Archilochus critical essays

Archilochus was involved in the Parian colonization of Thasos about two centuries before the coin was minted. His poetry includes vivid accounts of life as a warrior, seafarer and lover. Archilochus ( / ɑːrˈkɪləkəs /; Greek: Ἀρχίλοχος Arkhilokhos; c. 680–645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros.

The details of Archilochus’s life, in the ancient biographical tradition, are derived for the most part from his poems—an unreliable source because the events he described may have been fictitious or may have involved imaginary personae or ritual situations. Modern discoveries, however, have supported the picture given in the poetry.

The surviving fragments of his work show him to have been a metrical innovator of the highest ability. Archilochus’s father was Telesicles, a wealthy Parian who founded a colony on the island of Thasos.

Archilochus was not included in the canonic list of nine lyric poets compiled by Hellenistic scholars—his range exceeded their narrow criteria for lyric ('lyric' meant verse accompanied by the lyre). He did in fact compose some lyrics but only the tiniest fragments of these survive today.