Editing Ibycus (section)

==Life==
The [[Byzantium under the Macedonians|Byzantine]] encyclopaedia [[Suda]] represents a good example of a problematic biography, here translated by David Campbell:
{{Quotation|Ibycus: son of Phytius; but some say son of the historian Polyzelus of Messana, others son of Cerdas; of Rhegium by birth. From there he went to Samos when it was ruled by the father of the tyrant Polycrates. This was in the time of [[Croesus]], in the 54th Olympiad (564–60 BC). He was completely crazed with love for boys, and he was the inventor of the so-called ''sambyke'', a kind of triangular [[cithara]]. His works are in seven books in the Doric dialect. Captured by bandits in a deserted place he declared that the cranes which happened to be flying overhead would be his avengers; he was murdered, but afterwards one of the bandits saw some cranes in the city and exclaimed, "Look, the avengers of Ibycus!" Someone overheard and followed up his words: the crime was confessed and the bandits paid the penalty; whence the proverbial expression, "the cranes of Ibycus".<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), pages 209–11</ref>}}

Suda's chronology has been dismissed as "muddled" since it makes Ibycus about a generation older than [[Anacreon]], another poet known to have flourished at the court of Polycrates, and it is inconsistent with what we know of the Samian tyrant from [[Herodotus]].<ref>Herodotus 3.39, cited by C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprinted 2000), page 248</ref> [[Eusebius]] recorded the poet's first experience of fame ("agnoscitur") somewhere between 542 and 537 BC<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 211, note 2:''the given range of dates reflects differences between manuscripts''</ref> and this better fits the period of Polycrates' reign. Suda's account seems to be corroborated by a papyrus fragment (''P.Oxy.''1790), usually ascribed to Ibycus, glorifying a youthful Polycrates, but this was unlikely to have been the Polycrates of Samos and might instead have been his son, mentioned in a different context by [[Himerius]] as Polycrates, governor of Rhodes.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Brill (1997), page 188, referring to Himerus ''Or.'' 29.22 ff. Colonna</ref> Suda's list of fathers of Ibycus also presents problems:<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 208, notes 2–4</ref> there were no historians in the early 6th century and ''Cerdas'' looks like an invention of the comic stage (it has low associations).

There was a [[Pythagoras|Pythagorean]] lawgiver of Rhegium known as Phytius, but the early 6th century is too early for this candidate also. Ibycus gives no indication of being a Pythagorean himself, except in one poem he identifies the Morning Star with the Evening Star, an identity first popularized by Pythagoras.<ref>Scholiast on Basil, ''Genesis'', cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 283</ref><ref>C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprinted 2000), page 241</ref> 

Ibycus provided the first attestation of an historical Thracian or Thraco-Dacian bard [[Orpheus]], purported composer of the ''[[Orphic Hymns]]''; ("The earliest literary reference to [[Orpheus]] is a two-word fragment of the 6th century BC lyric poet Ibycus of [[Samos]]: onomaklyton Orphēn ('Orpheus famous-of-name')."), whose name might indicate an origin in slavery {[[Orpheus#Etymology]]}. Not incidentally, enslavement of Thraco-Dacians in [[Samos]], in particular, is also (dimly) attested by the history of another such personnage who rose to prominence among the pre-Hellenistic Greeks: namely, X/[[Zalmoxis]], reputedly a Thraco-Dacian slave in the household of reputed-one-time [[Hierophant]] of [[Eleusis]], [[Pythagoras]] (also of [[Samos]]). X/[[Zalmoxis]] apparently achieved some form of apprenticeship with that most famous practitioner of [[Pythagoreanism]], and evidently goes on to earn his freedom as well as a reputation as a great healer of 'body and soul (psyche),' via [[Plato]]<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Plato]] |title=[[Charmides (dialogue)|Charmides]] |type=dialogue |at=lines 156 D – 157 B}}</ref> (see [[Zalmoxis#"Religion of the Getae"]]) ...Plato attributes an [[holistic health|holistic]] approach to healing body and soul (psyche)... in the latter case, not unlike [[Orpheus]]..who ended up with a cave-based oracle in nearby [[Lesbos]] island, in the region of Ionia's northern neighbors, the [[Aeolians]]. Notably, Using music to relieve lustful urges was a [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] remedy{{sfn|Watts|2017|page=75}} stemming from an anecdote from the life of [[Pythagoras]] claiming that, when he encountered some drunken youths trying to break into the home of a virtuous woman, he sang a solemn tune with long [[spondee]]s and the boys' "raging willfulness" was quelled. {{sfn|Deakin|2007|page=62}}{{sfn|Watts|2017|page=75}}

