The Paradox of Bacchylides

Chapter 7 focuses on Bacchylides, who, despite his pan-Hellenic poetic presence, is neither quoted nor named in any of the sources that become crucial for the formation of the Lyric Canon. He is nonetheless included in the Lyric Canon, his text is edited according to principles of colometry, and his poems are classified and organized in books in Alexandria. Based on Hellenistic inscriptional and epigrammatic sources his poetry possibly circulated within the broader Hellenistic world, and the engagement of Herodotus and Aristophanes with two of his odes is strong evidence to suggest knowledge of Bacchylides in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. With regards to his canonization and in view of the fact that the Alexandrians inherited an already selected list, it is justifiable to argue that Bacchylides was canonized not merely because his text was available in the Library but also because the Hellenistic scholars were somehow aware of his poetry.