Simonides
Simonides,Greek poet, from Iulis on Ceos (mod. Kea); son of Leoprepes, grandson or descendant of Hylichus (Callimachus frr. 64. 8; 222), uncle of Bacchylides (Strabo 10. 5. 6). If he worked at the court of Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus ([Plato], Hipparch 228c; Aristotle, Athēnaiōn politeia 18. 1), his career began before 514 BC; his praises of Eualcidas of Eretria (fr. 518) date before 498, his Battle of Plataea (frr. 10–17 W2) in or after 479; he finished at the court of Hieron of Syracuse, and his tomb was shown at Acragas (Callimachus fr. 64. 4). Tradition made him live to be 90; most sources set his birth c.556 (others c.532).
No poem of Simonides survives intact, except the epigrams attributed to him (see epigram, Greek); even the Suda's list of works (which should preserve the...
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