Archilochus Of Paros, one of the earliest Ionic poets, and the first who wrote in the iambic measure, flourished 714-676 B. C. His father was of noble descent; his mother was a slave. After he had acquired fame by a hymn to Ceres, he became suitor to the daughter of Lycambes, a noble of Paros, who was promised him in marriage, but her father afterward revoked the promise. The poet thereupon composed a lampoon upon the family so bitter that it is said the daughters of Lycambes committed suicide. He subsequently emigrated to Naxos, where he wrote tierce diatribes against his native land. He was no better satisfied with the country of his adoption. In a battle with the Thracians he flung away his shield; for this he endeavored to justify himself by writing a poem in which he said it was better that one should throw away his arms than lose his life. He acquired a high reputation, but his poems were so unbridled that they were prohibited in Sparta. He led a wandering life for years, his journeys extending as far as Italy. Returning to Paros, he was killed in a battle between the Parians and Naxians. The Delphian oracle, which had before his birth promised to his father an immortal son, pronounced a curse upon the man who killed him, because he had "slain the servant of the muses." Notwithstanding the license of his satires, he was ranked high by Plato, and Horace mentions him in terms of admiration.

The fragments of his poems extant have been collected and edited by Jacobs, Gaisford, Bergk, and better by Liebel, Archilochi Reliquhe (Leipsic, 1812).