Biographies of the Greek Epigrammatists

Source: Select Epigrams from The Greek Anthology
Edited with a Revised Text, Translation, and Notes, by J. W. Mackail
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890

Greek literature from its earliest historical beginnings to its final extinction in the Middle Ages falls naturally under five periods. These are:--(1) Greece before the Persian wars; (2) the ascendancy of Athens; (3) the Alexandrian monarchies; (4) Greece under Rome; (5) the Byzantine empire of the East. The authors of epigrams included in this selection are spread over all these periods through a space of about fifteen centuries.