Chersias () of
Orchomenus (fl. late 7th century BCE) was an
archaic Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archai ...
epic poet
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
whose work is all but lost today.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
presents Chersias as an interlocutor in the ''Banquet of the
Seven Sages'', making him a contemporary of
Periander
Periander (; ; died c. 585 BC) was the second tyrant of the Cypselid dynasty that ruled over ancient Corinth. Periander's rule brought about a prosperous time in Corinth's history, as his administrative skill made Corinth one of the wealthiest city ...
and
Chilon. Chersias is also said to have been present when Periander's father
Cypselus
Cypselus (, ''Kypselos'') was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century BC.
With increased wealth and more complicated trade relations and social structures, Greek city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings; ...
dedicated a treasury at
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
. According to
Pausanias, Chersias' poetry had already fallen out of circulation by his day, but the geographer quotes the only extant fragment of his epic poetry, citing a speech delivered by
Callippus of Corinth (5th century BCE) to the Orchomenians as the source:
This fragment suggests that Chersias, like his apparent contemporary
Asius of Samos, composed in the genre of genealogical epic best represented today by the fragmentary Hesiodic ''
Catalogue of Women
The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...
''. Pausanias goes on to relate that Chersias composed the epitaph which the Orchomenians inscribed upon the base of a statue they erected in Hesiod's honor:
[Paus]
9.38.10
This epitaph is also preserved in the ''Contest of Homer and Hesiod
The ''Contest of Homer and Hesiod'' (, or simply ) is a Greek narrative that expands a remark made in Hesiod's ''Works and Days'' to construct an imagined poetical ''agon'' between Homer and Hesiod. In ''Works and Days'', Hesiod (without mentionin ...
''; cf. .
References
Bibliography
* .
* . (Greek text with facing English translation)
{{Authority control
7th-century BC Greek poets
Ancient Greek epic poets
Early Greek epic poets
Culture of ancient Boeotia