PANYASIS

[quantity doubtful; Avienus, Arat. Phaen. 175, makes it-Panyasis. There was another form Panyassis]. A Greek poet of Halicarnassus, uncle of Herodotus. He was put to death by the tyrant Lygdamis about 454 B.C. for being the leader of the aristocratic party. He composed a poem in fourteen books entitled Heraclea (exploits of Heracles), which was reckoned by later writers among the best epics. The few fragments preserved are in an elegant and graceful style.