Leonidas of Alexandria

Leonidas^[a] of Alexandria (/liˈɒnɪdəs, -dæs/; Greek: Λεωνίδας; Latin: Leonidas Alexandrinus; fl. 1st century AD) was a Greek epigrammatist active at Rome during the reigns of Nero and Vespasian. Some of his epigrams are preserved in the Greek Anthology, and in one he lays claim to having invented the isopsephic epigram.^[1][2]

Leonidas informs us that he was born on the banks of the Nile,^[3] whence he went to Rome,^[4] and there taught grammar for a long time without attracting any notice, but ultimately he became very popular, and obtained the patronage of the imperial family.^[5] He also claims to have been originally an astrologer.^[6][2] Leonidas' epigrams show that he flourished under Nero, and probably down to the reign of Vespasian.^[5]

In the Greek Anthology, forty-three epigrams are ascribed to him, but some of these belong to Leonidas of Tarentum.^[5] According to William Smith, the epigrams of Leonidas of Alexandria are "of a very low order of merit".^[5] Several of them are distinguished by the conceit of having an equal number of letters in each distich; these are called ἰσόψηφα ἐπιγράμματα.^[5]

• Hunter, Richard L. (2012). "Leonidas or Leonides, of Alexandria". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (online ed.). 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
• Smith, William, ed. (1869). "Leo´nidas or Leo´nides, literary. 2". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly; John Murray. p. 752. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

• Fabricius, Johann Albert, ed. (1795). Bibliotheca Graeca. Vol. 4. New ed. Hamburg: Carolum Ernestum Bohn. pp. 479–480.
• Jacobs, Friedrich, ed. (1814). Anthologia Graeca. Vol. 13. Lipsia: Dyckiano. pp. 908–909.
• Leventhal, Max (2022). "Leonides of Alexandria's Isopsephic Epigrams". In Poetry and Number in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (Cambridge Classical Studies). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 73–112. doi:10.1017/9781009127295.003.
• Meineke, Albert Christian, ed. (1791). Prolusio ad utriusque Leonidae Carmina. Lipsia.

• Smith, Andrew, ed. (26 February 2018). "Leonidas of Tarentum : Epigrams". Attalus. Retrieved 24 April 2023.