The Alexandrian Pleiad is the name given to a group of seven

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, Alexandria ...

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 ...

s and tragedians in the 3rd century BC (Alexandria was at that time the literary center of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

) working 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 , gol ...

. The name derives from the seven stars of the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...

star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clust ...

. There are several conflicting lists of the greatest poets of the

Alexandrian age 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 ...

(traditionally ascribed to

Aristophanes of Byzantium __NOTOC__ Aristophanes of Byzantium ( grc-gre, Ἀριστοφάνης ὁ Βυζάντιος ; BC) was a Hellenistic Greek scholar, critic and grammarian, particularly renowned for his work in Homeric scholarship, but also for work on other ...

and

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

), which include the "Alexandrian Pleiad", some with tragic poets, other which include lyric or epic poets. The following members are usually always included in the "Alexandrian Pleiad": * Homerus the Younger, son of Andromachus, from Byzantium, associated with "Tragic pleiad" *

Philiscus of Corcyra Philiscus of Corcyra ( grc, Φιλίσκος ὁ Κερκυραῖος), or Philicus, was a distinguished tragic poet, and one of the seven who formed the Tragic Pleiad, was also a priest of Dionysus, and in that character he was present at the c ...

Lycophron Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and ...

Alexander Aetolus Alexander Aetolus ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Αἰτωλός, ''Ἀléxandros ὁ Aἰtōlós'') was a Greek poet and grammarian, the only known representative of Aetolian poetry. Life Alexander was the son of Satyrus (Σάτυρος) and ...

, tragic poet *

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 ...

of Alexandria, dramatist * Aeantides, a poet traditionally associated with the "Tragic pleiad" The other members are variously: *

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 hi ...

, who wrote the bucolic poems * Aratus, who wrote the ''Phaenomena'' and other poems *

Nicander Nicander of Colophon ( grc-gre, Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Níkandros ho Kolophṓnios; fl. 2nd century BC), Greek poet, physician and grammarian, was born at Claros (Ahmetbeyli in modern Turkey), near Colophon, where his famil ...

* Apollonius, who wrote the ''Argonautica'' * Sosiphanes of Syracuse, tragic poet *

Dionysiades Dionysiades ( grc, Διονυσιάδης) of Tarsus was an ancient Greek tragic poet who lived in the time of Alexander the Great (second half of the 4th century BC). According to Strabo, he was the best of the tragic poets included in the so-c ...

Later uses

The name "Pléiade" was adopted in 1323 by a group of fourteen poets (seven men and seven women) in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and is used as well to refer to the group of poets around

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of C ...

and Joachim du Bellay in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 16th century (see "

La Pléiade La Pléiade () was a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad ...

"). In modern times, "pleiad" is also used as a collective noun for a small group of brilliant or eminent persons.

Sources

*''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' London: Oxford University Press, 1949. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pleiad, Alexandrian Ancient Greek poets Tragic poets Ptolemaic court