num_pages: 275
description: Simonides of Keos lived during the fifth and sixth centuries BC, a fertile period for the arts, when myths were being acted out and verse had just begun to be written down. In this evocative portrayal of Simonides, the poet is learning to master his craft and secure fickle patrons, and his travels place him at the scene of many central historical events. This fact, along with his friendship with gallivanting, brilliant Anakreon, makes him a perfect guide to the age. The Praise Singer is faithfully grounded in history, with all the immediacy of Mary Renault’s acclaimed novels of the ancient world, offering an unforgettable portrait of such events as the Persian invasion of Ionia, the reign of Pisistratos in Athens, and the fall of Hippias and Hipparchos.
language: English
title: The Praise Singer
titlecomplete: The Praise Singer
characters: Simonides of Keos
genres: Fiction, LGBT, Classics, Historical, Greek Mythology, Queer, Historical Fiction, Mythology, Literature, Greece
ratings_count: 1466
places: Greece
publisher: Bantam Books (NYC)