Theocritus's importance to literary history lies in his invention of the pastoral genre. Although other Hellenistic poets wrote on rustic themes, Virgil sealed Theocritus's claim to be the first pastoralist by modeling his Eclogues (37 B.C.) on his Greek predecessor's Idylls (circa 270 B.C.) about herdsmen. The Latin rhetorician Quintilian later remarked on Theocritus's distinction in this arena, asserting that his rustic Muse shuns not only public affairs but all aspects of urban existence. Yet Theocritus's pastoral poems, only seven in number, constitute but one part of his poetic production. Measured by the standards of his own lifetime, Theocritus can be judged the freshest and most charming among a group of Hellenistic poets who sought to renew the tradition of Greek poetry by turning to genres of small-scale and personal reference.

Little is known about his life. The few facts that are recorded in ancient and Byzantine biographies...