The Alexandrian Pleiad is the name given to a group of seven

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 ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

s and tragedians in the 3rd century BC (Alexandria was at that time the literary center of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

) working in the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The name derives from the seven stars of the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

star cluster A star cluster is a group of stars held together by self-gravitation. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters, tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound; and open cluster ...

. There are several conflicting lists of the greatest poets of the Alexandrian age (traditionally ascribed to

Aristophanes of Byzantium __NOTOC__ Aristophanes of Byzantium ( ; Byzantium – Alexandria BC) was a Hellenistic Greek scholar, critic and grammarian, particularly renowned for his work in Homeric scholarship, but also for work on other classical authors such as ...

and Aristarchus of Samothrace), which include the "Alexandrian Pleiad", some with tragic poets, other which include lyric or epic poets. The following members are always included in the "Alexandrian Pleiad": * Homerus the Younger, son of Andromachus, from Byzantium, associated with "Tragic pleiad" * Philiscus of Corcyra *

Lycophron Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek 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 in Euboea, a ...

* Alexander Aetolus, tragic poet * Sositheus of Alexandria, dramatist * Aeantides, a poet traditionally associated with the "Tragic pleiad" The other members are variously: *

Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...

, who wrote the bucolic poems *

Aratus Aratus (; ; c. 315/310 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' (, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; ), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cn ...

, who wrote the ''Phaenomena'' and other poems *

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

Apollonius Apollonius () is a masculine given name which may refer to: People Ancient world Artists * Apollonius of Athens (sculptor) (fl. 1st century BC) * Apollonius of Tralles (fl. 2nd century BC), sculptor * Apollonius (satyr sculptor) * Apo ...

, who wrote the ''Argonautica'' * Sosiphanes of Syracuse, tragic poet * Dionysiades

Later uses

The name "Pléiade" was adopted in 1323 by a group of fourteen poets (seven men and seven women) in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

and is used as well to refer to the group of poets around

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a "Prince des poètes, prince of poets". His works include ''Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' ''Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Disco ...

and Joachim du Bellay in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the 16th century (see " La Pléiade"). In modern times, "pleiad" is also used as a collective noun for a small group of brilliant or eminent persons.

Sources

*''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' London: Oxford University Press, 1949. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pleiad, Alexandrian Ancient Greek tragic poets Ptolemaic court 3rd-century BC Greek poets