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Mimnermus
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thumb|upright=1.8|Mimnermus was one of several ancient Greek poets who composed verses about solar eclipses, and there was a total solar eclipse of his home town, Smyrna, on April 6, 648 BC. His poetry survives only as a few fragments yet they afford us a glimpse of his "brilliantly vivid" style. Mimnermus ( Mímnermos) was a Greek elegiac poet from either Colophon or Smyrna in Ionia, who flourished about 632–629 BC (i.e. in the 37th Olympiad, according to Suda). He was strongly influenced by Homer, yet he wrote short poems suitable for performance at drinking parties and was remembered by anci
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Mimnermus (Μίμνερμος) was a male Ancient Greek poet and musician from Colophon. Born in 670 BCE, he lived and worked in Colophon, where his active period spanned from 632 BCE until his death in 600 BCE. He wrote in Ancient Greek, and his literary output is documented in various sources, including the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.
Records indicate that Mimnermus produced a small body of work, with counts ranging from two to six pieces depending on the source. His works include titles such as *Mimnermi Colophonii Carminum quae supersunt* and *Greek elegiac poetry*. One of his preserved quotes states, "We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead."
Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 7th cent. B.C.
- Works
- 6
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
2 total works indexed
- Fragments
· 1999 · cited 1x
- Testimonia
· 1999
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “Τίς δὲ βίος, τί δὲ τερπνὸν ἄτερ χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης; τεθναίην ὅτε μοι μηκέτι ταῦτα μέλοι,κρυπταδίη φιλότης καὶ μείλιχα δῶρα καὶ εὐνή, οἷ᾽ ἥβης ἄνθ εα γίγνεται ἁρπαλέαἀνδράσιν ἠδὲ γυναιξίν· ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ὀδυνηρὸν ἐπέλθῃ γῆρας, ὅ τ᾽ αἰσχρὸν ὁμῶς καὶ κακὸν ἄνδρα τιθεῖ,αἰεί μιν φρένας ἀμφὶ κακαὶ τείρουσι μέριμναι, οὐδ᾽ αὐγὰς προσορῶν τέρπεται ἠελίου,ἀλλ᾽ ἐχθρὸς μὲν παισίν, ἀτίμαστος δὲ γυναιξίν, οὕτως ἄργαλέον γῆρας ἔθηκε θεός.”
- “Ἠέλιος μὲν γὰρ πόνον ἔλλαχεν ἤματα πάνταοὐδέ κοτ᾽ ἄμπαυσις γίγνεται οὐδεμίαἵπποισίν τε καὶ αὐτῷ, ἐπεὶ ῥοδοδάκτυλος ἨὼςὨκεανὸν προλιποῦσ᾽ οὐρανὸν εἰσαναβῇ:τὸν μὲν γὰρ διὰ κῦμα φέρει πολυήρατος εὐνὴκοιΐλη, Ἡφαίστου χερσὶν ἐληλαμένηχρυσοῦ τιμήεντος, ὑπόπτερος, ἄκρον ἐφ᾽ ὕδωρεὕδονθ᾽ ἁρπαλέως χώρου ἀφ᾽ Ἑσπερίδωνγαῖαν ἐς Αἰθιόπων, ἵνα οἱ θοὸν ἅρμα καὶ ἵπποιἑστᾶσ᾽, ὄφρ᾽ Ἠὼς ἠριγένεια μόλῃ:ἐνθ᾽ ἐπεβήσεθ᾽ ἑῶν ὀχέων Ὑπερίονος υἱός.”
- “We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Place of birth
- Colophon
- Occupation
- poet
- Languages spoken
- Ancient Greek
Show 10 more facts
- start of work period
- 0632-00-00
- end of work period
- 0600-00-00
- date of birth
- 0670-00-00
- name in native language
- Μίμνερμος
- date of death
- 0600-00-00
- described by source
- Pauly–Wissowa
- topic's main category
- Category:Mimnermus
- writing language
- Ancient Greek
- Commons category
- Mimnermus
- significant place
- Colophon
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Life and work
- Nanno
- Poetic style
- Comments by other poets
- Solon
- Hermesianax
- Callimachus
- Propertius
- Horace
- Editions and translations
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=1.8|Mimnermus was one of several ancient Greek poets who composed verses about solar eclipses, and there was a total solar eclipse of his home town, Smyrna, on April 6, 648 BC. His poetry survives only as a few fragments yet they afford us a glimpse of his "brilliantly vivid" style. Mimnermus ( Mímnermos) was a Greek elegiac poet from either Colophon or Smyrna in Ionia, who flourished about 632–629 BC (i.e. in the 37th Olympiad, according to Suda). He was strongly influenced by Homer, yet he wrote short poems suitable for performance at drinking parties and was remembered by ancient authorities chiefly as a love poet. Mimnermus in turn exerted a strong influence on Hellenistic poets such as Callimachus and thus also on Roman poets such as Propertius, who even preferred him to Homer for his eloquence on love themes (see Comments by other poets below).
His work was collected by Alexandrian scholars in just two "books" (relatively few compared for example with the twenty-six books for Stesichorus) and today only small fragments survive. The fragments confirm the ancient estimate of him as a "consummate poet" but also indicate that he was a "sturdier character" than the indulgent love poet he was assumed to be by various ancient commentators. Almost no reliable biographical details have been recorded. One ancient account linked him romantically with a flute girl who subsequently gave her name, Nanno, to one of his two books.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mimnermus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.