David Hilchen (Latvian: Dāvids Hilhens, latinised Heliconius; 1561 – 4 June 1610) was a humanist, writer and politician mainly active in present-day Latvia and Poland.

David Hilchen was a key representative of Renaissance humanism in the area of the present-day Baltic states.

[2] In 1591 he was ennobled by the Polish king, Sigismund III Vasa, following a recommendation by Lew Sapieha and Severin Bonar, whom he had interacted with during the Calendar Riots.

[2][9] According to philologist Kristi Viiding [et], Hilchen "was the only conscious representative of the principles of civic or political humanism in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Livonia".

[10][11] In addition, Hilchen was a prolific writer, mostly in Latin (though he also commanded German and Polish), producing poems and rhetorical pieces as well as an unpublished history of the Calendar Riots.

[12] He corresponded widely with the leading scholars and intellectuals of his time in Europe and can be seen as a member of the "Republic of Letters" that spread and perpetuated humanist ideas and ideals.

[2][13] Examples of the literati Hilchen corresponded with include Justus Lipsius, Isaac Casaubon and Szymon Szymonowic.