39-46

Archilochus from Paros in Thasos

• Νικήτας, Αναστάσιος Αλεξ.

Archilochus was born on the island of Paros. His father, Telesicles, was from a noble family; an ancestor of Telesicles, bearing the same name, had conducted a colony to Thasos, in obedience to the command of the Delphic oracle. To this island, Archilochus himself, hard pressed by poverty, afterwards removed. Another reason for leaving his native place was personal disappointment and indignation at the treatment he had received from Lycambes, a citizen of Paros, who had promised him his daughter Neobuie in marriage but had afterwards withdrawn his consent. Archilochus, taking advantage of the license allowed at the feasts of Demeter, poured out his wounded feelings in unmerciful satire. He accused Lycambes of perjury and recited such verses against his daughters, that Lycambes and his daughters are said to have hanged themselves. In Thasos Archilochus served as a mercenary soldier and in his poems he refers to the misadventures linked with this condition. After leaving Thasos, he is said to have visited Sparta, but to have been at once banished from that city on account of his cowardice and the licentious character of his works. He next visited Magna Graecia, of which he speaks very favorably. He then returned to his native home on Paros and was slain in a battle against the Naxians by one Calondas, who was cursed by the oracle for having slain a servant of the Muses. The writings of Archilochus consisted of elegies, hymns and of poems in the iambic and trochaic measures. Greek orators credited him with the invention of iambic poetry and its application to satire.

• Languages and Literature

• Λογοτεχνία

ποίηση, σάτιρα