Pancrates of Egypt (Παγκράτης ὁ Αἰγύπτιος) was a Greek epic poet from Alexandria active during the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century CE [1]. The Byzantine encyclopedia Suda records that he was also a priest and a grammarian, and a contemporary of the sophist Hadrian of Tyre [1].

His known works are two lost epic poems in the Homeric dialect: the "Thalassia" (Θαλάσσια) or "Sea-poem," a hexameter work on marine themes surviving in a few fragments cited by authors like Athenaeus [1][2], and the "Works of Heracles" (Ἡράκλεια), known only by its title [1].

Pancrates is a representative figure of the Second Sophistic, participating in its archaizing revival of classical Greek epic forms. His fragments contribute to the understanding of Greek poetry within the imperial Roman cultural milieu [2].

Sources 1. Suda, "Pancrates" (Suda On Line): https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/pi/51 2. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics, "Pancrates" (Oxford University Press): https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-4672