Semonides of Amorgos

Semonides of Amorgos (Greek: Σημωνίδης or Σιμωνίδης; fl. 7th century BC) was a Greek iambic and elegiac poet who is believed to have lived during the seventh century BC. Fragments of his poetry survive as quotations in other ancient authors, the most extensive and well known of which is a satiric account of different types of women which is often cited in discussions of misogyny in Archaic Greece. The poem takes the form of a catalogue, with each type of woman represented by an animal whose characteristics—in the poet's scheme—are also characteristic of a large body of the female population.

See also:

Types of Women

Quotes

J. M. Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus, with the Anacreontea, Vol. 2, LCL (1916), pp. 212–37

• Were he to die we should not take it to heart, if we were wise, for more than a single day.
  • Fragment 2, quoted by Stobaeus, Anthology, 124, 5
  • Other translations:
    Of souls departed, if our minds were strong,
    We'd think no longer than a day is long.
    —Anonymous, "The Dead", OBGVT (1938), no. 121

• In the beginning God made woman’s mind apart from man’s.
  • Fragment 7, quoted by Stobaeus, Anthology, 73, 61