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[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…

[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 …

(Σιμωνίδης/ Simōnídēs). [German version] [1] Iambographic poet (the iambographic poet) see Semonides Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) [German version] [2] Lyric poet, 6th/5th cents. BC Greek lyric poet, 6th/5th cents. BC Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) [German version] I. Life S. was born in Ioulis on Ceos [1], the son of Leoprepes, uncle of Bacchylides. Of the two birth dates given in the Suda - the 56th Olympiad (556/553 BC) and the 62nd Olympiad (532/529 BC), the earlier is generally accepted. According to the Suda, S. died in the 78th Olympi…

[German version] [1] Cyclades island (Μῆλος/ Mêlos, Doric Μᾶλος/ Mâlos; Latin Melos, modern Milos). Name of the westernmost of the Cyclades islands, the fifth largest at 161 km2. Included in the archipelago of M. are Kimolos off the northeastern point, Polaegus (modern Polivo) to the east, and Erimomilos to the west of M., plus a number of very small islands and rocks. M. is the caldera of a Pliocene volcano; its relics are still present today in the sulphurous thermal springs in the northeast and southeast. The sea has access to the caldera of the crater …

(Λάσος; Lásos). [German version] [1] L. of Hermione Poet, c. 500 BC in the Argolis (incorrectly in the Suda: Achaia). The Suda places his date of birth in the 58th Oympiad. (548-544 BC). Like Anacreon and Simonides, this Greek poet was under the patronage of Hipparchus in Athens. According to Hdt. 7,6, Onomacritus was expelled by Hipparchus when L. caught him forging oracles of Musaeus. The Schol. Aristoph. Av. 1403 quotes authorities who consider L. the first organizer of dithyrambic choruses positione…

I. Greek [German version] A. Definition, characteristics The term lyric poetry (LP) encompasses the entirety of Greek poetry from the 7th to the mid-5th cent. BC with the exception of stichic hexameter poetry and drama. The word lyrikós (λυρικός) is related to lýra (λύρα), lyre, and initially refers to poetry that is sung to the accompaniment of a string instrument or, in a broader sense, to all poetry sung to musical accompaniment. This also includes elegiac distichs, which were usually or even without exception accompanied by an aulós ( Elegy, Music), epinician poetry, accompanied by a l…

(Εὔρυτος; Eúrytos). [German version] [1] Hom. character Ruler of Oechalia, mentioned in Hom. Il. 2,596; 730. The location of Oechalia is unclear (on the Peloponnese?). In Hom. Od. 21,20ff., Iphitus the son of E., while searching for his horses in Messenia, gives Odysseus his father's great bow (with which Odysseus later kills the suitors), and on his search is later murdered by Heracles. E. himself is killed by Apollo, whom he challenges to an archery competition (Od. 8,224-228). He plays an important role in the non-extant early epic ‘The Capture of Oechalia’ (Οἰχαλίας ἅλωσις; Oichalías…

(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…

(Τελέστης; Teléstēs). [German version] [1] Last king of Corinth According to a list of kings in Diod. 7,9,2-5, T. was the last king of Corinth. The name's apt meaning ( télos = 'end') casts doubt on his historicity. His murder was, according to tradition, closely followed by the Bacchiadae (Paus. 2,4,4). Patzek, Barbara (Wiesbaden) Bibliography J. B. Salmon, Wealthy Corinth, 1984, 47; 55. [German version] [2] From Selinus, dithyramb poet, c. 400 BC Dithyrambic poet from Selinus [4]. The Marmor Parium (65) mentions a victory in Athens in 402/401 BC. Titles of his works are Argo (with cri…

(Ἀντιγένης; Antigénēs). [German version] [1] Dithyrambic poet Attic dithyrambic poet, presumably the author of an inscription on a tripod for the victory of the phyle  Acamantis in the dithyrambic competition in the Dionysia (FGE 11-15). The sources (Anth. Pal. 13,28) ascribe the epigram to ‘Simonides or Bacchylides’, but Hecker emphatically recognized Antigenes as the author; he calls himself the χοροδιδάσκαλος [1.149-152]; the χορηγός and αὐλητής are also mentioned. In order to put the names into verse, an unusual metre is used. The date is perhaps c. 485 BC. [2]. Robbins, Emmet (…

(Διαγόρας; Diagóras). [German version] [1] of Eretria Politician 6th cent. BC Towards the end of the 6th cent. BC (between 539 and 510?), D. overturned the ‘oligarchy of the knights’, allegedly for personal motives (Aristot. Pol. 5,5, 1306a 35-37) [1]. In posthumous tribute, a statue of D. was erected (Heraclides Lembus fr. 40 Dilts). Whether D. as nomothetes introduced a ‘democratic constitution’ [2], has to remain a moot point. Hölkeskamp, Karl-Joachim (Cologne) Bibliography 1 F. Geyer, Topographie und Gesch. der Insel Euboia 1, 1903, 66f. 2 H.-J. Gehrke, Stasis, 1985, 63f. …

[German version] [1] The Elder Lyric poet, 6th cent. BC (Ἀνακρέων [ Anakréōn], or for metrical reasons also Ἀνακρείων [ Anakreíōn]). Robbins, Emmet (Toronto) [German version] A. Life Writer of monodic lyrics and one of the nine authors who belong to the Alexandrian canon of the nine lyrical poets. A. was born in the town of Teos in Ionia; the details about the name of his father vary (Suda). The chronology of his life is also uncertain and is based on the assumption that he was a contemporary of Polycrates of Samos; for the akme of A. the date Olympiad 62/2 (531 BC) given by Eusebius is…

[German version] [1] Chariot race victor M. of Thebes, son of Telesiades, addressee of Pind. I., 3 and 4 ( Pindarus). Two victories are mentioned, one in the horse or chariot race at Nemea (ibid. 3,9-13), the other in the pankration (ibid. 4,44). The two metrically identical poems are not treated separately in all MSS. The race victory was probably later, I. 3 being appended to the longer poem I. 4 in regard to a single celebration [1. 202-203]. M.'s father belonged to the family of the Cleonymidae, h…

(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] [1] Aunt of C. Iulius Caesar, wife of C. Marius, 2nd/1st cent. BC Paternal aunt of C. Iulius  Caesar; between 115 and 109 BC, she married C. Marius, with whom she had a son named C. Marius ( cos. 82; Plut. Marius 6,3; Plut. Caesar 1,1; Sall. Hist. 1,35 Maur). There is almost no information regarding I.'s life. On the occasion of her death in 68, Caesar held a large funeral ceremony (Suet. Iul. 6,1; Plut. Caesar 5,1). Stegmann, Helena (Bonn) [German version] [2] Daughter of L. Iunius [I 5] Caesar, mother of triumvir M. Antonius Daughter of L. Iulius [I 5] Caesar and Fulvia (d…

(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 …