Hermesianax

Hermesianax (flourished 300–250 bc) was a Greek elegiac poet from Colophon in Ionia, one of the first of the erudite and sophisticated exponents of Alexandrian poetry. His chief work was an elegiac poem in three books, dedicated to and named for his mistress Leontion. Some 98 lines of the poem were preserved by Athenaeus. The poem enumerates with alternating force and tenderness the power of love for both mythological and historical figures. Homer, Pythagoras, and Socrates are among those whose (mostly fictitious) love affairs are cited.