The Song of Eros: Ancient Greek Love Poems

The Poets

The Poets AGATHIAS Born in Myrina on the west coast of Asia Minor, Agathias lived from 536 to 582 A.D. He studied law in Alexandria and Constantinople, where he earned the title scholastikos, and edited an anthology of poems that became the basis of the Greek Anthology. ANAKREON Born in Teos in Asia Minor ca. 572 B.C., he spent much of the latter part of his life in Athens. One of the most important and influential of early Greek poets, he wrote six books of poetry. ANTIPHILOS A citizen of Byzantium, he was born late in the first century B.C . Antiphilos specialized in writing epigrams and contributed some fifty poems to the Greek Anthology . ARCHILOCHOS Archilochos was an iambic and elegiac poet from Paros who appears to have been born late in the eighth century B.C . Legend says the nobleman Lykambes promised him his daughter, Neoboule, but then reneged. Archilochos took his revenge by writing such effective satir105 ical poems about Lykambes and his family that they eventually committed suicide. ASKLEPIADES A poet from Samos who flourished in the early part of the third century B.C. BIANOR Bianor was born in Bithynia in Asia Minor late in the first century B.C. Twenty-two poems are attributed to him. DIONYSIOS SOPHISTES Nothing is known of the poet but his name. DIOPHANES OF MYRINA An unknown poet of uncertain date. EUENOS There were several unknown poets who shared this name. Together, they produced eleven epigrams. 106 KRINAGORAS Krinagoras of Mytilene was born ca. 70 B.C. He wrote fifty-one poems. LEONTIOS A poet of the sixth century A.D., he wrote twenty-four epigrams. LUCILIUS A poet of the first century A.D., Lucilius was patronized by Nero and was the author of over one hundred twenty poems. He was a humorist whose epigrams are notable for their extravagant hyperbole. MACEDONIUS The author of forty-four poems in the Greek Anthology , Macedonius held the honorary title of consul during the reign of Justinian.in the sixth century A.D. MARCUS ARGENTARIUS A poet of the first century A.D., he wrote lively, elegant epigrams. Thirty-seven of these are extant. 107 MELEAGROS Born in Gadara ca. 140 B.C., Meleagros spent his youth in Tyre and his adult life on Kos. He wrote more than one hundred thirty epigrams, most of them erotic. Meleagros' collection of epigrams, the so-called Garland of Meleagros, was one of the first serious attempts to compile a critical anthology of Greek poems. PALLADAS OF ALEXANDRIA A poet and a teacher of literature, Palladas of Alexandria flourished at the end of the fourth century A.D. He wrote 150 poems included in the Greek Anthology. PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Paulus, entitled Silentiarius ("private secretary"), was a high official in the court of Justinian ca. 560 A.D. Eighty of his epigrams, about half of them erotic, are included in the Greek Anthology. PHILODEMOS A poet of the first century B.C., Philodemos was an Epicurean philosopher and occasional associate of such Roman notables as Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. Twentyfive of his epigrams survive in the Greek Anthology. 108 PLATO The great Athenian philosopher is said to have written poems as a youth in the last years of the fifth century B.C. Only a few of these survive, but their merit has been recognized by authorities as great as Shelley. POSEIDIPPOS The author of about twenty extant poems, Poseidippos was born in the Macedonian city of Pella ca. 310 B.C. RUFINUS A poet of uncertain date, Rufinus lived sometime during the first five centuries A.D. He was a writer of erotic verse. SA PPH 0 One of the most famous and influential of all Greek poets , she was the head of a sorority dedicated to the veneration of Aphrodite. Many of her poems, of which only fragments remain, were written in celebration of the marriages of the young girls who were members of this thiasos. Sappho was a resident of the island of Lesbos and flourished in the first part of the sixth century B.C. 109 STRATON This poet from Sardis was active in the early part of the second century A.D. Almost one hundred poems are included in his collection of...