Philetas of Cos

Greek elegiac poet and scholar from Cos — tutor to Ptolemy II Philadelphus — one of the founders of the Alexandrian school of poetry that combined erudite scholarship with refined verse, making him a model for Callimachus and Theocritus.

Represents the Alexandrian ideal of the scholar-poet — poetry should display learning and craftsmanship simultaneously — and the elegiac tradition that influenced Ovid and through Ovid, English Renaissance poetry.