Antimachus of Colophon ( el, Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος), or of

Claros Claros (; el, Κλάρος, ''Klaros''; la, Clarus) was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located in the territory of Colophon, which lay twelv ...

, was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

ian, who flourished about 400 BC.

Life

Scarcely anything is known of his life. The Suda claims that he was a pupil of the poets

Panyassis Panyassis of Halicarnassus, sometimes known as Panyasis ( grc, Πανύασις), was a 5th-century BC Greek epic poet from Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey). Life Panyassis was the son of Polyarchus ( grc, Πο� ...

and Stesimbrotus.

Work

His poetical efforts were not generally appreciated, although he received encouragement from his younger contemporary

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

(

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

, ''Lysander'', 18). The emperor Hadrian, however, would later consider him superior to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

.Cassius Dio, 69.4.6. His chief works were: an epic ''Thebaid'', an account of the expedition of the

Seven against Thebes The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban ...

and the war of the

Epigoni In Greek mythology, the Epigoni or Epigonoi (; from grc-gre, Ἐπίγονοι, meaning "offspring") are the sons of the Argive heroes, the Seven against Thebes, who had fought and been killed in the first Theban war, the subject of the '' Theb ...

; and an elegiac poem ''Lyde'', so called from the poet's mistress, for whose death he endeavoured to find consolation telling stories from

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

of heroic disasters (Plutarch, ''Consul, ad Apoll.'' 9;

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

xiii. 597). Antimachus was the founder of "learned"

epic poetry An epic poem, or simply 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. ...

, and the forerunner of the Alexandrian school, whose critics allotted him the next place to

. He also prepared a critical recension of the Homeric poems. He is to be distinguished from

Antimachus of Teos __NOTOC__ Antimachus of Teos ( el, Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Τήϊος) was an early Greek epic poet. According to Plutarch, he observed a solar eclipse in 753 BC, the same year in which Rome was founded. The epic ''Epigoni'', a sequel to the legend ...

, a much earlier poet to whom the lost Cyclic epic ''

'' was apparently ascribed (though the attribution may result from confusion).

Bibliography

* Fragments, ed. Stoll (1845); Bergk * ''Poetae Lyrici Graeci'' (1882); Kinkel * ''Fragmenta epicorum Graecorum'' (1877). 20th century ed: V.J. Matthews * ''Antimachus of Colophon, text and commentary'' (Leiden : Brill, 1996)

References

Attribution: *

External links

*
Antimachi colophonii reliquias
', Henr. Guil. Stoll (ed.), Dillenburgi apud ed. Pagenstecher, 1845. * ''Poetae Lyrici Graeci''. Recensuit Theodorus Bergk. Editionis quartae. Vol. 2. Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1882
pagg. 289-94
* ''Epicorum graecorum fragmenta'', Godofredus Kinkel (ed.)
vol. 1
Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri
pagg. 273-75

Scholarly Bibliography for Antimachus
at A Hellenistic Bibliography, by Martine Cuypers {{DEFAULTSORT:Antimachus Ancient Greek grammarians Ancient Greek poets Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Greek elegiac poets 4th-century BC poets Ancient Colophonians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown