The Lesbian or Aeolic school of poetry " reached in the songs of Sappho and Alcaeus that high point of brilliancy to which it never after-wards approached " and it was assumed by later Greek critics and during the early centuries of the Christian era that the two poets were in fact lovers, a theme which became a favourite subject in art ( as in the urn pictured above ).

Horace, who often wrote in imitation of Alcaeus, sketches in verse one of the Lesbian poet's favourite subjects-Lycus of the black hair and eyes ( C. 1. 32. 11-12: nigris oculis nigroque / crine decorum ).

The Roman poet Horace modelled his own lyrical compositions on those of Alcaeus, rendering the Lesbian poet's verse-forms, including ' Alcaic ' and ' Sapphic ' stanzas, into concise Latin-an achievement he celebrates in his third book of odes.

* 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.

Aeolic is an exclusively poetic lyric dialect, represented by Sappho and Alcaeus for Aeolic ( Lesbian ) and Corinna of Tanagra for Boiotic.

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.

* Drinking songs: According to the grammarian Athenaeus, Alcaeus made every occasion an excuse for drinking and he has provided posterity several quotes in proof of it.

Imitations of his work have been observed in Alcaeus, Epimenides, Mimnermus, Semonides, Tyrtaeus and Archilochus, from which it has been inferred that the latest possible date for him is about 650 BC.

Unlike the works of her fellow poet, Alcaeus, Sappho's surviving poetry has very few allusions to political conditions.

Simonides composed verses almost entirely for public performances and inscriptions, unlike previous lyric poets such as Sappho and Alcaeus, who composed more intimate verses to entertain friends —" With Simonides the age of individualism in lyric poetry has passed.

In the prevalent Greek form of his name, Smerdis, the Persian name has been assimilated to the Greek ( Asiatic ) name Smerdis or Smerdies, a name which also occurs in the poems of Alcaeus and Anacreon.

The Alcaic stanza as used by Sappho and Alcaeus has the scheme ( where ¯ is a longum, ˘ a breve, and × an anceps ):

On Alcaeus (), and Summaries of the plots of Euripides and Sophocles (), but may have been the works of Dicaearchus, a grammarian of Lacedaemon, who, according to the Suda, was a disciple of Aristarchus, and seems to be alluded to in Apollonius.

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.

I. 9, Vides ut alta ... Soracte ..., ( with borrowing from an original by Alcaeus ) moving from the stiffness of a wintery scene to an invocation of youth's pleasures that are now there to be had.

* Melanchrus-he was overthrown sometime between 612 BC and 609 BC by a faction that, in addition to the brothers of Alcaeus, included Pittacus ( later renowned as one of the Seven Sages of Greece ); Alcaeus at that time was too young to be actively involved ;

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.

Her most famous citizens were the poets Sappho and Alcaeus and the statesman Pittacus ( one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece ).

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

Alcaeus ( Alkaios, ) of Mytilene ( c. 620 – 6th century BC ), Greek lyric poet from Lesbos Island who is credited with inventing the Alcaic verse.

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.

* 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

As for his philosophical convictions, we have an interesting, probably authentic fragment of one of his writings ( On sacrifices ) where he expresses his view that God, who is the most beautiful being, cannot be influenced by prayers or sacrifices and has no wish to be worshipped by humans, but can be reached by a spiritual procedure involving nous ( intellect ), because he himself is pure nous and nous is also the greatest faculty of humankind.

Apollonius wrote a treatise On sacrifices, of which only a short, probably authentic fragment has come down to us.

He is probably the most famous of the ancient High Kings, and may have been an authentic historical figure, although many legends have attached themselves to him, and his reign is variously dated as early as the 2nd century and as late as the 4th.

Nevertheless, Nielsen's own account of his introduction to music where he tells us: " I had heard music before, heard father play the violin and cornet, heard mother singing, and, when in bed with the measles, I had tried myself out on the little violin " is probably authentic.

The friary is in fact first mentioned in authentic historical revenues of this house were probably made over to the town at the Reformation, but no record has been found on any such transaction.

The Jesus Seminar voted this parable to be authentic, with 60 % of fellows rating it " red " ( authentic ) and a further 29 % rating it " pink " ( probably authentic ).

This was done in order to classify each hadith into " sound " ( ṣaḥīḥ ) for authentic reports, as opposed to " weak " ( ḍaʿīf ) for ones that are probably fabricated, in addition to other categories.

The charters of Frithwald, Offa, Edgar and Edward the Confessor are all believed to be substantially fabricated, but probably embodied authentic material or recorded an earlier genuine transaction.

Monstrelet's own writings, dealing with the latter part of the Hundred Years ' War, are valuable because they contain a large number of documents which are certainly, and reported speeches which are probably, authentic.

) ascribed to him are probably not authentic.

The noted critic Anthony Boucher wrote: " Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett ; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told.

Although pseudoviruses are not suitable for studying certain aspects of the viral life cycle, initial studies suggest that their structure and initial infectious entry into cells is probably similar in many ways to authentic papillomaviruses.

The charter attesting this grant S51 has been queried on several grounds, but probably has an authentic basis.

# Coherence: " if material from the earlier strata of tradition is consonant with other material already established as probably authentic, then it too is probably authentic.

However, the 1947 yearbook states: " Estimates of the world Jewish population have been assembled by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee ( except for the United States and Canada ) and are probably the most authentic available at the present time.

However, quite often the so-called Métis sashes are not the authentic hand-woven sashes but the kind woven on loom in England probably to meet the requests at lower cost.

The term sauvastika thus cannot be confirmed as authentic and is probably due to Burnouf ( 1852 ).

The campus property also includes the Sweet Briar plantation burial ground, in which upwards of sixty slaves are buried ; according to some, an authentic slave cabin remains on the land, but this is probably not the case as the cabin does not follow building techniques associated with cabins of the day.

Others, some probably parodies of ouvroirs, include Outyppo ( TYPography ), Oupopo ( POlitics, again ), Oumapo ( MAthematics, again ), Oulitramupo ( LIttérature TRAduite en MUsique ), Oupipo ( PIètrerie, from piètre ' mediocre '), Oulipo ( but pronounced oulīpo, as in LIposuction ) — but these do not appear to be either authentic or members of Ou-X-Po.