Search

[German version] (Λαμύνθιος; Lamýnthios). Lyric poet from Miletus, dating uncertain. Phot. s.v. calls him a ‘poet of erotic poetry’ (ποιητὴς ἐρωτικῶν μελῶν; poiētḕs erōtikôn melôn); Ath. 13,596f-597a mentions two poets who write about hetaerae named Lyde: Antimachus [3] of Colophon, who composed his Lýdē in elegiac meter, and L., who according to Clearchus composed lyrical verse about a foreign (βαρβάρου/ barbárou) girl of the same name in his Erōtiká. He is named by Epicrates [4] in the Antilaḯs (PCG v 4) as the author of love songs. Fragments have not been preserved. Robbins, Emmet (…

[German version] (Κόριννα; Kórinna). Lyric Greek poet of the 5th cent. BC (?), probably from Tanagra in Boeotia (Paus. 9,22,3). The Suda gives various birthplaces, and has her a pupil of Myrtis and contemporary of  Pindarus, whom she is said to have defeated. Other, rather improbable, biographical anecdotes link her with Pindar. Although the Suda speaks of five bks., and many sources assign C. to the canon of nine lyric poets, her work was not published by the Alexandrians. There is also no survivi…

(Ξάνθος/ Xánthos). [German version] [1] Name of several figures in Greek mythology Name of several male figures in Greek mythology: 1) Son of Phaenops [2], who was killed by Diomedes [1] at the gates of Troy (Hom. Il. 5,152-158). 2) Son of Triopas and Oreasis. X. received a part of Lycia; from there, he settled the deserted island of Lesbos (Diod. Sic. 5,81,2; Hyg. Fab. 145). 3) One of the sons of Aegyptus, who is killed by Arcadia, daughter of Danaus (Hyg. Fab. 170). 4) A son of Niobe (Pherecydes FGrH 3 F …

(Τιμόθεος; Timótheos). [German version] [1] T. of Metapontum Greek physician, c. 400 BC Greek physician, fl. c. 400 BC. According to the Anonymus Londiniensis (8,8), T. believed that disease was the result of the blockage of passages through which residues would have been excreted. Residues that have risen up from the entire body are forced to remain in the head until they are transformed into a saline, acrid fluid. They then break out and cause a wide variety of disease, whose character is determined by the place or places to which they flow.. Humoral theory Nutton, Vivian (London) …

(Πίνδαρος/ Píndaros). [German version] [1] Tyrant of Ephesus (c. 560 BC) Tyrant of Ephesus ( c. 560 BC), nephew of Croesus. When Croesus laid siege to Ephesus, P. is said to have advised fastening the gates and walls of the town to the columns of the Artemisium (Ephesus with map) with ropes. Croesus, bound by a vow to the shrine, spared the town and promised safety and freedom but forced P. to leave; his son was spared and his fortune left untouched (Hdt. 1,26; Polyaenus, Strat. 6,50; Ael. VH 3,26). Högemann, Peter (Tübingen) Bibliography U. Muss, Bauplastik des archaischen Artemisions, 1…

[German version] (Μελανιππίδης; Melanippídēs). Dithyrambic poet from Melos, whose main period of creativity was in the second half of the 5th century BC. A grandfather of the same name, also a poet, is mentioned in the Suda: there are no surviving fragments from this M. the Elder, who, according to information from the Marmor Parium , won a victory in Athens in 494/93. In Pherecrates' Cheírōn (PCG VII 155), M. the Younger, who exercised considerable influence on the new musical style, is reprimanded by Music personified, because he was the first to misuse it.…

(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…

(Λικύμνιος; Likýmnios). [German version] [1] Son of Electryon Son of Electryon, half-brother of Alcmene, husband of Perimede, father of Argeius [1], Melas and Oeonus or, according to a new source [2], of Perimedes, Oeonus and Pero. After first seeking refuge together with the Heraclidae, with Ceyx in Trachis, he is killed by Tlepolemus in Argus (Hom. Il. 2,661-663; Pind. Ol. 7,27-31). As eponym of Licymna, the acropolis of Tiryns (Str. 8,6,11) - his name, like that of his mother Midea, indicates tha…

[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…

[German version] [1] Nomos, nomoi (ὁ νόμος/ ho nómos, pl. οἱ νόμοι/ hoi nómoi). Siewert, Peter (Vienna) [German version] A. General In Greek, nómos (pl. nómoi) refers to customary conduct or a behavioural norm observed by members of a community; depending on the context it can be translated with ‘custom’, ‘habit’, ‘practice’, ‘rule’, ‘order’, ‘institution’, ‘constitution’, ‘law’ etc. (cf. [1. 20-54; 2. 14-19]). The size of the communities where a nómos applied could vary considerably: from married couples and families to cult and settlement communities, from cit…

[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…