Ari'ou

Ari'ou, a celebrated lute-player of Methymna in Lesbos, about 600 B.C., regarded by the ancients as the inventor of the dithyrambic metre. Having fallen among robbers in returning to Corinth from Tarentum, where he had won the prize in a poetical contest, he threw himself into the sea after playing on his lute. A dolphin, charmed by his music, carried him on his back safely to shore. The lute and dolphin were placed among the constellations; and the story became a favourite theme with artists.