Editing Mimnermus (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Greek poet}}
[[File:Eclipse 4-12-2002 Woomera.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Mimnermus was one of several ancient Greek poets who composed verses about solar eclipses, and there was a total solar eclipse of his home town, Smyrna, on April 6, 648 BC.<ref>Plutarch ''de.facie.lun.'', cited and annotated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb (1999), pages 99–101</ref> His poetry survives only as a few fragments yet they afford us a glimpse of his "brilliantly vivid" style.<ref>[[J. P. Barron]] and [[P. E. Easterling]], "Early Greek Elegy", in P. Easterling and [[Bernard Knox|B. Knox]] (eds.), ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), page 136</ref>]]
'''Mimnermus''' ({{langx|grc|Μίμνερμος}} ''Mímnermos'') was a [[Greek lyric|Greek elegiac poet]] from either [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] or [[Smyrna]] in [[Ionia]], who flourished about 632–629 BC (i.e. in the 37th Olympiad, according to [[Suda]]). He was strongly influenced by [[Homer]], yet he wrote short poems suitable for performance at [[Symposium|drinking parties]] and was remembered by ancient authorities chiefly as a love poet. Mimnermus in turn exerted a strong influence on Hellenistic poets such as [[Callimachus]] and thus also on Roman poets such as [[Propertius]], who even preferred him to Homer for his eloquence on love themes (see [[Mimnermus#Comments by other poets|Comments by other poets]] below).

His work was collected by Alexandrian scholars in just two "books" (relatively few compared for example with the twenty-six books for [[Stesichorus]]) and today only small fragments survive. The fragments confirm the ancient estimate of him as a "consummate poet"<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb/Harvard University Press (1999), page 6 {{ISBN|9780674995826}}</ref> but also indicate that he was a "sturdier character" than the indulgent love poet he was assumed to be by various ancient commentators.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 222</ref> Almost no reliable biographical details have been recorded. One ancient account linked him romantically with a flute girl who subsequently gave her name, Nanno, to one of his two books.