Archilochus c. 680 BC-c. 645 BC) was a Greek poet and supposed mercenary
Probably the most complete translation of archilochus
The details of his life are inferred from his poetry


Colonized Thasos; was part of general ‘colonization’ efforts of his era (750-550 B.C.;______ 2) Was a mercenary soldier by profession—typical of many landless, rootless ‘younger’ or illegitimate sons (no inheritance) in Archaic Greece, when ‘overpopulation’ was a major problem. 3) Was a ‘Lyric’ = ‘personal’ topics, poet; the 1st of the known Lyric poets, who broke with Homeric Epic poetry style to write of their own lives, experiences, feelings, attitudes.


In the historical and poetic imagination, Archilochus represents the romantic intersection of the fighting and the poetic spirits; this dual aspect of his personality is captured with brevity in the following poetic fragment, wherein he describes himself as both a warrior and a poet:



Although I am a servant of Lord Enyalios [Ares, god of war],
I also know well the lovely gift of the Muses.

Alternate Translation:

I am two things: a warrior who follows Mavors lord of battle
And a poet, who understands the gift of the muses love.

Thirty lines of a previously unknown poem in the elegiac meter by Archilochos describing events leading up to the Trojan War, in which Achaeans battled Telephus king of Mysia, have recently been identified among the unpublished manuscripts from Oxyrhynchus and published in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Volume LXIX. (Graeco-Roman Memoirs 89.) by N. Gonis, D. Obbink, et al.