Automedon (poet)


Automedon was an ancient Greek poet known from his poems in the Greek Anthology. Twelve epigrams of his are still extant and he is mentioned by Philippus of Thessalonica in the proem of his anthology Garland of Philippus. He is placed from the 1st century B.C to the 1st century A.D.
The epigrams entitled "ΑΥΤΟΜΕΔΟΝΤΟΣ" are:

11.325

Yesterday I ate tough mutton

and a cabbage ten days old;

I won't say where I went to dinner,

for my host is of a cold

revengeful temper, and he might

invite me back another night.

The poems attributed to Automedon may be by different poets. Those in the Anthology appear to be from the period of Nerva or Trajan; Philip's Garland, which mentions Automedon, is probably not later than the reign of Nero. One poem in the Anthology, attributed to Automedon, is ascribed in the Palatine anthology to Theocritus and may be from that period.