Our knowledge of the background of Theocritus is very sparse. From his writings, certain facts can be inferred such as that he was probably from Syracuse and also lived on Kos and in Alexandria, where he attracted the attention of Ptolemy. A pastoral poet, his Idylls, written in the Dorian dialect, were the first examples of bucolic poetry in Greek literature and were later imitated by Virgil. Some of the works attributed to Theocritus cannot be authenticated, but have nevertheless become a part of his overall works, which consist of the Idylls, Epigrams and Epitaphs and some other fragments. |
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