 alcman (;  alkmÃ¡n; fl.&thinsp;7th century bc) was an ancient greek choral lyric poet from sparta. he is the earliest representative of the alexandrian canon of the nine lyric poets. == biography == the name of alcman's mother is not known but his father may have been named either damas or titarus.suda, s.v. . alcman's nationality was a matter of dispute even in ancient days. unfortunately, the records of the ancient authors were often deduced from biographic readings of their poetry and the details are often untrustworthy. antipater of thessalonica wrote that poets have "many mothers" and that the continents of europe and asia both claimed alcman as their son.greek anthology, 7.18. frequently assumed to have been born in sardis, capital of ancient lydia, the suda claims that alcman was actually a laconian from messoa.suda, s.v.  the compositeness of his dialect may have helped to maintain the uncertainty of his origins, but the many references to lydian and asian culture in alcman's poetry must have played a considerable role in the tradition of alcman's lydian origin. thus, alcman claims he learned his skills from the "strident partridges" (caccabides),alcman fr. 39 in athenaeus 9, 389f. a bird native to asia minor and not naturally found in greece. the ancient scholars seemed to have referred to one particular song, in which the chorus says:fr. 16, transl. campbell (quoted in p.oxy. 2389 fr. 9). "he was no rustic man, nor clumsy (not even in the view of unskilled men?) nor thessalian by race nor an erysichaean shepherd: he was from lofty sardis." yet, given that there was a discussion, it cannot have been certain who was the third person of this fragment. some modern scholars defend his lydian origin on the basis of the language of some fragmentsc.j. ruijgh, lampas 13 (1980) 429 (according to him, fr. 89 is exclusively ionic and possibly composed in asia minor). or the content.a.i. ivantchik, ktema 27 (2002) 257-264 (certain references to scythian culture come from a scythian epic, which would be more readily accessible in asia minor). however, sardis of the 7th century bc was like modern paris or new york, a cosmopolitan city. the implicit and explicit references to lydian culture may be a means of describing the girls of the choruses as fashionable. one tradition, going back to aristotle,aristole, fr. 372 rose, in heraclides lembus, excerpt. polit. (p. 16 dilts). holds that alcman came to sparta as a slave to the family of agesidas (= hagesidamus?huxley, greek, roman, and byzantine studies 15 (1974) 210
7th-century_BC_Greek_people 7th-century_BC_poets Ancient_Greek_erotic_poets Ancient_Greek_poets Ancient_Spartan_poets Doric_Greek_poets Nine_lyric_poets