View source for Ialemus

'''{{transl|grc|Ialémos}}''' ({{langx|grc|Ἰάλεμος}}, meaning "funeral song"), is a song of [[lamentation]] in [[ancient Greece]], a [[demigod|minor deity]] personifying this song in [[Greek mythology]], and an [[epithet]] of [[Linus of Thrace|Linus]]. He was the son of [[Apollo]] and [[Calliope]], and the inventor of the song ''Ialemus'', which was a kind of [[dirge]], or at any rate a song of a very serious and mournful character, and is only mentioned as sung on most melancholy occasions. (Aeschyl. Suppl. 106; Eurip, Herc. Fur. 109, SuppL 283.) In later times, this kind of poetry lost its popularity, and was ridiculed by the comic poets. Ialemus then became synonymous with cold and frosty poetry, and was used in this sense proverbially. (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 1375, ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1304; Zenob. iv. 39.)
In his third [[Threnody|Threnos]], [[Pindar]] associates him with [[Hymen (god)|Hymen]], [[Linus of Thrace|Linos]] and [[Orpheus]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheClassicsGreekAndLatinByMarionMillsMiller/Classicsgreeklat01millialaClearText1_djvu.txt|title=The Classics Greek and Latin|work=Univ Calif - Digitized by Microsoft}}</ref> and makes him the son of [[Apollo]] and [[Calliope]]. The {{lang|grk-Latn|ialémos}} then appears as a poetic [[genre]] in itself, and is quoted several times by the tragic ones in scenes of lamentations. [[Pamphos]] associates him with [[Linos]], son of [[Urania]].
During the [[Classical antiquity|Classical period]], the genre gradually lost its popularity. The name {{transl|grc|ialémos}} then becomes proverbial for what inspires pity ({{lang|grc|Ἰαλέμου}}) {{lang|grc|ψυχρότερος}} / ({{transl|grc|Ialémou}}) {{transl|grc|psykhóteros}} meaning cold, or in the expression "more naked than Ialémos" ({{lang|grc|Γυμνότερος}} Ἰαλέμου {{ill|Ἰαλέμου|el|vertical-align=sup}} / Gymnóteros).
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{SmithDGRBM}}
[[Category:Children of Apollo]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek laments]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek poetry]]
[[Category:Music in Greek mythology]]