Lycŏphron
(
Λυκόφρων). A grammarian and poet who was a native of
Chalcis in Euboea, and lived at Alexandria under Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285-247). He was
the author of an extant poem in 1474 iambic lines, entitled
Cassandra or
Alexandra, in which Cassandra is made to prophesy the fall of Troy, with
numerous other events. The obscurity of this work is proverbial, and it is filled with
obsolete words and long compounds. Among the numerous ancient commentaries on the poem, the
most important are the scholia of Isaac and John Tzetzes, which are far more valuable than the
poem itself. The earliest edition is that which appeared at Venice in 1513. It has since been
edited by Bachmann
(Leipzig, 1828), Kinkel
(1880), and Scheer
(1881). There is an English version by Lord Royston.
Lycophron also wrote a work on the history of Greek comedy and the comic poets, and composed
tragedies now lost.