9 lyric poets
The 9 lyric poets (also 9 melic poets) were a canon of archaic Greek poets esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria as worthy of critical study.
They were:
Alcman (choral lyric, 7th century BC) of Sparta
Sappho (monodic lyric, ca. 600 BC) of Lesbos
Alcaeus (monodic lyric, ca. 600 BC) of Lesbos
Anacreon (monodic lyric, 6th century BC) of Teos
Stesichorus (choral lyric, 6th century BC) of Himera
Ibycus (choral lyric, 6th century BC) of Rhegium
Simonides (choral lyric, 6th century BC) of Ceos
Bacchylides (choral lyric, fifth century BC) of Ceos
Pindar (choral lyric, fifth century BC) of Thebes
In most Greek sources the word melikos is used (from melos “song”), but some authors have used lyrikos, which eventually became the regular word in Latin (lyricus) and in modern languages.
The ancient scholars defined the genre on the basis of the metrical form, not the content. Thus some types of poetry which would be included under the label lyric in modern literary criticism are nevertheless excluded, namely the elegy and the iambus.
Their poetry is traditionally divided into choral poetry and monodic lyric. This division is, however, contested by some modern scholars.[1]
