The archaic Greek lyric poet Ibycus came from Rhegium, modern-day Reggio Calabria, on the toe of the Italian peninsula. From his own poems and a patchwork of external evidence we can infer that he was active in the middle of the sixth century BCE. The ancient biographical tradition surrounding Ibycus recorded many anecdotes, including the famous story of his death at the hands of bandits and a tale that he abandoned a regime as tyrant over Rhegium. Very little of this material is historically credible and some looks suspiciously like the result of false inferences from his poetry.
In matters of metre and dialect, Ibycus belongs to a ‘Doric’ lyric tradition that also included the earlier poets Alcman of Sparta and Stesichorus of Himera. Ibycus, like his predecessors, used an inherited,
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Citation: Spelman, Henry. "Ibycus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 October 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13723, accessed 21 November 2024.]
