Table of Contents

Elegy and Iambus. with an English Translation by. J. M. Edmonds. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 1.

Phrynichus: Poems

Elegiac Poems

Phrynichus:—Son of Polyphradmon or of Minyrus; of Athens, writer of tragedy, a pupil of Thespis the first to introduce that art. He was victorious in the 67th Olympiad (510-7 B.C.). This Phrynichus was the first to bring a female character upon the stage, and invented the tetrameter.. His tragedies are these nine, etc.

The art of the dance hath given me as many different steps as a night deadly with storms maketh waves upon the sea.

Suidas Lexicon


Nightingale:
Hail, motley Muse of green and glade, Jug, jug, tereu, Who, as on leafy ash I sit By hill or dale to music it, Tereu, tereu, dost lend thine aid, While through my brown beak I recite Sacred songs for Pan's delight, And to the Mountain-Mother bring High dance-music for offering, Tereu, tereu, Whence Phrynichus sipt like a bee, Ambrosial brew, A harvest of sweet melody, Jug, jug, tereu.

Aristophanes Birds


“Yet Phrynichus the tragedy-writer says of himself:”

Plutarch Dinner-Table Problems