Background
He was the son of Eucrates, born in the city of Gadara, now Umm Qais in Jordan, which was then a partially Hellenized community in northern Palestine and is identified with Ramoth-Gilead of the Old Testament.
He was the son of Eucrates, born in the city of Gadara, now Umm Qais in Jordan, which was then a partially Hellenized community in northern Palestine and is identified with Ramoth-Gilead of the Old Testament.
He wrote some satirical prose, now lost, and he wrote some sensual poetry, of which 134 epigrams survive. He also compiled numerous epigrams from diverse poets in an anthology known as the Garland, and although this does not survive, it is the original basis for the Greek Anthology. The scholiast to the Palatine manuscript of the Greek Anthology says he flourished in the reign of Seleucus VI Epiphanes (95 – 93 Bachelor of Civil Engineering).
The uppermost date of his compilation of the Anthology is 60 Bachelor of Civil Engineering, as it did not include Philodemus of Gadara, though later editors added thirty-four epigrams.
These are completely lost. Meleager"s fame is securely founded on the one hundred and thirty-four epigrams of his own which he included in his Anthology.
The manuscripts of the Greek Anthology are the sole source of these epigrams. Meleager is famous for his anthology of poetry entitled The Garland (Greek: Στέφανος).
Polemon of Ilium and others had created collections of monumental inscriptions, or of poems on particular subjects earlier, but Meleager first did so comprehensively.
He collected epigrams by forty-six Greek poets, from every lyric period up to his own. His title referred to the commonplace comparison of small beautiful poems to flowers, and in the introduction to his work, he attached the names of various flowers, shrubs, and herbs — as emblems — to the names of the several poets. The Garland itself has survived only as one of the original constituent roots to the Anthologia Graeca.
Some writers classed him among the Cynics, and like his compatriot Menippus, Meleager wrote what were known as spoudogeloia (Greek singular: σπουδογέλοιος), satirical prose essays putting philosophy in popular form with humorous illustrations.