The Shelves · Lyric (melic) poetry
Elegies, including the Plataea poem
Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Lyric (melic) poetry: “elegy”
Conjecturedvery likely classSimonides of Ceos
Elegies, including the Plataea poem
Opening words not preserved.
Length: not counted
Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.
II · Does it survive? Where to read it
Survives in fragments
Long thought lost; substantial parts recovered from Oxyrhynchus papyri and published in 1992 (P.Oxy. LIX 3965).
Was it in Alexandria?
Known · ProbableProbably held in the Library.
In the cupboard: no source names the Alexandrian copy, but its scholars' use of it makes one very likely.
Read it today
- Edmonds, Lyra Graeca II (public-domain Loeb scan, PDF) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
III · In the show
The show has not yet spoken of this work.
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references
- P.Oxy. LIX 3965
Modern scholarship
- D. Boedeker and D. Sider (eds), The New Simonides: Contexts of Praise and Desire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
ELEGIES, INCLUDING THE PLATAEA POEM