Ibycus
Ibycus, of
Rhegium in
Italy,
Greek lyric poet, contemporary of
Anacreon, flourished in the
6th century BC. He was included in the canonical list of
nine lyric poets by the scholars of
Hellenistic Alexandria.
Notwithstanding his good position at home, he lived a wandering life, and spent a considerable time at the court of
Polycrates,
tyrant of
Samos. The story of his death is thus related: While in the neighbourhood of
Corinth, the poet was mortally wounded by robbers. As he lay dying he saw a flock of
cranes flying overhead, and called upon them to avenge his death. The murderers betook themselves to Corinth, and soon after, while sitting in the theatre, saw the cranes hovering above. One of them, either in alarm or jest, exclaimed, "Behold the avengers of Ibycus," and thus gave the clue to the detection of the crime (
Plutarch,
De Garrulitate, xiv.).
The phrase, "the cranes of Ibycus," passed into a proverb among the Greeks for the discovery of crime through divine intervention.
According to the
Suda, Ibycus wrote seven books of lyrics, to some extent mythical and heroic, but mainly erotic (
Cicero,
Tusc. Disp. iv. 33), celebrating the charms of beautiful youths and girls.
F.G. Welcker suggests that they were sung by choruses of boys at the "beauty competitions" held at
Lesbos. Although the metre and dialect are
Dorian, the poems breathe the spirit of
Aeolian melic poetry.
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Zweisprchige Textauswahl zu den griechischen Lyrikern mit zusätzlichen Hilfen