[[File:Heinrich Schwemminger - Die Kraniche des Ibykus - 3739 - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg|thumb|''The Cranes of Ibycus'', by [[Heinrich Schwemminger]], illustrating Schiller's poem of that name]]
Suda's extraordinary account of the poet's death is found in other sources, such as [[Plutarch]]<ref>Plutarch, ''De Garrulitate'' 14 ([[Stephanus pagination|Steph.]] 509 E-F)</ref> and [[Antipater of Sidon]]<ref>''Palatine Anthology'' 7.745: Antipater of Sidon xix Gow-Page</ref> and later it inspired [[Friedrich Schiller]] to write a ballad called "[[Die Kraniche des Ibykus|The Cranes of Ibycus]]"<ref>Campbell, David David A. ''Greek Lyric Poetry.'' MacMillan 1967, p. 305 – 306.</ref> yet the legend might be derived merely from a play upon the poet's name and the Greek word for the bird {{lang|grc|ἶβυξ}} or ''ibyx''—it might even have been told of somebody else originally.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 211, note 12</ref><ref group="nb">However, according to [[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]] ([[Sub_voce#sub_verbo|s.v.]] ''[[iota]]'' 138) {{lang|grc|ἶβυξ}} is a form of [[ibis]], while the common Greek word for "[[crane (bird)|crane]]" ({{lang|grc|γέρανος}}, ''geranos'') is used of the birds associated with the death of Ibycus</ref> Another proverb associated with Ibycus was recorded by [[Diogenianus]]: "more antiquated than Ibycus" or "more silly than Ibycus". The proverb was apparently based on an anecdote about Ibycus stupidly or nobly turning down an opportunity to become tyrant of Rhegium in order to pursue a poetic career instead<ref>Diogen.2.71, cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 213</ref> (one modern scholar however infers from his poetry that Ibycus was in fact wise enough to avoid the lure of supreme power, citing as an example Plato's quotation from one of his lyrics: "I am afraid it may be in exchange for some sin before the gods that I get honour from men").<ref>Plato, [[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]] (242D), cited by C.M.Bowra, ''Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides'', Oxford University Press (1961, reprinted 2000), page 245</ref> There is no other information about Ibycus' activities in the West, apart from an account by Himerius, that he fell from his chariot while travelling between [[Catana]] and [[Himera]] and injured his hand badly enough to give up playing the lyre "for some considerable time."<ref>Himer.''Or.''69.35, cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 291</ref>  

Some modern scholars have found in the surviving poetry evidence that Ibycus might have spent time at [[Sicyon]] before journeying to Samos—mythological references indicate local knowledge of Sicyon and could even point to the town's alliance with [[Sparta]] against [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and Athens.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Brill (1997), page 189</ref> His depiction of the women of Sparta as "thigh-showing" (quoted by Plutarch as proof of lax morals among the women there) is vivid enough to suggest that he might have composed some verses in Sparta also.<ref>Plut.''comp.Lyc. et Num.'', cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 289; see also comment page 7</ref> It is possible that he left Samos at the same time as Anacreon, on the death of Polycrates, and there is an anonymous poem in the [[Palatine Anthology]] celebrating Rhegium as his final resting place, describing a tomb located under an elm, covered in ivy and white reeds.<ref>''Anth.Pal.''7.714, cited by David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric III'', Loeb Classical Library (1991), page 215</ref>