Bacchylides (Ancient Greek: Βακχυλίδης) of Opus was a poet of ancient Greece who was also known for playing the aulos. He lived around the 5th century BCE.
We know almost nothing about his life or works, aside from the mentions of other poets who referred to him derisively. He was mocked by the comic poet Plato, around 400 BCE, in his play titled The Sophists.[1][2][3]
The 6th-century Christian author Eusebius of Alexandria refers several times to a "Bacchylides", generally taken to be the more well known poet Bacchylides, but some prominent scholars, such as Herwig Maehler, believe at least some of these references are to Bacchylides of Opus.[4][5]
References
edit- ↑ Suda, s. v. Σοφιστής
- ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica 514
- ↑ Stewart, Edmund (2017). Greek Tragedy on the Move: The Birth of a Panhellenic Art Form C. 500-300 BC. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192519887. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ Maehler, Herwig (1982). Die Lieder des Bakchylides: Die Dithyramben und Fragmente. Brill Publishers. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ Robbins, Emmet I. (2013). MacLachlan, Bonnie (ed.). Thalia Delighting in Song: Essays on Ancient Greek Poetry. University of Toronto Press. p. 50. ISBN 9781442668218. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Bacchylides (2)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 451.