Bion of

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

(; grc-gre, Βίων ὁ Σμυρναῖος, ''gen''.: Βίωνος) was a Greek

bucolic A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music ( pastorale) that depic ...

poet.

Life

The idylliums of Moschus and Bion, Translated from the Greek Fleuron T036975-20

He was a native of the city of

and flourished about 100 BC. Most of his work is lost. There remain 17 fragments (preserved in ancient anthologies) and the ''Epitaph of Adonis'', a mythological poem on the death of

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

and the lament of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

(preserved in several late medieval manuscripts of bucolic poetry). Some of the fragments show the pastoral themes that were typical of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, while others attest the broader thematic interpretation of the bucolic form that prevailed in the later

Hellenistic 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 ...

period. They are often concerned with love, mainly homosexual. Besides Adonis, other myths that appear in his work are those of Hyacinthus and the Cyclops; to judge from references in the ''Epitaph on Bion'', which frequently alludes to Bion's work, he also wrote a poem on

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

, to which some of the extant fragments may have belonged. The Greek texts of Bion's poems are generally included in the editions of Theocritus. There is no particular reason to think that the ''Epithalamium of

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

and Deidameia'', preserved in bucolic manuscripts and usually included under his name in modern editions, is Bion's work. Bion's influence can be seen in numerous ancient Greek and Latin poets and prose authors, including

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

and

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

. His treatment of the myth of Adonis in particular has influenced European and American literature since the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

. Almost nothing is known of Bion's life. The account formerly given of him, that he was the contemporary of

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 h ...

and a friend and teacher of

Moschus Moschus ( el, Μόσχος), ancient Greek bucolic poet and student of the Alexandrian grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, was born at Syracuse and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing o ...

, and lived about 280 BC, is now regarded as incorrect: it rests on a misreading of the ''Epitaph of Bion'', a poem commemorating his death, which in early modern times was erroneously attributed to Moschus. The Suda lists the ancient canon of Greek bucolic poets as Theocritus, Moschus, and Bion, which should reflect chronological order, and Moschus flourished in the mid-2nd century BC. Probable and certain imitations of Bion by Greek and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

poets begin to be seen in the early 1st century. Some information concerning Bion's life comes from the ''Epitaph of Bion''. Its anonymous author calls himself Bion's heir and an "Ausonian" (= Italian), which may mean that Bion traveled to Italy at some point, perhaps for patronage in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(as Greek poets were beginning to do in his lifetime). It may, however, mean only that the author considered himself Bion's poetic heir. The poem also asserts that Bion was poisoned, which may or may not be a poetic metaphor. One ancient text gives his place of origin as "a little place called Phlossa", which is otherwise unknown; it was presumably a district under the administration of Smyrna, perhaps one of the villages out of which Smyrna was reconstituted during the Hellenistic period. The appellation "Bion of Phlossa", under which he is sometimes known (for example, by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

), is unlikely to have been used in antiquity: outside of Smyrna itself he would have been known as Bion of Smyrna.

Works

The idylliums of Moschus and Bion, Translated from the Greek Fleuron T036974-24

Recent editions are: *J. D. Reed, ''Bion of Smyrna: the Fragments and the Adonis'' (Cambridge 1997), with English translations, and *M. Fantuzzi, ''Bionis Smyrnaei Adonidis Epitaphium'' (Liverpool 1985) (in Italian). Bion and Moschus have been edited separately by * G. Hermann (1849) * C. Ziegler (Tübingen, 1869) ;Also *''Epitaphios Adonidos'' by HL Ahrens (1854) * E. Hiller in ''Beitrage zur Textegeschichte der griechischen Bukoliker'' (1888). ;There are English translations
''The idylls of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus, and The war-songs of Tyrtæus''
J. Banks (1853) in Bohn's Classical Library
''Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, Rendered Into English Prose, Volume 46''

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...

(1889) *Edition of the text by

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...

in the ''Oxford Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca'' (1905).

References

Sources

On the date of Bion: * Franz Bücheler in'' Rheinisches Museum'', xxx. (1875), pp. 33–411 * G. Knaack in Pauly-Wissowa's ''Realencyclopädie'', s.v. *

Franz Susemihl Franz Susemihl (December 10, 1826 – April 30, 1901) was a German classical philologist born in Laage. He studied ancient languages in Leipzig and Berlin, and from 1848 taught classes at the Domgymnasium in Güstrow. In 1852 he received h ...

, ''Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit'', i. (1891), p. 233.

External links

* * *
Poems by Bion of Smyrna
English translations. *''Theocritus, Bion et Moschus graece et latine. Accedunt virorum doctorum animadversiones scholia, indices'', L. F. Heindorfius (ed.), Londini, sumtibus Whittaker, Treacher, et Arnot, 1829
vol. 2 pp. 1–28
*''Poetae bucolici et didactici. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Nicander, Oppianus, Marcellus de piscibus, poeta de herbis'', C. Fr. Ameis, F. S. Lehrs (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1862
pp. 69–74
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bion Of Smyrna Ancient Greek bucolic poets Poets of ancient Ionia Ancient Smyrnaeans Smyrniote Greeks Ancient Greek poets 2nd-century BC poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Hellenistic poets