The Nine Lyric or Melic Poets were a canonical group of ancient Greek poets esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria as worthy of critical study.
In the Palatine Anthology it is said that they established lyric song.
[1] They were: In most Greek sources the word melikos (from melos, "song") is used to refer to these poets, but the variant lyrikos (from lyra, "lyre") became the regular form in both Latin (as lyricus) and in modern languages.
The ancient scholars defined the genre on the basis of the musical accompaniment, not the content.
[2] Antipater of Thessalonica proposes an alternative canon of nine female poets.