* 593 BC — Exile of Sappho and Alcaeus ( Alkaios ) of Mytilene in Sicily.

In Greek mythology, Alcaeus or Alkaios () was the name of a number of different people:

* Pittacus-the dominant political figure of his time, he was voted supreme power by the political assembly of Mytilene and appears to have governed well ( 590-580 BC ), even allowing Alcaeus and his faction to return home in peace.

Sometime before 600 BC, Mytilene fought Athens for control of Sigeion and Alcaeus was old enough to participate in the fighting.

Alcaeus was a contemporary and a countryman of Sappho and, since both poets composed for the entertainment of Mytilenean friends, they had many opportunities to associate with each other on a quite regular basis, such as at the Kallisteia, an annual festival celebrating the island's federation under Mytilene, held at the ' Messon ' ( referred to as temenos in fr. s 129 and 130 ), where Sappho performed publicly with female choirs.

Strabo indicates that Sappho was the contemporary of Alcaeus of Mytilene ( born ca.

This painting completed in 1881, depicts Sappho and her companions listening as the poet Alcaeus plays a " kithara ", on the island of Lesbos ( Mytilene ).

Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( 1881 ).

Alcaeus of Mytilene and Sappho, Attica | Attic red-figure kalathos, ca.

* Lost poems of Alcaeus of Mytilene.

The poets Alcaeus of Mytilene, Sappho, Anacreon, and Bacchylides wrote of love, war, and death in lyrics of great feeling and beauty.

Sappho's contemporary and countryman, Alcaeus of Mytilene, also used the Sapphic stanza.

Aeolic Greek is most widely known for being the language of the writings of Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene.

* Alcaeus: The great lyric poet of Mytilene, he is not mentioned by name but he is the author of some well-known verses that Philocleon adapts to a scolion directed against Cleon in lines 1232-35.

* Alcaeus of Mytilene, a lyric poet of the archaic period

Horace, whose career crossed the divide between republic and empire, followed Catullus ' lead in employing Greek lyrical forms, identifying with Alcaeus of Mytilene, composing Alcaic stanzas, and also with Archilochus, composing poetic invectives in the Iambus tradition ( in which he adopted the metrical form of the Epode or ' Iambic Distich ').

# Redirect Alcaeus of Mytilene

The Alcaic stanza is a Greek lyrical meter, an Aeolic verse form traditionally believed to have been invented by Alcaeus, a lyric poet from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, about 600 BC.

He wrote commentaries on Sophocles, Alcaeus of Mytilene and Homer, and a work ( Te ~ tput &) on places consecrated to the gods.

On the island of Lesbos ( Mytilene ), in the late 7th century BC, Sappho listens as the poet Alcaeus plays a " kithara.

* Alcaeus of Mytilene ( 7th century BC ), poet and politician

Alcaeus and Sappho, Attica | Attic red-figure kalathos, ca.

Alcaeus " A probably authentic Lesbian coin has been preserved, bearing upon the obverse ... a profile head of Alcaeus, and upon the reverse ... a profile head of Pittacus.

Alcaeus and his older brothers were passionately involved in the struggle but experienced little success.

* Myrsilus-it is not known when he came to power but some verses by Alcaeus ( frag.

129 ) indicate that the poet, his brothers and Pittacus made plans to overthrow him and that Pittacus subsequently betrayed them ; Alcaeus and his brothers fled into exile where the poet later wrote a drinking song in celebration of the news of the tyrant's death ( frag.

It is thought that Alcaeus travelled widely during his years in exile, including at least one visit to Egypt.

Alcaeus wrote verses in celebration of Antimenides ' return, including mention of his valour in slaying a Goliath-like opponent ( frag.

Sappho and Alcaeus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Alcaeus ' reference to Sappho in terms more typical of a divinity, as holy / pure, honey-smiling Sappho ( fr.

The poetic works of Alcaeus were collected into ten books, with elaborate commentaries, by the Alexandrian scholars Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace sometime in the 3rd century BC, and yet his verses today exist only in fragmentary form, varying in size from mere phrases, such as wine, window into a man ( fr. 333 ) to entire groups of verses and stanzas, such as those quoted below ( fr. 346 ).

Among these, Pindar was held by many ancient critics to be pre-eminent, but some gave precedence to Alcaeus instead.

Even the private reflections of Alcaeus, ostensibly sung at dinner parties, still retain a public function.

The Roman poet, Horace, also compared the two, describing Alcaeus as " more full-throatedly singing "-see Horace's tribute below.

Alcaeus himself seems to underscore the difference between his own ' down-to-earth ' style and Sappho's more ' celestial ' qualities when he describes her almost as a goddess ( as cited above ), and yet it has been argued that both poets were concerned with a balance between the divine and the profane, each emphasising different elements in that balance.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus exhorts us to " Observe in Alcaeus the sublimity, brevity and sweetness coupled with stern power, his splendid figures, and his clearness which was unimpaired by the dialect ; and above all mark his manner of expressing his sentiments on public affairs ," while Quintilian, after commending Alcaeus for his excellence " in that part of his works where he inveighs against tyrants and contributes to good morals ; in his language he is concise, exalted, careful and often like an orator ;" goes on to add: " but he descended into wantonnness and amours, though better fitted for higher things.

The works of Alcaeus are conventionally grouped according to five genres.

* Sappho's countryman and contemporary, the lyric poet Alcaeus, paraphrased a section of Works and Days ( 582 – 88 ), recasting it in lyric meter and Lesbian dialect.

A tendency to imitate other poets is not peculiar to Bacchylides, however – it was common in ancient poetry, as for example in a poem by Alcaeus ( fragment 347 ), which virtually quotes a passage from Hesiod ( Works and Days 582 – 8 ).

Dionysius Chalcus, Alcaeus, Anacreon, Pindar, Bacchylides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Antiphanes make frequent and familiar allusion to the cottabus – and it appears on vases from the era ; but in the writers of the Roman and Alexandrian period such reference as occurs shows that the fashion had died out.

A fragment of Alcaeus, a Greek lyric poet of the 6th century BC, refers to this episode:

Alcaeus ( 7th or 6th century BCE ) calls Antandrus in the Troad " Lelegian ", but later Herodotus substitutes the epithet " Pelasgian ", so perhaps the two designations were broadly synonymous for the Greeks.

* Ibycus, Anacreon and Alcaeus: 6th Century lyrical poets, mentioned favourably by Agathon as examples of poets who dressed and behaved as effetely as himself.