Ibycus [key], fl. before 500 b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Rhegium, S Italy. The extant fragments of his work contain the earliest-known example of the triadic choral lyric. He spent some time at the court of Polycrates of Samos. The “cranes of Ibycus” as an expression of triumphant justice refers to the tale that Ibycus, murdered at sea, was revenged by cranes who saw the crime and eventually revealed the murderers.
See C. M. Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry (1936, repr. 1961).
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