Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely).

Life and miscellaneous works

He was born at

Chalcis Chalcis (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: , ), also called Chalkida or Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

in Euboea, and flourished at

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285–247 BC). According to the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

'', the massive tenth century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopaedia, he was the son of Socles, but was adopted by Lycus of Rhegium. It is believed that Lycophron was acquaintances with Greek philosopher Menedemus, who may have influenced some of Lycophron's tragedies and even wrote a satyr drama about the man. At an unknown date Lycophron was intrigued by the literary movement in Alexandria and settled there. He was entrusted by Ptolemy with the task of arranging the comedies in the

Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...

; as the result of his labours he composed a treatise ''On Comedy''. Lycophron is also said to have been a skillful writer of

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

s. Like most of his life, the end of Lycophron's life is lost to time as of now, but there is some evidence of his death. Although it is not known if he stayed in Alexandria for the rest of his life, what may be his end is told in Ovid's

Ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

, "Tuque cothurnatus cecidesse Lycophrona narrant, Haereat in fibris fixa sagitta tuis" (And they say that Lycophron fell in his boots, and let his arrow stick in his bones.)

Tragedies

The poetic compositions of Lycophron chiefly consisted of tragedies, which secured him a place in the Pleiad of Alexandrian tragedians. The ''Suda'' gives the titles of twenty tragedies, of which a very few fragments have been preserved: ''Aeolus'', ''Allies'' (''Symmakhoi''), ''Andromeda'', ''Chrysippus'', ''Daughters of Aeolus'', ''Daughters of Pelops'', ''Elephenor'', ''Herakles'', ''Hippolytus'', ''Kassandreis'', ''Laius'', ''Marathonians'', ''Menedemus'', ''Nauplius'', ''Oedipus'' (two versions), ''Orphan'' (''Orphanos''), ''Pentheus'', ''Suppliants'' (''Hiketai''), ''Telegonus'', and the ''Wanderer'' (''Aletes''). Among these, a few well-turned lines show a much better style than the ''Alexandra''.

The ''Alexandra''

One poem traditionally attributed to him, ''Alexandra'' or ''Cassandra'', has been preserved in its complete form. The first mention of ''Alexandra'' is from the first century A.D. by The ancient scholiast, whose report is traced back to Theon, an Alexandrian Grammarian (first century A.D.). ''Alexandra'' runs at 1474 iambic trimeters. It consists of a prophecy uttered by

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; , , sometimes referred to as Alexandra; ) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecy, prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is e ...

and relates the later fortunes of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

and of the Greek and Trojan heroes. References to events of mythical and later times are introduced, and the poem ends with a reference to

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, who was to unite Asia and Europe in his world-wide empire. The style obtained for the poem's author, even among the ancients, the title of "obscure"; one modern scholar says the ''Alexandra'' "may be the most illegible piece of classical literature, one which nobody can read without a proper commentary and which even then makes very difficult reading." The poem is evidently intended to display the writer's knowledge of obscure names and uncommon myths; it is full of unusual words of doubtful meaning gathered from the older poets, and long-winded compounds coined by the author. It was probably written as a show-piece for the Alexandrian school, rather than as straight poetry. It was very popular in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period, and was read and commented on very frequently; the manuscripts of the ''Alexandra'' are numerous. Two explanatory paraphrases of the poem survive, and the collection of

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

by Isaac and

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

is very valuable (much used by, among others,

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

in his ''Greek Myths'').

Debate over the author of ''Alexandra''

Through most of antiquity there seems to be a mostly universal opinion that the tragedy was written by Lycophron. The only real skeptics from antiquity instead believe that ''Alexandra'' was rather written by a homonymous poet who probably was a grandson of Lycophron and lived during the first half of the second century B.C. Many support that it was written by a revisionist. The reasoning behind this is that there are many historical inconsistencies within ''Alexandra.'' Many of the key elements of the poem do not line up with the third century B.C., notably its mentions of Rome. ''Alexandra'' takes place in the Hellenistic period, and says that Rome was on the rise to be a great world power. An example is in verses 1444-1450, in which the poet describes the Romans' successes against the Macedonians. Many historians believe that for somebody living in the second century B.C., describing the first Macedonian War as a victory for Rome is unfitting, the details and predictions for the Roman's triumph fit better with the

second Macedonian War The Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC) was fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon and Rhodes. Philip was defeated and was forced to abandon all possessions in southern Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor. ...

