Everything about Crinagoras Of Mytilene totally explained
Crinagoras of Mytilene, also known as
Crinogoras, sometimes spelt as
Krinagorasis or
Krinagoras (name in Greek:
ο Κριναγόρας,
70 BC-
18) was a
Greek Epigrammatist and ambassador.
Crinagoras came from an eminent family from the Greek Island of
Mytilene. Crinagoras was born and raised in the capital, which was the same name of the island. He had at least one known brother called Eucleides.
He was a contemporary of the Greek Geographer
Strabo and Strabo mentions Crinagoras as a man of some distinction. According to inscriptions found in Mytilene, Crinagoras was sent as an ambassador on behalf of the capital to
Rome in
45 BC and
26 BC.
In the reign of the first
Roman Emperor Augustus, he lived in his court as a poet. During his time living in Rome, he'd written several epigrams, which refer to Augustus’ reign and had written poems dedicated to the Roman Gods. Crinagoras in his work perceives to have a true poetic spirit.
Crinagoras was the author of fifty-one epigrams, which are in the
Greek Anthology. In these epigrams, Crinagoras blames himself for the hanging of wealthy patrons and several epigrams are small presents to children of his Roman noble friends. He sent an epigram addressed to Augustus’ nephew
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, which with the epigram had a copy of the poems written by Greek poet
Callimachus and later Crinagoras had sent Marcellus another epigram on his return from the war with the
Cantabri. Other epigrams that Crinagoras has sent to was prince and future emperor
Tiberius, congratulating him on his military victories in
Armenia and
Germany and to Augustus’ niece
Antonia Minor. In other epigram, Crinagoras speaks of a sea voyage that he undertook from
Asia to
Italy, visiting
Cyclades and
Corfu on the way.
However, the most well known epigram that Crinagoras wrote was the epigram (below), that's considered to the eulogy of
Ptolemaic Greek Princess and Roman Client Queen of
Mauretania,
Cleopatra Selene II.
» The moon herself grew dark, rising at sunset,
Covering her suffering in the night, » Because she saw her beautiful namesake, Selene,
Breathless, descending to Hades, » With her she'd had the beauty of her light in common,
And mingled her own darkness with her death.
Crinagoras had written the above epigram, assuming that at the time of Selene’s death occurred with an eclipse at sunset. However there's a possibility, that Crinagoras was using a simple poetic metaphor for her death playing on a lunar aspect of Selene’s name.
Sources
-
- http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0899.html
- http://www.lunalucifera.com/Mauretania/index.html
- http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/CrinagorasOfMytilene.html
- http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_gkanth_bio4a.htm
- http://www.geocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/selene_ii.htm
Further Information
Get more info on 'Crinagoras Of Mytilene'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://crinagoras_of_mytilene.totallyexplained.com">Crinagoras of Mytilene Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |