Idyll XI
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Idyll XI, otherwise known as Bucolic poem 11, was written by Theocritus in dactylic hexameter. Its main character, the Cyclops Polyphemus, has appeared in other works of literature such as Homer's Ody
'To hear this makes her jealous of me, by Paean, and she wastes with pain, and springs madly from the sea'
Polyphemus and Galatea. Fresco from Pompeii, c. AD 50–79
Philoxenus of Cythera
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Philoxenus of Cythera was a Greek dithyrambic poet, an exponent of the "New Music". He was one of the most important dithyrambic poets of ancient Greece.
Idyll XI
…knew each other in their youth. Nicias was also a poet, as he responded to Theocritus' advice in a similar fashion. Theocritus' source for the work was Philoxenus' Cyclops, relating Polyphemus' love for Galatea. In the Idyll, Theocritus gives advice to a friend suffering from Love. He recommends seeking the…
Detail of a 1st-century BC wall painting from a bedroom in the Villa of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase showing a landscape with Galatea and Polyphemus with some of his flock