Antimachus ofColophon (Greek:Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος), or ofClaros, was aGreekpoet andgrammarian, who flourished about 400 BC.[1]
Scarcely anything is known of his life. TheSuda claims that he was a pupil of the poetsPanyassis andStesimbrotus.[2]
His poetical efforts were not generally appreciated, although he received encouragement from his younger contemporaryPlato (Plutarch,Lysander, 18).[1] The emperorHadrian, however, would later consider him superior toHomer.[3]
His chief works were: an epicThebaid, an account of the expedition of theSeven against Thebes and the war of theEpigoni; and an elegiac poemLyde, so called from the poet's mistress, for whose death he endeavoured to find consolation telling stories frommythology of heroic disasters (Plutarch,Consul, ad Apoll. 9;Athenaeus xiii. 597).[1]
Antimachus was the founder of "learned"epic poetry, and the forerunner of theAlexandrian school, whose critics allotted him the next place toHomer. He also prepared a critical recension of the Homeric poems.[1]
He is to be distinguished fromAntimachus of Teos, a much earlier poet to whom the lostCyclic epicEpigoni was apparently ascribed (though the attribution may result from confusion).
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Antimachus".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 127.