Callinus

Greek poet

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Flourished:: 7th century bc, Ephesus, Ionia, Asia Minor [now in Turkey]

Flourished:: c.675 BCE - c.625 BCE

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Callinus (flourished 7th century bc, Ephesus, Ionia, Asia Minor [now in Turkey]) was a Greek elegiac poet, the few surviving fragments of whose work reflect the troubled period when Asia Minor was invaded by the Cimmerians, a race originating in what was later South Russia. The longest fragment is an appeal to young men to cast off their cowardly sloth and prepare to fight, and if necessary die, in defense of their country. While the poem’s vocabulary and imagery are Homeric, the phrasing is sometimes fresh and original.

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