# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/simonides-of-ceos
# Generated: 2026-08-14T20:25:11.642Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/simonides-of-ceos"
name: "Simonides of Ceos"
slug: "simonides-of-ceos"
description: "He wrote the epitaph for the Spartans who died at Thermopylae — and if later ages remember any ancient Greek lyric poet for the power to make you feel loss, it's him."
tagline: "Greek lyric poet (c. 556–468 BC)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Nuremberg_chronicles_f_60r_3.png"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "-556"
deathDate: "-468"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           55.36
  momentum:             0
  historical:           23.977984
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Writers"
    slug: "writers"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q273003"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides_of_Ceos"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Simonides%20of%20Ceos"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%96%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%B4"
    title: "Сіманід"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B4"
    title: "Симонид"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B2nides_de_Ceos"
    title: "Simònides de Ceos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3nid%C3%A9s_z_Keu"
    title: "Simónidés z Keu"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides"
    title: "Simonides"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides_von_Keos"
    title: "Simonides von Keos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A3%CE%B9%CE%BC%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%BF_%CE%9A%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%82"
    title: "Σιμωνίδης ο Κείος"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonido_el_Kea"
    title: "Simonido el Kea"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3nides_de_Ceos"
    title: "Simónides de Ceos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides"
    title: "Simonides"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonide_Zeoskoa"
    title: "Simonide Zeoskoa"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%DB%8C%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%AF%D8%B3"
    title: "سیمونیدس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides_Keoslainen"
    title: "Simonides Keoslainen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonide_de_C%C3%A9os"
    title: "Simonide de Céos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3nides_de_Ceos"
    title: "Simónides de Ceos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%93%D7%A1"
    title: "סימונידס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szim%C3%B3nid%C3%A9sz"
    title: "Szimónidész"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%8D%D5%AB%D5%B4%D5%B8%D5%B6%D5%AB%D5%A4%D5%A5%D5%BD_%D5%94%D5%AB%D5%B8%D5%BD%D5%A1%D6%81%D5%AB"
    title: "Սիմոնիդես Քիոսացի"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides_dari_Keios"
    title: "Simonides dari Keios"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonides"
    title: "Simonides"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%ADmon%C3%ADdes_fr%C3%A1_Keos"
    title: "Símonídes frá Keos"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonide"
    title: "Simonide"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B4"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://bs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Seminod"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://cy.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simonides"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://el.wikiquote.org/wiki/%CE%A3%CE%B9%CE%BC%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%BF_%CE%9A%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%82"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simonides_of_Ceos"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born around 556 BC on the island of Ceos, Simonides became one of the nine canonical lyric poets in the Greek tradition, more entangled with the personalities and crises of his era than his contemporaries Pindar and his own nephew Bacchylides. He pioneered new approaches to lyric form that both rivals borrowed, but his real gift was simpler: an ability to distill human grief and basic emotion into language that hit plainly and stuck. The Enlightenment called him "the Greek Voltaire"; the ancients spun tall tales around him — miser, mnemonic genius, alphabet inventor. What survived those myths, though scattered now across papyrus scraps and quotations, is the spare force Quintilian named: a talent for pity unmatched in the genre. He died around 468 BC, and they kept digging up his words in Egyptian sand two thousand years later.