. Some modern studies have concluded that the ''Alexandra'' cannot be the work of the third-century BC author; in one scholar's summary of this view, the poem was:

written in the immediate aftermath of the victory of Flamininus at Battle of Cynoscephalae over
Philip V of Macedon Philip V (; 238–179 BC) was king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by the Social War (220–217 BC), Social War in Greece (220-217 BC) ...
in 197/6 BC. The author, whose true name and place of origin are probably concealed beneath the impenetrably enigmatic biographical tradition concerning "Lycophron," probably used the name, and some of the literary substance, of Lycophron, not in emulation, but as an ironic reminiscence of the earlier writer, who had combined the practice of tragedy and the elucidation of comedy. Only on this assumption of a deliberate pseudepigraphon can the full irony of his work be appreciated.

Cassandra prophesies that her Trojan ancestors' descendants "shall with their spears win the foremost crown of glory, obtaining the sceptre and monarchy of earth and sea" and elaborates with allusions to the course of historical events. Some scholars, such as Stephanie West, regard these passages as interpolations and defend the attribution of the bulk of the poem to Lycophron the tragic poet. Thomas Nelson and Katherine Molesworth have argued that 'Lycophron' is a pen name to signpost the poem's style, aligning it with the 'frigidity' of Lycophron the sophist. Many scholars are certain that the Ptolemaic court would not have commissioned a piece to praise the Romans. Although the Egyptians and Romans had established a political relationship in 273 B.C., the two powers did not do much diplomacy together during the rule of

Ptolemy II Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...

. Egypt became more dependent on Rome after the second century B.C. when the nation was a shell of its former self due to a series of weak pharaohs. This is why many historians believe that ''Alexandra'' was written after the military success of the Roman general Titus Quinctus Flamininus over

Philip V of Macedon Philip V (; 238–179 BC) was king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by the Social War (220–217 BC), Social War in Greece (220-217 BC) ...

ia at Cynoscephalae, which, if correct, would then give 197 B.C. as a beginning date or creation.

Editions

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; ; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and Renaissance humanism, humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

(1513),

Aldine Press The Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics (Latin and Greek masterpieces, plus a few more modern works). The first book that was d ...

editio princeps In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by han ...

* John Potter (1697, 1702) * Ludwig Bachmann (1830), with notes and Scaliger's Latin verse translatio
online
* Félix Désiré Dehèque (1853), with French translation, Latin paraphrase, and note
online
* Gottfried Kinkel (1880) * Eduard Scheer (1881–1908), including the paraphrases and Tzetzian scholia * Carl von Holzinger (1895),

Teubner The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collections published of ancient (and some medieva ...

edition with German translation and commentar
online
* Emanuele Ciaceri (1901), edition with Italian translation and commentar
online
* George W. Mooney (1921), edition with facing English translation and explanatory notes. {reprinted Arno Press, 1979] * Lorenzo Mascialino (1964),

edition * Pascal Quignard, Lycophron. Alexandra, Paris, Mercure de France (1971) * André Hurst and Antje Kolde (2008), Budé edition * Simon Hornblower (repr. 2017), with translation and commentary

Translations

* Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston (1784 - 1808, posthumously published 1832
online
* A. W. Mair (1921),

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

online at the Internet Archiveonline on Google Books
* George W. Mooney (1921)

References

External links

* ttp://www.attalus.org/poetry/lives.html#lycophron0 An ancient Life of Lycophron, compiled by Tzetzes {{Authority control Ancient Euboeans Ancient Greek grammarians 3rd-century BC Greek poets Ancient Greek tragic poets Ptolemaic court Anagrammatists