Asclepiades of Samos (Sicelidas) ( el, Ἀσκληπιάδης ὁ Σάμιος; born c. 320 BC) was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

epigrammatist and

lyric poet Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

who flourished around 270 BC. He was a friend of

Hedylus Hedylus ( grc-gre, Ἥδυλος, ''Hḗdylos''; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Greek epigrammatic poet of the Hellenistic period. Hedylus was the son of Melicertus and Hedyle, and a native of Samos or Athens. His epigrams were included in the ''Garla ...

and possibly of

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

. He may have been honoured by the city of Histiaea in about 263 BC. Asclepiades was the earliest and most important of the convivial and erotic epigrammists. Only a few of his compositions were intended as actual inscriptions, if any. Other poems sing the praises of those poets whom he especially admired, but the majority of his work that has survived is love songs. It is doubtful whether he is the author of all the epigrams (some 40 in number) which bear his name in the '' Greek Anthology''. He has been credited with creating the metre which bears his name, the Asclepiad metre. The sole source for the known, unlacunaed epigrams of Asclepiades is the Greek Anthology. Most of Asclepiades's epigrams appear in both of the two principal

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

epigram collections that constitute the Greek Anthology: the Palatine Anthology and the Planudean Anthology. Epigrams xxxix and xliii appear only in the Planudean Anthology, which is the less complete of the two so far as the epigrams of Asclepiades are concerned, all the rest are in the Palatine Anthology. Some papyri have been recovered that contain portions of known epigrams and portions of otherwise unknown epigrams attributed to Asclepiades.

Editions

* with commentary in ii pp. 114–151. * Translated by Alexander Sens

Notes

External links

Asclepiades: translation of all surviving epigrams
at ''attalus.org''; adapted from W.R.Paton (1916–18) * * * Ancient Samians 3rd-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC poets Ancient Greek lyric poets Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Year of birth uncertain {{Greece-poet-stub