Rhianus was a Greek poet and scholar from Crete who lived during the 3rd century BCE. Originally enslaved and working as a children’s attendant, he later gained his freedom and pursued a career in literature and grammar. He is often associated with the city of Bene in Crete.

His work fell into two main categories. As a grammarian, he produced influential critical editions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. These scholarly texts were later used by the famous Alexandrian editor Aristarchus of Samothrace. As a poet, Rhianus composed historical epics about the myths and founding stories of different Greek regions, such as Thessaly, Achaea, and Elis. His most famous and longest work was the Messeniaca, a six-book epic on the Second Messenian War. He also wrote shorter erotic poems, though none of these survive complete. All of his works are now lost except for fragments quoted by later authors.

According to modern scholars, Rhianus represents a bridge between critical scholarship and creative poetry in the Hellenistic period. His editorial work contributed to the Alexandrian tradition of Homeric studies. As a poet, he was part of a trend that turned local histories and legends into the subject of epic verse. His Messeniaca was considered a major historical source centuries later; the travel writer Pausanias relied on it for his account of the Messenian Wars, while noting that its poetic style required careful interpretation.