Alcaeus of Messene (;

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ) was an ancient

poet, who flourished between 219 and 196 BC. Twenty-two of his short poems or epigrams survive in the Greek Anthology, from some of which his date may be fixed at around the late 3rd/early 2nd century BC. Some of his poems are on literary themes, but most are political. Alcaeus was contemporary with Philip V, king of

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

and son of Demetrius II of Macedon, against whom several of his poems are pointed, apparently from patriotic feelings. One of these, however, gave more offense to the Roman general

Flamininus Titus Quinctius Flamininus (c. 228 – 174 BC) was a Roman politician and general instrumental in the Roman conquest of Greece. Family background Flamininus belonged to the minor patrician '' gens'' Quinctia. The family had a glorious pla ...

than to Philip, as Alcaeus ascribed the victory of the

battle of Cynoscephalae The Battle of Cynoscephalae ( el, Μάχη τῶν Κυνὸς Κεφαλῶν) was an encounter battle fought in Thessaly in 197 BC between the Roman army, led by Titus Quinctius Flamininus, and the Antigonid dynasty of Macedon, led by Phil ...

to the

Aetolia Aetolia ( el, Αἰτωλία, Aἰtōlía) is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia ...

ns as much as to the Romans. Philip contented himself with writing an epigram in reply to that of Alcaeus, in which he gave the Messenian a very broad hint of the fate he might expect if he fell into his hands. This reply was enough to lead French classical scholar

Claudius Salmasius Claude Saumaise (15 April 1588 – 3 September 1653), also known by the Latin name Claudius Salmasius, was a French classical scholar. Life Salmasius was born at Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. His father, a counsellor of the parlement of Dijon, se ...

to suppose that Alcaeus was actually crucified by Philip. In another epigram, in praise of Flamininus, the mention of the Roman general's name, Titus, led John Tzetzes into the error of imagining the existence of an epigrammatist named Alcaeus under the emperor Titus. John Tzetzes, ''Proleg. in Lycophron'' Those epigrams of Alcaeus which bear internal evidence of their date were written between the years 219 and 196. Of the 22 epigrams in the Greek Anthology which bear the name of Alcaeus, two are written "

Alcaeus of Mytilene Alcaeus of Mytilene (; grc, Ἀλκαῖος ὁ Μυτιληναῖος, ''Alkaios ho Mutilēnaios''; – BC) was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical ...

"; but most scholars take this to be the addition of some ignorant copyist. Others bear the name of "Alcaeus of Messene," and some of Alcaeus alone. But in the last class there are several which must, from internal evidence, have been written by Alcaeus of Messene, and there seems no reason to doubt his being the author of all twenty-two.

Notes

References

External links

Alcaeus of Messene: translation of all surviving epigrams
at ''attalus.org''; adapted from W.R.Paton (1916-18) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcaeus Of Messene Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology 3rd-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC poets Ancient Messenians