An epic poet [active] in
Athens; son of Aktaios and Boio,[1] but other sources say, of Iokles and Metaneira; according to others [he was son] of
Hermes. He lived after Phemonoe[2] according to some, but according to others even before her. He wrote a
Generation of the Universe in 5000 verses,
Births of Apollo and Artemis in 3000 verses,
Speeches and words of Aphrodite and Eros in 5000 verses,
Contest of Athena and Poseidon in 1000 verses, [and]
Leto's lock.
Palaiphatos, Athênêsin epopoios, huios Aktaiou kai Boious, hoi de Iokleous phasi kai Metaneiras: hoi de Hermou. gegone de kata men tinas meta Phêmonoên, kata de allous kai pro autês. egrapse de Kosmopoiïan eis epê #22e#, Apollônos kai Artemidos gonas, epê #22g#, Aphroditês kai Erôtos logous kai phônas epê #22e#, Athênas erin kai Poseidônos epê #22a#, Lêtous plokamon.
The first of four authors whom the Suda lists under the name
Palaephatus. One or more of the other three (
pi 70,
pi 71,
pi 72) may refer to the same person; some confusion in the attribution of their works is admitted by the redactor. As for this one, whose origin is obscure and legendary, no further details are known; but cf. Christodorus' epigram describing his statue in the
Gymnasion of Zeuxippus in Greek Anthology 2.1.36-7.
[1] Boio was a poetess of
Delphi, also known as a prophetess.
Pausanias 10.5.4 records four lines of one of her works. A poem on mythological stories featuring the transformation of persons into birds (
Ornithogonia) is cited by
Athenaeus (
Deipnosophists 9.393E, following
Philochorus FGrH 328 F214), though he indicates doubt as to whether its author was Boios (male) or Boio.
[2] Like Boio, Phemonoe is known as a prophetess and poetess; the tradition records her as a daughter of
Apollo, and (
Pausanias 10.5.7) the first priestess at
Delphi who 'first sang in hexameter verse'.
