Alkaios (English spelling)

Dates of birth and death unknown. A Greek lyric poet active around 600 BC. Born in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. A representative poet of the same era as the female poet Sappho from the same hometown. At the end of the 7th century BC, the island of Lesbos was engulfed in civil war and political strife, but Alcaeus belonged to the aristocratic faction and actively participated in it. However, once his political rival Pittacus, who put down the civil war, seized power (590-580 BC), his political activities ended in failure. After that, he went into exile and served various monarchs, and is also said to have traveled to Egypt, but this was apparently during his second exile by Pittacus.

The collection of poems was compiled into ten volumes, but only fragments remain. The poems are divided into five categories: political poems, hymns to the gods, poems dealing with heroic legends, love poems, and wine songs. It is his political poems that best display his individuality as a poet, in which he openly expresses his hatred and curses against his political opponents. In comparison, his songs about gods and heroes are mundane. His wine songs were sung at banquets, and are about forgetting the hardships of life by entrusting them to alcohol. Unlike the political poems, which have a strong public character, they are interesting in that they honestly express the poet's everyday inner thoughts. The verse form and meter he often used were favored by the Roman poet Horace.

[Takao Hashimoto]

"Selections of Greek Lyric Poetry, translated by Go Moichi (Iwanami Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年不詳。紀元前600年前後に活躍したギリシアの叙情詩人。レスボス島のミティレネに生まれる。同時代で同郷の女流詩人サッフォーと並ぶ代表的詩人。前7世紀末のレスボス島は内乱と政争に明け暮れていたが、アルカイオスは貴族派に属してこれに積極的に参加した。しかし内乱を平定した政敵のピッタコスが権力を手中に収めるや（前590～前580）、彼の政治活動は失敗に終わった。その後、亡命して各地の君主に仕えたり、エジプト旅行も伝えられているが、これはピッタコスによる二度目の追放中のことであったらしい。

　詩集は10巻にまとめられていたが、断片以外は残っていない。その詩は、政治詩、神々への賛歌、英雄伝説を扱った詩、恋愛詩、酒の歌の5種に分類される。詩人としての個性がもっともよく発揮されているのは政治詩であって、政敵に対する憎悪と呪詛(じゅそ)を腹蔵なく吐露している。これに比べて、神々や英雄に関する歌は平凡である。酒の歌は宴会で歌われ、酒に託して生活の苦労を忘れようというもので、公的性格の強い政治詩とは違って、日々の詩人の内面がすなおに表現されていて興味深い。彼がよく用いた詩形と韻律は、ローマの詩人ホラティウスに愛好された。

［橋本隆夫］

『呉茂一訳『ギリシア抒情詩選』（岩波文庫）』

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