Bion of Smyrna was a Greek poet who lived in the Hellenistic period, most likely during the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE. He is known as a writer of bucolic, or pastoral, poetry, a tradition focused on idealized rural life. The details of his life are unclear and often mixed with stories about other poets. Ancient sources say he was from Smyrna in Asia Minor, spent time in Sicily, and died in Euboea. The idea that he was a student of the poet Moschus is considered by modern scholars to be a literary legend rather than a historical fact.

Very little of Bion’s poetry survives. His most famous and only complete work is the Lament for Adonis, a pastoral dirge that mourns the death of the mythological youth Adonis. A few other fragments of his bucolic verse exist, including pieces on Achilles and Eros. Many works attributed to him in ancient catalogs are now lost.

According to modern scholars, Bion’s significance lies in his role in developing the pastoral poetry tradition after its founder, Theocritus. His Lament for Adonis is a key example of the pastoral dirge, blending myth with emotional, descriptive language from the rustic world. This poem directly inspired the later Lament for Bion, a work that mourns him as a poet, creating a chain of literary imitation. Through these works, Bion helped shape the bucolic genre, influencing later Greek and Roman pastoral poetry.