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(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…

(Ἀλκαῖος; Alkaîos). The suggestive mythological name ( alkḗ, ‘strength’) is connected with Hercules. [German version] [1] Grandfather of Hercules Grandfather of Hercules, son of Perseus and Andromeda, husband of Astydameia, the daughter of Pelops, father of Amphitryon and Anaxo (Hes. Sc. 26; Schol. Eur. Hec. 886). Also the form of the name Alceus appears to be attested, which is more compatible with the patronymic Alcides. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Original name of Hercules Original name of Hercules, altered at the command of the Delphic Oracle (Di…

[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…

[German version] (Ἀργᾶς; Argâs). Poet and kitharist (first half of 4th cent. BC), from whom no fragments have remained. We know his name only from sources which allow one to assume a proverbially poor-quality poet: Plutarch mentions as a nickname of Demosthenes Ἀργᾶς, a poet of ‘poor and disgusting songs’ (νόμων πονηρῶν καὶ ἀργαλέων) and makes ἀργᾶς synonymous with ὄφις, serpent (Demosth. 4,8; cf. Hsch. s. v. ἀργᾶς 7013 Latte). There are some uncomplimentary references in Phaenias of Ephesus (FHG I…

[German version] (Ἑρμόλοχος; Hermólochos). Author of several lines regarding the imponderables and hopes of life. In Stob. 4,34,66 (also in Phot. Bibl. 167) he is called H. in two MSS, and Hermolaus in one MS. [1. 637] attributes this fragment to a Hermodotus and rearranges two verses; [2] maintains the attribution to H. but slightly changes the colometry. The dactyloepitritic verses show traces of the Doric in Stobaeus. Modern editors have made further conjectures with regard to the Doric elements. Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) Bibliography 1 Th. Bergk, Poetae Lyrici Graeci III, 41882 2 …