Lycophron of Chalcis

▪ Greek poet

flourished 3rd century BC

      Greek poet and scholar best known because of the attribution to him of the extant poem Alexandra.

      Invited to work in the Alexandrian library (c. 285 BC), Lycophron there wrote a treatise on comedy and numerous tragedies, of which only a few fragments survive. The Alexandra is in form a messenger's speech in which the prophecies of Cassandra are reported. The poem carries the cult of erudition and obscurity to extremes, the material is recondite, the vocabulary is exotic, the style is affected, and the names of gods and men are disguised by cult title or riddling periphrasis. Considerable historical interest attaches to the references to Rome and the West, which have been thought to be more in keeping with the historical situation in 197 BC than with that a century earlier. On this ground it has sometimes been argued either that the Alexandra is by a later author than the tragedian Lycophron or that some parts of the poem are later additions.

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