Straton of Sardis

Straton was a native of Sardis Greek poet of the 2nd century AD

Straton can be dated because of the mention of the physician Artemidorus Capito under Emperor Hadrian. He is mentioned at the beginning of the 3rd century Laertius Diogenes. Otherwise known to his life hardly anything.

From Straton 100 epigrams have survived, of which 94 in his anthology Μουσα Παιδικη ( Musa puerilis ) are included. In their traditional, incomplete form, the Μουσα Παιδικη comprises a total of 258 epigrams by various authors. The anthology is preserved in the 12th book of the Greek Anthology, a few epigrams in the 11th book. Almost the only subject of this epigram is pederasty. The poems are distinguished by their formal dexterity.

Because of the taboo topic of his poems were often not translated to the middle of the 20th century. The first complete English translation even appeared only in 2001 ( by Daryl Hine ), while there was already German in 1900 (of Elisar of Kupffer ).