Simonides
Simonides of Ceos was a Greek lyric poet of the 5th and 6th centuries BCE, celebrated for his epitaphs, elegies, and victory odes.
He is credited with inventing the memory palace technique—associating items to remember with locations in an imagined building.
The phrase Simonidean memory refers to this method.
His epitaph for the Spartans at Thermopylae remains famous: Go tell the Spartans...
Pithy, memorable saying
- epitaphText honoring the deceased
- encomiumFormal speech of tribute
- odeLaudatory verse form
- choralOf group singing
verse · Bacchylides · commissioned · patron · meter · performance · sung · lyre
Greek coastal pass, ancient battle
- epitaphText honoring the deceased
- fallenHaving dropped down
- SpartansCitizens of ancient Laconia
- LeonidasAncient Spartan warrior-king
memorial · inscription · Marathon · commemoration · heroes · sacrifice · mourning · lament
Committing information to recall
- recallMemory retrieval act
- techniqueSkilled way of performing
- visualizationForming mental or graphical images
- retentionContinued holding or possession
mnemonics · Cicero · orators · recitation · method · invention · identification
Greece's capital city
- ThessalyGreek region, east-central
- SicilyMediterranean's biggest island
- tyrantCruel, absolute ruler
- pre-SocraticGreek thought before dialectics
Aegean · polis · archaic · Ionian · Doric · Panhellenic · symposium · aristocratic
epigram
Pithy, memorable saying
choral · verse · Bacchylides · commissioned · patron · meter · performance · sung · lyre · chorus
Thermopylae
Greek coastal pass, ancient battle
Leonidas · memorial · inscription · Marathon · commemoration · heroes · sacrifice · mourning · lament · tribute
memorization
Committing information to recall
- recallMemory retrieval act
- techniqueSkilled way of performing
- visualizationForming mental or graphical images
retention · mnemonics · Cicero · orators · recitation · method · invention · identification
Athens
Greece's capital city
pre-Socratic · Aegean · polis · archaic · Ionian · Doric · Panhellenic · symposium · aristocratic · patronage
- Ancient PoetsHomer, Sappho, Virgil, Ovid, Horace
- literary royaltyKing Lear, Macbeth, King Arthur, Claudius, Richard III
- Greek epigramsepigram, epigrams, Leonidas, epitaph, epitaphs
- Greek poetryHomer, Sappho, Iliad, Odyssey, hymns
- PericlesPericles, Marina, Tyre, Ephesus, Tarsus
- Ancient Greek PoetsSappho, Bacchylides, Corinna
SimonidesHomer
Ancient Greek epic composer
Sappho · Aeschylus · Ezra Pound · Solon
SimonidesLethe
Mythical river of forgetfulness
forgetfulness · oblivion · stream-of-consciousness · amnesia · improvisation