Theocritus
Theocritus (Born c. 300 BC, Died after 260 BC) was a Sicilian poet and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Little is known of him beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some
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Theocritus (Born c. 300 BC, Died after 260 BC) was a Sicilian poet and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Little is known of him beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems ("Idylls") commonly attributed to him have little claim to authenticity. It is clear that at a very early date two collections were made, one of which included a number of doubtful poems and formed a corpus of bucolic poetry, while the other was confined to those works which were considered to be by Theocritus himself. He was probably from Sicily, as he refers to Polyphemus, the cyclops in the Odyssey, as his 'countryman.' He also probably lived in Alexandria for a while, where he wrote about everyday life, notably Pharmkeutra. It is also speculated that Theocritus was born in Syracuse, lived on the island, Kos, and lived in Egypt during the time of Ptolemy II.
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