Editing Hipponax (section)

==Life==
Ancient authorities record the barest details about his life (sometimes contradicting each other) and his extant poetry is too fragmentary to support autobiographical interpretation (a hazardous exercise even at the best of times).<ref>Christopher G. Brown, 'Hipponax', in ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Douglas E. Gerber (ed), BRILL, 1997. {{ISBN|90-04-09944-1}}. Cf. p.81</ref>

The [[Marmor Parium]], only partially preserved in the relevant place, dates him to 541/40&nbsp;BCE, a date supported by [[Pliny the Elder]] in this comment on the theme of sculpture:
{{quotation|There lived in the island of [[Chios]] a sculptor Melas who was succeeded by his son Micciades and his grandson Achermus; the latter's sons, [[Bupalus|Bupalus and Athenis]], had the very greatest fame in that art at the time of the poet Hipponax who was clearly alive in the 60th Olympiad (540–37).—[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]] 36.4.11}}
Archeological corroboration for these dates is found on the pedestal of a statue in [[Delos]], inscribed with the names Micciades and Achermus and dated to 550–30 BCE.<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'', translated by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), including archeological notes 1 and 2, page 343</ref> The poet therefore can be safely dated to the second half of the sixth century BC.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 373</ref> According to [[Athenaeus]], he was small, thin and surprisingly strong<ref>Athenaeus 12.552c-d, cited by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 347</ref> The Byzantine encyclopaedia ''[[Suda]]'', recorded that he was expelled from [[Ephesus]] by the tyrants Athenagoras and Comas, then settled in [[Clazomenae]], and that he wrote verses satirising Bupalus and Athenis because they made insulting likenesses of him.<ref>''Suda'', translated by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 345</ref> A [[scholiast]] commenting on [[Horace]]'s ''[[Epodes (Horace)|Epodes]]'' recorded two differing accounts of the dispute with Bupalus, characterized however as "a painter in Clazomenae": Hipponax sought to marry Bupalus's daughter but was rejected ''because'' of his physical ugliness, and Bupalus portrayed him as ugly ''in order'' to provoke laughter. According to the same scholiast, Hipponax retaliated in verse so savagely that Bupalus hanged himself.<ref>[[Pseudo-Acron]] on Horace, ''Epodes'', cited by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 351</ref>
Hipponax in that case closely resembles [[Archilochus|Archilochus of Paros]], an earlier iambic poet, who reportedly drove a certain Lycambes and his daughters to hang themselves after he too was rejected in marriage.<ref>Christopher G. Brown, 'Hipponax', in [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zzlnqb_64SYC&pg=PA50 ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets''], Douglas E. Gerber (ed.), BRILL, 1997. {{ISBN|90-04-09944-1}}. Cf. p.50</ref> Such a coincidence invites scepticism.<ref>B.M. Knox, 'Elegy and Iambus: Hipponax' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', P. Easterling and B. Knox (eds.), Cambridge University Press (1985), page 159</ref> The comic poet [[Diphilus]] took the similarity between the two iambic poets even further, representing them as rival lovers of the poet [[Sappho]].<ref>Christopher G. Brown, 'Hipponax' in''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Douglas E. Gerber (ed.), BRILL, 1997. {{ISBN|90-04-09944-1}}. Cf. p.82</ref>

The life of Hipponax, as revealed in the poems, resembles a low-life saga centred on his private enmities, his amorous escapades and his poverty<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), page 373</ref> but it is probable he was another [[Petronius]], depicting low-life characters while actually moving in higher social circles.<ref>Christopher G. Brown, 'Hipponax' in''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', Douglas E. Gerber (ed.), BRILL, 1997. {{ISBN|90-04-09944-1}}. Cf. p.80</ref> In one fragment, Hipponax decries "Bupalus, the mother-fucker ({{lang|grc|μητροκοίτης}}) with Arete", the latter evidently being the mother of Bupalus, yet Arete is presented as performing [[fellatio]] on Hipponax in another fragment and, elsewhere, Hipponax complains "Why did you go to bed with that rogue Bupalus?", again apparently referring to Arete (whose name ironically is Greek for 'virtue').<ref>fragments 12, 17, translated and annotated by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 363 and 367</ref><ref>fragment 15, translated by B.M. Knox, 'Elegy and Iambus: Hipponax' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', P. Easterling and B. Knox (eds.), Cambridge University Press (1985), page 160</ref> The poet is a man of action but, unlike Archilochus, who served as a warrior on Thasos, his battlefields are close to home:
{{quote|''Take my cloak, I'll hit Bupalus in the eye! For I have two right hands and I don't miss with my punches.''<ref>fragments 120, 121, translated by Douglas Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 453</ref>}}
Hipponax's quarrelsome disposition is also illustrated in verses quoted by [[Tzetzes]], where the bard abuses a painter called Mimnes, and advises him thus:
{{quote|''when you paint the serpent on the trireme's full-oared side, quit making it run back from the prow-ram to the pilot. What a disaster it will be and what a sensation—you low-born slave, you scum—if the snake should bite the pilot on the shin'' —fragment 28<ref>Fr. 28, translated by B. M. Knox, 'Elegy and Iambus: Hipponax' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', P. Easterling and B. Knox (eds.), Cambridge University Press (1985), page 160</ref>}}