Moero or Myro ( el, Μοιρώ and Μυρώ) was a woman

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

of the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

from the city 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'' cont ...

. She was the wife of Andromachus Philologus and the mother – the

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

says daughter, but this is less likely – of the tragedian

Homerus of Byzantium Homer of Byzantium (Greek: ) was an ancient Greek grammarian and tragic poet. He was also called ''ho Neoteros'' ("the Younger"), to distinguish him from the older Homer. The son of the grammarian Andromachus Philologus and the poet Moero (some s ...

. Moero was probably active during the late fourth and early third centuries BC. Little of Moero's poetry has survived. Ten lines from her epic poem ''Mnemosyne'' are quoted by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

, and

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, grc-gre, Μελέαγρος, Meléagros) was a hero venerated in his ''temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Ho ...

includes two four-line epigrams in his ''Garland''. Additionally, she is known to have written a poem called ''Arai'' ("Curses"). This is known only through a

scholion Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

Parthenius of Nicaea Parthenius of Nicaea ( el, Παρθένιος ὁ Νικαεύς) or Myrlea ( el, ὁ Μυρλεανός) in Bithynia was a Greeks, Greek Philologist, grammarian and poet. According to the ''Suda'', he was the son of Heraclides and Eudora, or accord ...

's ''Erotica Pathemata'', which notes that the myth of

Alcinoe Alcinoe (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκινόη ''Alkinóē'') is the name that is attributed to three women in Greek mythology: *Alcinoe, a naiad, and one of the ''nymphai Lykaaides'' (nymphs of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia). Her parents possibly w ...

is told in Moero's ''Curses''. Finally, Eustathios mentions that she wrote a hymn to Poseidon. The surviving fragment of Moero's ''Mnemonsyne'' tells the story of Zeus' childhood on Crete, where he had been hidden by his mother Rhea to save him from being killed by his father Cronus. Like the surviving fragment of

Corinna Corinna or Korinna ( grc, Κόριννα, Korinna) was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Tanagra in Boeotia. Although ancient sources portray her as a contemporary of Pindar (born ), not all modern scholars accept the accuracy of this tradition ...

's poem on the contest between Cithaeron and Helicon (PMG 654 col. i), it retells an episode of Zeus' early life to emphasise the role of women. One of her surviving epigrams is addressed to a bunch of grapes; the other asks some dryads to protect a man who has carved a statuette for them. Moero seems to have had a high reputation as a poet in antiquity.

Antipater of Thessalonica Antipater of Thessalonica ( grc-gre, Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Θεσσαλονικεύς; c. 10 BC - c. AD 38) was a Greek epigrammatist of the Roman period. Biography Antipater lived during the latter part of the reign of Augustus, and perha ...

includes her in his list of famous women poets,Fernandez Robbio, Matías S. (2014) «''Musas y escritoras: el primer canon de la literatura femenina de la Grecia antigua (AP IX 26)''». Praesentia, v. 15, 2014, pp. 1-9. ISSN (en línea): 1316-1857.
online
and Meleager's proem to his ''Garland'' refers to her as a "lily", putting her alongside

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

and

Anyte Anyte of Tegea was a Hellenistic poet from Tegea in Arcadia. Little is known of her life, but twenty-four epigrams attributed to her are preserved in the ''Greek Anthology'', and one is quoted by Julius Pollux; nineteen of these are generally a ...

. According to Tatian, Cephisodotus, the son of

Praxiteles Praxiteles (; el, Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attica sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubita ...

, sculpted her. Two epigrams which refer to Moero, composed by

and

Marcus Argentarius Marcus Argentarius ( grc-gre, Μάρκος Ἀργεντάριος; fl. ) was a Greek epigrammatist. Some thirty-seven epigrams are attributed to Marcus in the ''Greek Anthology'', most of which are erotic, and some are plays on words. Stylistic ...

, survive in the Greek Anthology, and may be a reworking of a now-lost poem by Moero.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{Authority control 3rd-century BC women writers 3rd-century BC writers 3rd-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC poets Ancient Byzantines Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Greek elegiac poets Ancient Greek lyric poets Ancient Greek women poets Women satirists 3rd-century BC Greek women