Life Semonides of Amorgos (Σημωνίδης ὁ Ἀμοργῖνος) was an iambic poet of the 7th century BCE. Ancient sources report he led a colony from Samos to the island of Amorgos, founding three cities there, which indicates a figure of public stature [2][3]. He was a near-contemporary of Archilochus and is often confused with the later lyric poet Simonides of Ceos [1][2].

Works His surviving work is fragmentary, derived from two books of iambic poetry [1][2]. The most substantial fragment is a 118-line iambic poem cataloging ten types of women, comparing them to animals and elements like the pig, fox, sea, and bee [1][2][4]. He is also credited with elegies, though only scant lines remain [1][2].

Significance Semonides is a key figure in early Greek iambic poetry, a genre of satire and invective. His extended fragment on women is a major artifact of archaic Greek misogynistic thought and poetic cataloging, offering insight into contemporary social attitudes [1][4]. His work was preserved in Alexandria and influenced later satirical literature [2].

Sources 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford University): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/archilochus-parmenides/#SemAmo 2. Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Semonides-of-Amorgos 3. Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University): https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D10%3Aentry%3Dsemonides-bio-1 4. World History Encyclopedia (World History Foundation): https://www.worldhistory.org/article/894/semonides-and-the-women/