Licymnius of Chios (Λικύμνιος ὁ Χῖος)

Life Licymnius of Chios was a poet active in the 4th century BCE. He is known solely from two references in Aristotle’s Rhetoric, which provide no biographical details beyond his origin and profession.

Works His only attested work is a collection titled Dithyrambs (Διθύραμβοι), from which two fragments survive via Aristotle. These are a line criticized as a “frigid” metaphor—“prudence, having sown, a godlike fruit” (ἀρετὴν σπείρας θεόσδοτον καρπόν)—and a definition of beauty as “the bloom (ἄνθος) of the well-conditioned” [1].

Significance Licymnius’s significance derives entirely from his role in Aristotle’s rhetorical analysis. His fragments provide a minor data point for the study of dithyrambic poetry and offer concrete insight into Aristotelian literary criticism, particularly regarding stylistic faults.

Sources 1. Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0060%3Abook%3D3%3Asection%3D1405b (Aristotle, Rhetoric 3.2, 1405b; 1.9, 1366a)