Editing Alcman (section)

== Biography ==
Alcman's dates are uncertain, but he was probably active in the late seventh century BC.<ref>Hutchinson, 2001. p.71</ref> The name of his mother is not known; his father may have been called either Damas or Titarus.<ref>Suda, s.v. {{lang|grc|Ἀλκμάν}}.</ref> Alcman's nationality was disputed even in antiquity.<ref>Segal, 1985. p.168</ref> The records of the ancient authors were often deduced from biographic readings of their poetry, and the details are often untrustworthy. [[Antipater of Thessalonica]] wrote that poets have "many mothers" and that the [[continents]] of [[Europe]] and [[Asia]] both claimed Alcman as their son.<ref>[[Greek Anthology]], 7.18.</ref> Frequently assumed to have been born in [[Sardis]], capital of ancient [[Lydia]], the [[Suda]] claims that Alcman was actually a [[Laconia]]n from Messoa.<ref>Suda, s.v. {{lang|grc|Ἀλκμάν}}</ref>

The compositeness of his dialect may have helped to maintain the uncertainty of his origins, but the many references to Lydian and Asian culture in Alcman's poetry must have played a considerable role in the tradition of Alcman's Lydian origin. Thus Alcman claims he learned his skills from the "[[Chukar partridge|strident partridges]]" (''caccabides''),<ref>Alcman fr. 39 in Athenaeus 9, 389f.</ref> a bird native to [[Asia Minor]] and not naturally found in [[Greece]]. The ancient scholars seem to refer to one particular song, in which the chorus says:<ref>fr. 16, transl. Campbell (quoted in ''P.Oxy.'' 2389 fr. 9).</ref> "He was no rustic man, nor clumsy (not even in the view of unskilled men?) nor [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] by race nor an Erysichaean shepherd: he was from lofty Sardis." Yet, given that there was a discussion, it cannot have been certain who was the third person of this fragment.

Some modern scholars defend his Lydian origin on the basis of the language of some fragments<ref>C.J. Ruijgh, ''Lampas'' 13 (1980) 429 (according to him, fr. 89 is exclusively Ionic and possibly composed in Asia Minor).</ref> or the content.<ref>A.I. Ivantchik, ''Ktema'' 27 (2002) 257–264 (certain references to Scythian culture come from a Scythian epic, which would be more readily accessible in Asia Minor).</ref> However, Sardis of the 7th century BC was a cosmopolitan city. The implicit and explicit references to Lydian culture may be a means of describing the girls of the [[Greek chorus|choruses]] as fashionable.

One tradition, going back to [[Aristotle]],<ref>Aristotle, fr. 372 [[Valentin Rose (classicist)|Rose]], in [[Heraclides Lembus]], ''Excerpt. polit.'' (p. 16 Dilts).</ref> holds that Alcman came to Sparta as a [[slavery|slave]] to the family of Agesidas (= Hagesidamus?<ref>Huxley, ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'' 15 (1974) 210–211 n. 19</ref>), by whom he was eventually [[manumission|emancipated]] because of his great skill. Aristotle reported that it was believed Alcman died from a pustulant infestation of [[lice]] (''phthiriasis''),<ref>Aristotle, ''[[History of Animals|HA]]'' 556b–557a.</ref> but he may have been mistaken for the philosopher [[Alcmaeon of Croton]].<ref>O. Musso, ''Prometheus'' 1 (1975) 183–184.</ref> According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], he is buried in Sparta next to the shrine of [[Helen of Troy]].<ref>Pausanias 3.15.2–3.15.3.</ref>