(Κερκιδᾶς).
1. A poet, philosopher, and legislator for his native city, Megalopolis. At his death he ordered the first and second books of the Iliad to be buried with him. (Ptol. Hephaest. apud Phot. Cod. 190, p. 1.51, a., 14, ed. Bekker.) Aelian (Ael. VH 13.20) relates that Cercidas died expressing his hope of being with Pythagoras of the philosophers, Hecataeus of the historians, Olympus of the musicians, and Homer of the poets, which clearly implies that he himself cultivated these four sciences.