| November 14, 2023 <Back to Index>
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Philiscus of Corcyra, or Philicus
was a distinguished tragic poet, and one of the seven who
formed the Tragic Pleiad.
He was also a priest of Dionysus, and in that character he
was present at the coronation procession of Ptolemy II
Philadelphus in 284 BC. Pliny states that his portrait was
painted in the attitude of meditation by Protogenes, who is
known to have been still alive in 304 BC. It seems,
therefore, that the time of Philiscus must be extended to an
earlier period than that assigned to him by the Suda, who
merely says that he lived under Ptolemy Philadelphus. He
wrote 42 dramas, of which we know nothing, except that the Themistocles,
which is enumerated among the plays of Philiscus
of Athens, the comic poet, ought probably to be
ascribed to him: such subjects are known to have been chosen
by the tragedians, as in the Marathonians of
Lycophron. The choriambic
hexameter verse was named after Philiscus, on account of his
frequent use of it (Hephaestion (grammarian)). There is much
dispute whether the name should be written, Φιλίσκος or Φίλικος, but the former
appears to be the true form, though he himself, for the sake
of meter, used the latter.
Spyridon (Filiskos) Samaras from Corcyra, the composer of the Olympic Hymn was named after Philiscus. |