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Bacchylides

Bacchylides’ victory odes and dithyrambs, recovered from papyrus.

About · 1 of 5

Who Bacchylides was

Ceos and Simonides. Little is known of Bacchylides’ life and dates. His home town was Iulis, on the island of Ceos (Keos), off the south-eastern tip of Attica. His mother was a sister of the poet Simonides (557/6–468/7 BC).[1] The biographical tradition makes him Simonides’ nephew, and places his life between the late sixth and the middle of the fifth century.[2]

Maehler argues that he was probably born around 520. Ode 17 and the enkomion for the young Macedonian prince Alexander (fr. 20B) can be dated to the early 490s. That makes him an exact contemporary of Pindar, who was born in 518. A late Byzantine notion made Bacchylides the younger poet, and Eusebius’ Chronicle says that he “became known” in 431. Both are unfounded.[1]

A career built on connections. When Bacchylides was born, Simonides was already famous for dithyrambs, choral songs and epigrams. He had been invited to Athens by Hipparchus, and he was later invited to Syracuse by Hieron. Bacchylides probably profited from these connections. His career took off soon after 500. There was an Athenian commission for the great festival on Delos (ode 17), and a song for Alexander of Macedon to be sung at the symposium (fr. 20B). In the 480s he and Pindar were rivals for the commissions of Aegina’s great families.[1]

Hieron. In 476 Bacchylides celebrated the first Olympic victory of Hieron of Syracuse: the horse-race won by Pherenicus (ode 5). Pindar’s first Olympian is for the same victory. In 470 Hieron’s chariot won at Delphi. Bacchylides sent the short ode 4, while Pindar composed Pythian 1. His most prestigious commission was ode 3, for Hieron’s Olympic chariot victory of 468.[1] The latest securely dated ode, 6, is for a boy’s victory at Olympia in 452. Nothing is known of Bacchylides after that, and he probably died not much later.[1]

Exile. Plutarch (On exile 14, 605C) says that Bacchylides spent some time in exile in the Peloponnese. This is credible. Pindar wrote a paean for the Ceans, who would presumably have asked their own poet had he been available. When the exile happened cannot be established.[3]

What he wrote. Besides the odes for Hieron, he wrote victory odes for athletes from Ceos (1, 2, 6, 7, 8), Phlius (9), Athens (10), Metapontum (11), Aegina (12, 13) and Thessaly (14). Ode 14B is for a magistrate’s election at Larisa, and it may have closed the book of victory odes.[4]

Of the dithyrambs, 17, 18 and 19 were “doubtless” composed for Athens. Probably 15 was too, and just possibly 16, while 20 was almost certainly performed at Sparta. He also wrote hymns, paeans, processional songs, maiden songs, dancing songs (hyporchemata), love songs (erotika) and songs of praise (enkomia).[3] The papyrus places ode 17 among the dithyrambs, but Maehler thinks it is rather a paean.[5] The dithyrambs are told entirely or mainly as narrative. Ode 18 is pure dialogue, between King Aegeus and the Athenians, with no narrative at all (van Emde Boas 2022, p. 168 with n. 3).[5]

Among the great professionals. Simonides, Pindar and Bacchylides are the “three great professionals”. In them the Dorian tradition of large strophes and triads reaches its height. Pindar exceeds five triads only in Pythian 4, while Bacchylides runs to eight at least.[6] Ode 17 is also known by its title, Ἠίθεοι (Ēitheoi), “The Youths”.[7]

Campbell’s dates. Campbell’s Loeb introduction differs from Maehler in some details.[8] Bacchylides’ father, Meidylus or Meidon, married a sister of Simonides. Campbell reports Severyns’ reckoning of the poet’s birth to about 518/517, which also makes him an exact contemporary of Pindar. Eusebius has three entries for him. Campbell takes 468/7 as a floruit and 451/450 perhaps as the year of his death, and he calls the third, 431/430, puzzling.

The earliest victory ode that Campbell can date is 13, of 485 or at the latest 483. The latest are 6 and 7, of 452. The odes for Hieron are 5, 4 and 3, of 476, 470 and 468. And he accepts the exile in the Peloponnese.[8] He lists nine books in the ancient edition: victory odes, dithyrambs, paeans, hymns, processional songs, maiden songs, dancing songs, love songs and songs of praise.[9]

Ode Occasion Date
5 Hieron, horse-race, Olympia 476
4 Hieron, chariot-race, Delphi 470
3 Hieron, chariot-race, Olympia 468
6 (and 7) Lachon of Ceos, boys’ foot-race, Olympia 452
17 Athenian commission for the Delian festival early 490s

All dates BC, from Maehler 2004, pp. 9, 129.

A white hill town at dusk, its houses climbing a slope.
Ioulis (Iulis) on the island of Kea (Ceos)

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Maehler 2004, p. 9.
  2. ^ de Kreij 2022.
  3. ^ a b Maehler 2004, p. 10.
  4. ^ Maehler 2004, pp. 9–10.
  5. ^ a b Maehler 2004, p. 23.
  6. ^ West 1987, p. 42.
  7. ^ West 1987, p. 46.
  8. ^ a b Campbell 1992, pp. 5–6.
  9. ^ Campbell 1992, p. 6.
Picture credits on this page
  1. Behind the title: Bacchylides, Dithyramb XVIII lines 17–49, in London, British Library, Papyrus 733 (2nd century AD). British Library Papyrus 733 (reproduction) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  2. Ioulis (Iulis) on the island of Kea (Ceos). Michael Paraskevas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  3. P.Oxy. XI 1361 fr. 4: Bacchylides. Plate from Grenfell and Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri XI (1915). Egypt Exploration Society (B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, 1915) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons · background removed
  4. Boxers: side B of an Attic black-figure amphora of Panathenaic shape by the Antimenes Painter, c. 520 BC. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 06.1021.51. Antimenes Painter; photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen · CC BY 2.5 · via Wikimedia Commons
  5. Croesus on the pyre: side A of an Attic red-figure amphora by Myson, c. 500–490 BC, from Vulci. Paris, Louvre G 197. Myson; photo: Bibi Saint-Pol · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  6. A four-horse chariot race: Panathenaic prize amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, 490–480 BC. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum. Kleophrades Painter; image: J. Paul Getty Museum (Open Content) · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons · background removed
  7. The vaulted entrance to the stadium at Olympia. Annatsach · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  8. The Tavole Palatine at Metapontum (Metaponto). Carole Mage · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  9. The temple of Aphaia on Aegina. Paweł Szubert · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  10. Menelaus means to strike Helen but, struck by her beauty, drops his sword; Eros and Aphrodite watch: Attic red-figure krater by the Menelaus Painter, c. 450–440 BC, from Gnathia. Paris, Louvre G 424. Menelaus Painter; photo: Jastrow (2006) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  11. Theseus and Amphitrite, with Athena looking on: interior of an Attic red-figure cup signed by Euphronios as potter, painted by Onesimos, 500–490 BC, from Cerveteri. Paris, Louvre G 104. Euphronios (potter); Onesimos (painter); photo: Bibi Saint-Pol · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
  12. Theseus and Sinis: interior of an Attic red-figure cup by the Elpinikos Painter, c. 490 BC. Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8771. Elpinikos Painter; photo: ArchaiOptix · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
  13. Apollo (with Artemis) and Idas (with Marpessa) separated by Zeus: Attic red-figure psykter by the Pan Painter, c. 480 BC, from Agrigento. Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2417. Pan Painter; photo: Bibi Saint-Pol · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons