Bakchylides

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Bakchylides von Keos ( Greek Βακχυλίδης Bakchylídēs , Latinized Bacchylides ; * around 520/516 BC in Iulis on Keos ; † around 451 BC) was a lyric poet. He was included in the canon of the nine Greek poets by the Hellenistic scholars of Alexandria .

Life

Bakchylides' father was probably called Meidon (or Meidylos). His mother was a younger sister of the important choral lyric poet Simonides von Keos (around 556 BC to around 468 BC). The grandfather's name was Bakchylides and was a famous athlete.

Simonides may have had a great influence on the training and promotion of his nephew's poetic talent. Bakchylides was known in Greece from a relatively young age. The fragmentary enkomion for Alexander I , son of the Macedonian king Amyntas I , dates from the 490s.

One of the main fields of activity of the choral lyricists was the writing of epinicias . Winners of the four Panhellenic Games - the Olympic Games , Isthmia , Nemeen and Pythia - were prestigiously honored with victory songs, for which choral lyricists such as Pindar , Simonides and Bakchylides competed.

When 485 or a short time later Bacchylides from a distinguished family of Aegina was commissioned, the pankration to sing -Sieg of Pytheas in the Nemean games, this meant for Pindar quite a loss of prestige. Explainers in ancient times already derived from Pindar's poems a professional, perhaps even personal rivalry between Bakchylides and Pindar. In fact, in one of his songs, Pindar compared Simonides and Bakchylides to crows, but compared himself to an eagle.

476 BC Bakchylides stayed on Keos: from there he confidently sent Hieron I of Syracuse a song in which he celebrated the victory of the tyrant (more precisely the victory of the team he sent into the race) in the Olympic chariot race. Hieron seems to have taken a liking to Bakchylides' art. When the tyrant's chariot in 470 BC BC won the chariot race at the Pythien, Bakchylides composed a song that was performed in Delphi , Pindar the Epinicion for Syracuse . Finally, when the tyrant in the Olympics in 468 BC BC won again in the chariot race, only Bakchylides the contract for a song. It is very likely that Bakchylides stayed in Sicily during this time, where his uncle Simonides lived at the courts of the tyrants Hieron I of Syracuse and Theron of Akragas . In Sicily, Bakchylides also met Pindar , who was also encouraged by Hieron. The fact that the two greatest poets of their generation put their talent at the service of the tyrant ensured that Hieron still enjoys a far better reputation among classical scholars than among ancient historians .

Bakchylides' stays in Thessaly , Macedonia , Athens and Aegina - the places or territories from which he received orders for songs - are likely, but cannot be proven. Bakchylides certainly attended the Olympics and the other three great Panhellenic Games on a regular basis. Because there it was easiest to get orders for winning songs from the winners or the delegations of the winning cities.

Plutarch narrates that Bakchylides wrote his most beautiful and famous works in exile. Most research cautiously dates this banishment, the reason for which is unknown, to the decade 462 - 452 BC. BC, and justifies this with the fact that Pindar around 458 BC For the Keer I wrote Paian 4 and the Epinikion for the Isthmian chariot victory of Herodotus: if Bakchylides had not been banished during this time, so the argumentation, the Keer would have turned to their compatriot. The place of exile was probably the Peloponnese .

The last surviving song of the Bakchylides celebrates the boy Lachon in the stadium run (452 ​​BC). Very soon after that, maybe 451 BC. BC, Bakchylides died in an unknown place (in exile?).

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Bakchylides, Dithyramben XVIII 17–49 in London, British Library, Papyrus 733 (2nd century)

At the end of antiquity , the work of Bakchylides was almost completely lost; For a long time only a few verses were known that were quoted by other authors. Only since the end of the 19th century have papyrus finds made larger parts of the poet's work known again. 14 songs of victory were discovered, some of them almost complete, as well as extensive fragments from the Book of Dithyrambs. In addition, there are smaller fragments from the books of Paiane , Enkomia , Prosodia , Hymns , Hyporchemata , Erotika . How many books the Bakchylides edition of the Alexandrians comprised is not known. Like Simonides, Bakchylides wrote epigrams , some of which have survived.

One has to imagine the songs of the Bakchylides as cantatas that were sung either by a choir or by an individual in the context of a cultic or private event. The music composed by Bakchylides was already unknown to the Alexandrians, nor to the choreography.

Bakchylides made use of a Doric-colored artificial language characteristic of choral poetry. In addition to Ionic formulas, which stem from the Homeric epic, he made use of Aeolian elements. His special artistic achievement consisted in the clear and plastic narration of myths or legendary events. When more of Bakchylides were discovered around 1900, one was initially disappointed - Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff , the most important German classical philologist of his time, spoke almost condescendingly of the poet's qualities. Current research rates Bakchylides much more positively. He is valued as a great lyric poet, but he did not quite achieve Pindar's poetic greatness and Simonides' intellectual originality.

Editions and translations

literature

Overview representations

Introductions

Investigations

  • Andreas Bagordo, Bernhard Zimmermann (ed.): Bakchylides. 100 years after its rediscovery , Munich 2000.
  • David Fearn: Bacchylides. Politics, Performance, Poetic Tradition , Oxford 2007.
  • Jan Stenger : Poetic Argumentation. The function of gnomics in the Epinics of Bakchylides , Berlin 2004.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bakchylides
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bacchylides
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek poet
DATE OF BIRTH around 520 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Iulis on Keos
DATE OF DEATH around 451 BC Chr.