]; others maintain it is Greek, and synonymous with hymḗn = membrane, i.e. the hymen, although this meaning first appears in later authors [3. 964-965]. Diehl, who assumes a connection with the Latin suo, sees a further link with ὕμνος ( hýmnos,  Hymn), which…

[German version] (Ἀρχέβουλος; Archéboulos). Poet from Thera (Suda s. v. Euphorion 3801 Eagle) or possibly from Thebes (Θηβαίου erroneously for Θηραίου?). Teacher of  Euphorion, therefore can be dated to early 3rd cent. BC. The only verse ascribed to him, which possibly is not genuine, (SH 124), is quoted in order to explain the metre named after him. This metre, the archebuleum, consists of four anapests followed by one bacchaeus:           . A. had allegedly used it ‘exces…

[German version] (Μεγάκλεια; Megákleia). According to the Vita Ambrosiana (1,3,3-4 Drachmann), wife of Pindar ( Pindarus), daughter of Lysitheus and Calline. In Eustathius's verse biography, which is preserved in the proem of his lost Pindarus commentary, Timoxeine is given as the name of Pindar's wife (Τιμοξείνη, 3,302,1 Drachmann). In both sources the children are called Protomache, Eumetis and Daephantus. Pindar composed a Daphnephorikon for him (fr. 94c Snell-Maehler). Robbins, Emmet (Toronto)

[German version] (προπεμπτικόν, sc. μέλος/ mélos, ᾆσμα/ â isma). A poem that wishes a departing friend or relative all the best for a prosperous trip overseas (εὔπλοια/ eúploia). In Late Antiquity there was also the προπεμπτικὸς λόγος ( propemptikòs lógos), a speech written in prose whose topoi were stipulated by the rhetors and listed (e.g. Menander Rhetor 3,395-99 Spengel); these included the prayer for a safe journey and return, the dangers of sea travel, praise of the destination, lamentation because of abandonment by the departi…

[German version] (Τελέσιλλα; Telésilla). Greek poet from Argos, c. 451/450 BC (Eus. Chronicon Ol. 82.2, p. 112 Helm). She is supposed to have armed the women of her home city and prevented a victory by Cleomenes [3] (Paus. 2,20,8-10; Plut. Mor. 245c-f; but not in Hdt. 6,77,2). The few preserved fragments make frequent mention of Apollo and Artemis in a mythological context. It appears that fragment 726 PMG represents a poem on the wedding of Zeus and Hera and that fragment 717 PMG is meant for a chorus o…

[German version] (Αἰσχρίων; Aischríōn). The Suda (s. v. 354 Adler) mentions an epic writer from Mytilene, companion of Alexander the Great and pupil of Aristotle (no quotations extant); Ath. 7,296f and 8,335c-d quotes choliambic verses of an A. of Samos. Tzetz. Chil. 8,398 ff. names -- perhaps rightly so -- only A. of Mytilene, an author of both genres. Authentic iambic verses of his are a) an epitaph for Philaenis, who repudiates the calumnies of someone called Polycrates, b) discusses the food th…

[German version] (Πύθερμος; Pýthermos). Lyric poet from Teos, perhaps 6th century BC; known from a mention in Ath. 14,625c, in a discussion of the three books of Heraclides Ponticus' Perì Mousikês: P. is supposed to have written skólia in the Ionian mode and iambic verses and to have been mentioned by Ananius or Hipponax. The only recorded verse (metre: phalaeceus) claims that apart from gold everything is nothing (910 PMG); it became proverbial and can also be found cited in Diogenianus, Plutarch and the Suda. Robbins, Emmet (Toronto)

[German version] (Τέρπανδρος/ Térpandros, Lat. Terpander). Early 7th cent. BC kithara player from Lesbos or Cyme [3] (Suda s. v. T.). His life was closely tied to Sparta where he was the first victor at the Carnea (Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 85a) of the 26th Olympiad (676/673 BC). He achieved four sequential further victories at the Pythia (Plut. Mor. 1132e) which took place every eight years at that time - his career must therefore have spanned 25 years. He died in 640 BC ay the latest (Euseb. Chron. Olymp…

(ἐπιτάφιος; epitáphios). [German version] [1] Funerary epigram see  Funerary epigram Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) [German version] [2] Funeral games or funeral oration (sc. ἀγών or λόγος; agṓn or lógos: funeral games or funeral oration). Funeral games are known since Hom. Il. 23; for Athens, Aristot. Ath. Pol. 58 mentions an epitáphios agṓn (for Sparta cf. Paus. 3,14,1). The term ‘funeral oration’ (ἐπιτάφιος λόγος; first in Pl. Menex. 236b) is only confirmed for Athens; it refers to the laudatio for a well-respected citizen in accordance with the πάτριος νόμος; pátrios nómos, ‘the inhe…

[German version] (Κινησίας; Kinēsías). Athenian dithyrambic poet, whose creative period ranged from c. 425 to 390 BC. His father Meles (Pl. Grg. 501e-502a) is referred to in Pherecrates' Ágrioi (PCG VII 6, cf. Aristoph. Av. 766) as the worst kitharode imaginable. IG II2 3028 of the early 4th cent. BC preserves fragments of a dedication by a victorious choregos of a choir under C.'s direction. In 394/3 BC, in his function as   bouleutḗs , C. succeeded in his proposition to the people's assembly (IG II2 18) of honouring Dionysius I of Syracuse. Lysias (Ath. 551d-552f) attacked h…

[German version] (Λαμπροκλῆς; Lamproklês). Musician and poet of Athens, early 5th cent. BC. Among his pupils were Damon, the teacher of Pericles (Diels/Kranz 1, 382), and possibly Sophocles (Ath. 1,20e states that the latter's teacher was Lamprus; perhaps a confusion with L. [1. 315]). Ath. 11,491c cites a dithyramb fragment. The only other preserved fragment comes from a hymn to Athena (schol. Aristoph. Nub. 967). To L. is attributed the observation that the Mixolydian mode does not relate to the other keys in the manner assumed until that time [2. 223-224]. Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) Bib…

[German version] (Τιμοκρέων/ Timokréōn). Lyricist and elegist from Ialysus in Rhodes, early 5th cent. BC, according to the Suda also a writer of the Old Comedy (for which no evidence survives, however). In Mesopotamian Susa, T. entertained the Persian king as a pentathlete and a jester (Ath. 415f-416a). It is well known that there was a feud between him and Themistocles, whom he attacks for his failure to return him to Rhodes and his lack of success at the Isthmian Games (fr. 727 PMG). This twelve-…

[German version] (Βακχυλίδης; Bakchylídēs). Author of choral lyric whose productive period was in the 5th cent. BC. B. was born in Iulis on Ceos, but the exact year of his birth remains contested. He was the grandson of an athlete by the same name, the son of a man called Meidon (Suda) or Meidylus (EM), and nephew of  Simonides [1. 130-132]. Eusebius of Caesarea stated the time of B.'s akmḗ as the 2nd year of the 78th Olympiad, doubtlessly due to B.'s most important assignment -- to praise Hieron of Syracuse's victory in the chariot race of 468 BC. In Chron. pasch., his akmḗ is set 13 years earl…