Bacchylides

Douglas Gerber (University of Western Ontario)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Dates

Born c. -520
Died c. -450
Activity c. -500-c. -450

Places

Born in Ancient Greece
Active in Ancient Greece

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Bacchylides' Works

Save to Bookshelf

Bacchylides is often mentioned in conjunction with Pindar, not only because they were contemporaries but more importantly because they composed odes for successful athletes, sometimes for the same victory, as in 476 when both celebrated the Olympic victory of Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse, in the horse race. Bacchylides was born on the island of Ceos, not far from the coast of Attica, some time in the 520s and he presumably died in the 450s, since the last date that can be assigned to any of his poems is 452.

The period from about 550 to 450 was the period during which epinician odes, i.e. choral odes celebrating victories in the various athletic festivals, flourished. Bacchylides' uncle, Simonides, composed similar odes, although only a few short fragments have survived. Afterwards the

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

547 words

Citation: Gerber, Douglas. "Bacchylides". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11704, accessed 24 November 2024.]