Poet, fresco in House of Golden Bracelet, Pompeii

De Euphorionis Chalcidensis vita et scriptis - August Meineke, 1823

Euphorion of Chalcis ( el, Εὐφορίων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς) was a

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 ...

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 wri ...

and grammarian, born at Chalcis in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

about 275 BC. Euphorion spent much of his life in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he amassed great wealth. After studying philosophy with

Lacydes Lacydes of Cyrene, Libya, Cyrene ( grc-gre, Λακύδης ὁ Κυρηναῖος), Academic skepticism, Academic Skeptic philosopher, was head of the Platonic Academy at Athens in succession to Arcesilaus from 241 BC. He was forced to resign c. ...

and Prytanis, he became the student and ''

eromenos In ancient Greece, an ''eromenos'' was the younger and passive (or 'receptive') partner in a male homosexual relationship. The partner of an ''eromenos'' was the ''erastes'', the older and active partner. The ''eromenos'' was often depicted as a ...

'' of the poet Archeboulus. About 221 he was invited by

Antiochus the Great Antiochus III the Great (; grc-gre, Ἀντίoχoς Μέγας ; c. 2413 July 187 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 222 to 187 BC. He ruled over the region of Syria and large parts of the r ...

to the court of Syria. He assisted in the formation of the royal

Library of Antioch The Royal Library of Antioch was commissioned by Antiochus III (or Antiochus the Great) of the Seleucid Empire (a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire) around 221 B.C. in Antioch (now Antakya) and opened to scholars. Euphorion of Chalcis ...

, of which he held the post of librarian till his death. He wrote mythological epics (the ''Thrax''), amatory elegies, epigrams and a satirical poem (''Arae'', "curses") after the manner of the ''Ibis'' of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

. Prose works on antiquities and history are also attributed to him. Like Lycophron, he was fond of using archaic and obsolete expressions, and the erudite character of his allusions rendered his language very obscure. His elegies were highly esteemed by the Romans—they were imitated or translated by

Cornelius Gallus Gaius Cornelius Gallus (c. 70 – 26 BC) was a Roman poet, orator and politician. Birthplace The identity of Gallus' purported birthplace, '' Forum Iulii'', is still uncertain, and it is based on the epithet "Foroiuliensis" that Jerome gave to h ...

and also by the emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

. Fragments published in Meineke, ''De Euphorionis Chalcidensis vita et scriptis'', in his ''Analecta Alexandrina'' (1843) began the modern editions of the surviving fragments of Euphorion. Further lines have been recovered from papyri of Oxyrhynchus and elsewhere.

Notes

References

*
Euphorion
" – ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'' *

Euphorion
Who's Who in the Greek World by John Hazel.
Euphorion bibliography
*Magnelli, Enrico 2002. ''Studi su Euforione'' (Rome) *Powell, Johannes U. (1925) 1981.''Collectanea Alexandrina: Reliquiae minores poetarum Graecorum aetatis Ptolemaicae 323–146 A.C.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925; reprinted Chicago 1981). Euphorion, pp. 28–58. *Lightfoot, Jane L., Hellenistic Collection; Philitas, Alexander of Aetolia, Hermesianax, Euphorion, Parhenius, LCL 508, Cambridge MA 2009. * Latte, Kurt. 1968. "Der Thrax des Euphorion", ''Philologus'' 44 (1935) 129–55, reprinted in Latte, ''

Kleine Schriften ' is a German phrase ("short writings" or "minor works"; la, Opuscula) often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These short ...

'' Munich 1968, pp 562–84. *Magnelli, Enrico 2002. ''Studi su Euforione''(Rome) * Franz Skutsch: Euphorion (4). In: Pauly Realencyclopädie of classical archeology (RE). Volume VI, 1, Stuttgart, 1907, 1174–1190 Sp. {{Authority control Ancient Euboeans Euphorion Ancient Greek epigrammatists Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Greek elegiac poets 3rd-century BC poets Hellenistic poets Hellenistic Athens Year of death unknown Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology People from Chalcis 270s BC births

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Further reading