ARCHILOCHUS

Paros, 7th century B.C.

ONE AMONG ONE'S FELLOWS, IF HE DIES, HE IS NOT RESPECTED, NOR IS HE FAMOUS, THAT IS WHY THE LIVING MUCH MORE WE SEEK THE LOVE OF THE LIVING

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The most ancient poet Archilochus was born in Paros, to a slave mother, Epino. When he was still young, the Parians sent a number of settlers to settle in Thassos, led by his father Telesiklis. But it seems that in Thassos the colonists did not find the riches they hoped for and preferred to invade Thrace, opening a war with the Thracians.

In one of these battles, Archilochus, as he himself says, threw away his shield and fled to save himself. He returned to Paros after the expeditionary adventure. He fell in love with the daughter of Lycambes, Neovoulis, and was the occasion for Archilochus' poetic vein to open richly.

But when Lycambes failed and refused to give him Neobouli as a wife, the poet was hurt and humiliated. That is why he began to mercilessly satirize Lycambes and the whole family. The poet's words were so poisonous that in order to save Lycambes and his daughters, they hanged themselves. Now old, Archilochus was killed in a war between the Parians and the Naxians.

The Parians honored him as a god, and, according to one tradition, the gods punished the hand that killed him. From the various information and opinions about the poet as well as from the fragments of his poems, it is confirmed that Archilochus was a special person, who loved the truth more than the conventional people of his time, that he did not care to be liked by others, that he was somewhat rough among the sweet of his time, that he had suffered and pained much in his life, and that he was endowed with much vitality and concern, marks of a strong man and a great poet.

ARCHILOCHUS

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