Homer of

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium' ...

(

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 Greek

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

and tragic poet. He was also called ''ho Neoteros'' ("the Younger"), to distinguish him from the older

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

. The son of the grammarian Andromachus Philologus and the poet

Moero Moero or Myro ( el, Μοιρώ and Μυρώ) was a woman poet of the Hellenistic period from the city of Byzantium. She was the wife of Andromachus Philologus and the mother – the Suda says daughter, but this is less likely – of the tragedian H ...

(some sources give her as Homer's daughter), he flourished in the beginning of the 3rd century BC, in the court of

Ptolemy II Philadelphus ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gold ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

. Together with his main rival,

Sositheus Sositheus ( Ancient Greek: Σωσίθεος, c. 280 BC), a Greek tragic poet from Alexandria Troas, was a member of the Alexandrian "pleiad". He must have resided at some time in Athens, since Diogenes Laërtius tells us that he attacked the Stoi ...

, he is counted among the seven great tragics of the Alexandrian canon, or "

Pleiad The Pleiades (; grc-gre, Πλειάδες, Ancient Greek pronunciation: ), were the seven sister-nymph, nymphs, companions of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Together with their seven sisters, the Hyades (mythology), Hyades, they were called ...

" (named after the cluster of seven stars). Homer is variously attributed 45, 47 or 57 plays, all of them now lost. Only the title of one, ''Eurypyleia'', survives.

Sources

* William Smith
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
3rd-century BC Greek people Ancient Byzantines Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Ancient Greek grammarians Tragic poets Ptolemaic court {{AncientGreece-poet-stub