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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
OverviewAI-generated
Mimnermus was a male musician and poet who lived during the 7th century B.C. He was born in 670 BCE in Colophon and died in 600 BCE. His name in his native language was Μίμνερμος. He wrote in Ancient Greek, which was also the language he spoke.
His work period began in 632 BCE and ended in 600 BCE. He is associated with the significant place of Colophon. Open Library lists him as Mimnermus of Colophon and records six works. Notable titles include *Poesia* (La Tempestad, cuadernos de poesia), *Mimnermi Colophonii Carminum quae supersunt*, and *Greek elegiac poetry*. He is described by sources such as the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, *Description of Greece*, the *Encyclopædia Britannica* 11th edition, and Pauly–Wissowa.
Synthesized by Vinony from 17 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Open Library. 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
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.