Anacreon (; ; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre. Anacreon's poetry touched on universal themes of love, infatuation, disappointment, revelry, parties, festivals and the observations of everyday people and life. Life Anacreon lived in the sixth century BC. He was likely born in the 570s BC: Hans Bernsdorff says c.575, David Campbell says c.570. The Suda reports four possible names for his father: Eumelus, Aristocritus, Parthenius, and Scythinus. Ancient sources agree that Anacreon came from Teos, on the coast of Ionia (modern Turkey); this tradition is attested as early as Herodotus, and at least one of Anacreon's fragments mentions the city. When Teos was conquered by Persia in the 540s BC, the Teians moved to Abdera, Thrace; Anacreon was probably already an adult. Anacreon spent time in Samos. According to Himerius, he was invited there to educated Polycrates, the future tyrant of Samos, who Strabo reports was one of the main subjects of his poetry. If Himerius is correct and Anacreon arrived on Samos before Polycrates became tyrant, this would have been before 530 BC. From Samos, Anacreon moved to Athens on the invitation of Hipparchus, presumably some time after Hipparchus came to power in 528/7; according to Herodotus he was still on Samos in 522 when Polycrates was murdered. Ancient sources do not record if or when Anacreon left Athens. He may have left after the assassination of his patron Hipparchus in 514, or the expulsion of Hipparchus' brother Hippias in 510, though there is some evidence of his presence in the city later than this. Two epigrams from the Greek Anthology suggest that he spent some time in Thessaly, though Gregory Hutchinson doubts this tradition. He probably died at the beginning of the fifth century: Hutchinson says around 500, Bernsdorff suggests 495, and Campbell says 485. According to Valerius Maximus he died by choking on a grape seed, though this is generally considered apocryphal. An epigram in the Greek anthology says that his tomb was on Teos. Poetry Form and style Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric