Archilochus Basics | Archilochus Profile

Archilochus of Paros was an important Greek poet for the Greeks, credited with being the first to create at least iambics (referring to a type of poetry as well as a meter thought to resemble ordinary speech), if not elegies and the Greek form of the beast fable (didactic, anthropomorphized animal stories, like those associated with Aesop, and the Old Babylonian poem Etana [West]).


He is also known as the father of (invective-filled) satire. He served in the military and described love, sex, drinking, the military, and more in his poetry.

Scholars debate most points about Archilochus, including his dates and whether or not his poetry may be treated as autobiographical. It is generally believed he came from the island of Paros in the Cyclades -- possibly the son of Enipo, a slave woman, and a man named Telesicles who came from a prosperous family -- but moved to Thasos as a colonist. He is thought to have been a soldier and perhaps a mercenary. One of his poems describes a fight with the Thracians during which Archilochus (or the persona) threw away his shield and fled the battlefield.

Dates of Archilochus:

Archilochus flourished in the middle of the 7th century B.C., but the dates of Archilochus are disputed. The important German philologist Felix Jacoby (1876 - 1959) placed Archilochus' youth in 652 B.C. Apollodorus dated Archilochus to the 29th Olympiad (664/3 B.C.).

Apollodorus' date seems to fit words of Archilochus about being involved in an Egyptian military expedition (possibly as a mercenary) that are corroborated by Herodotus. This suggests that by 652 Archilochus was no longer a youth, but quite mature and already the producer of poetry.

There are two events that help those interested in puzzling out Archilochus' dates. Both are mentioned in his poetry, but whether they are mentioned as experiences in Archilochus' life or that of someone he is describing (e.g., the carpenter Charon associated with a mention of the fabulously wealthy Gyges), we can't tell. The first of these events is an eclipse that could have been either April 6, 648, preferred, or June 27 660, less likely. The other event is not so much an event as a description based on Gyges, whom Archilochus labeled a tyrant (tyrannos) -- the possessor of enviable power [Parker]. This was the first use of the term tyrannos for a ruler. Gyges ruled Lydia c 687-652 B.C.

Death of Archilochus:

There is a tradition that Archilochus died in a fight between Pasos and Naxos. Legend has Apollo blame Crow (Korax) for causing the death of Archilochus, for which reason the crow was banned from Apollo's sanctuary at Delphi.

Archilochus and Lycambes:

There is a tradition that the invective Archilochus used in his iambics against a certain Lycambes and his daughters led them to hang themselves. Carey argues that there is a suicide tradition connected with iambic that goes back to the mythological figure after whom the genre is named -- Iambe -- which makes the hanging story suspect. Carey says M. L. West (followed by Nagy) believes it is likely that Lycambes was a stock Parian type rather than an actual man and what Archilochus was doing was satirizing a common enough but destructive figure in society, the oath-breaker. Carey, however, believes Archilochus felt he had been wronged by Lycambes (in connection with breaking Archilochus' betrothal to Neobule, a daughter).

For more on this debate, see: "Biography, Fiction, and the Archilochean ainos," by Elizabeth Irwin; The Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 118, (1998), pp. 177-183.

Archilochus uses a beast fable, the fox and the eagle, to portray the relationship between Lycambes (the eagle) and himself (the fox).

Archilochus References:

• _{"A New Archilochus Poem," by Dirk Obbink; Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik Bd. 156, (2006), pp. 1-9}
• _{A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets, by Douglas E. Gerber 1997.}
• _{"Archilochus and Lycambes," by C. Carey; Classical Quarterly Vol. 36, No. 1, 1986, pp. 60-67.}
• _{"The Apollodoran Date for Archilochus," by B. M. Lavelle; Classical Philology Vol. 97, No. 4 (Oct., 2002), pp. 344-351}
• _{"???a????. The Semantics of a Political Concept from Archilochus to Aristotle," by Victor Parker;Hermes Vol. 126, No. 2 (1998), pp. 145-172}
• _{"Traders, Pirates, Warriors: The Proto-History of Greek Mercenary Soldiers in the Eastern Mediterranean," by Nino Luraghi; Phoenix Vol. 60, No. 1/2 (Spring - Summer, 2006), pp. 21-47}
• _{"Biography, Fiction, and the Archilochean ainos," by Elizabeth Irwin; The Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 118, (1998), pp. 177-183.}
• _{"Some Oriental Motifs in Archilochus," by M. L. West; Zeitschrift fu¨r Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 102 (1994), pp. 1-5.}