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Ibycus, of Rhegium in Italy, Greek lyric poet, contemporary of Anacreon, flourished in the 6th century BC.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. WelckerFriedrich Gottlieb Welcker ( 1784- 1868), German philologist and archaeologist, was born at Grunberg in the grand duchy of Hesse. Having studied classical philology at the university of Giessen, he was appointed ( 1803) master in the high school, an offic suggests that they were sung by choruses of boys at the "beauty competitions" held at LesbosLesbos is a prefecture of Greece, part of the periphery North Aegean. It is also the name of its main island, which is also called Mytilene . This is in the Aegean Sea near Turkey. The second largest island is Lemnos, to the northwest. In modern Greek, th. Although the metre and dialect are DorianThe Dorians were one of the ancient Hellenic (Greek) races. Their place of origin is considered to be the north and north-western Greece, Macedonia and Epirus. They invaded the Greek mainland, Crete and other places throughout the Mediterranean about 1100, the poems breathe the spirit of AeolianAeolian means related to, caused by, or carried by the wind; see eolian. Aeolian can also refer to: an Aeolian harp, a harp that is played by the wind the Aeolian Islands in the Mediterranean Sea the Aeolian mode, the musical mode based on the sixth note melic poetry.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica. 1911 Britannica
