American Philological Association
Sappho Schoolmistress Author(s): Holt N. Parker Source: Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), Vol. 123 (1993), pp. 309- 351 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/284334 . Accessed: 28/06/2014 10:32
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This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Transactionsof theAmerican Philological Association 123 (1993) 309-351
Sappho Schoolmistress
Holt N. Parker Universityof Cincinnati
If we showthat poetry...is not one thingfor men and another for women but thesame, by comparing the songs of Sapphowith those of Anacreon...will anyonehave any reason to find fault with the demonstration? Plutarch,On theVirtues of Women (243b)
I. Introduction. "MoniqueWittig and Sande Zeig in theirLesbian Peoples: Materialfor a Dictionarydevote a fullpage to Sappho. The page is blank."So JohnWinkler began one of themost perceptive articles of recentyears on Sappho (162). Wit- tig and Zeig's blank page is a salutarywarning that we know nothingabout Sappho. Or worse:Everything we knowis wrong.Even themost basic "facts" are simplynot so or in need of a stringentcritical reexamination. A singleex- ample.We are toldover and overagain thatSappho "was marriedto Kerkylas of Andros,who is never mentionedin any of the extantfragments of her poetry"(Snyder 1989: 3). Not surprising,since it's a joke name:he's Dick All- cock fromthe Isle of MAN.1 It's been over 139 years since William Mure pointedthis out (1850-57: 111.2,278 [1854]; Calder 147, 150) and it is therein Wilamowitz(1913: 24) and easily accessible in theReal-Encyclopddie (Aly 2361 [?7]). The onlysource for this factoid is theSuda, and it is clearlytaken fromone of the numerouscomedies on Sappho.2Yet one findsthis piece of
A versionof thispaper was originallypresented at the1991 APA meetingin Chicagoin a panelsession, "Looking Inward and Looking Outward: New Directionsin theStudy of Sex- ualityin theAncient World," sponsored by theLesbian/Gay Caucus. It was subsequently awardedthe first annual Women's Classical Caucus Prize for Scholarship for an orallypre- sentedpaper. I wouldlike to thank the organizer of the session, Philip Kovitz, and the members ofthe WCC. 1Fromicepico; 'penis,' cf. Henderson 128. I mightbe willingto acceptKerkylas as a real personif the name were ever attested anywhere else andif he came from any other place on the planetexcept Andros (an island,not a city,pace Lardinois22). Theetymology is quitesound. Forother such names built to ice?pi-,e.g., Kepid&a; (RE 21: 292-3,s.v., for the etymology), see Bechtel482. The endingis intendedto recallthe semi-productive type in -Oka; (deriving originallyfrom u-stem by-forms of thematics,e.g., Nt KvXa;, ATjg&0ca;, etc.) and may in fact be a pundirectly on Kep65Xa;(< icp8o; 'profit')attested as a titleof Zeus (Lyc. 1092). 2Sapphoby Ameipsias (Kock 1.674),Amphis (Kock 2.94-96), Antiphanes (Kock 2.94-96), Diphilos(who has Archilochus and Hipponax as herlovers; Kock 2.564=Kassel-Austin [K-A]
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 310 Holt N. Parker informationrepeated without question from book to book, usuallyomitting the dubioussource, usually omitting any reference at all.3 Thus thenote I am soundingis cautionaryand mypurpose in thispaper is primarilynegative. I hope to fosteran atmosphereof skepticism.Whenever anyonepresents a statementabout Sappho, I want us to ask, "How do you know?Says who and where?"I wishto remindus to distrust.4 My purposein thisbrief animadversion is notto attackthe straw men of previouscenturies, nor to rehearsethe fascinatinghistory of the criticalfor- tunesof Sappho (forwhich see Lefkowitz1973/1981 and forFrance, DeJean). Rather,I wish to reconsidera singleinterpretive paradigm which continues to have remarkableinfluence: Sappho as schoolmistress.I wantfirst to examine
5.94), Ephippus(Kock 2.262=K-A 5.148), Timocles (Kock 2.464=K-A 7.777). Other comediespossibly about Sappho: Phaon byPlato Comicus (Kock 1.648=K-A7.508-17) and Antiphanes(Kock 2.104, if not identical with Sappho); Leucadia by Menander (Korte 2.96-98), Diphilus(Kock 2.558=K-A5.81), Alexis (Kock 2.344),Amphis (Kock 2.243); Leukadiosby Antiphanes(Kock 2.69=K-A2.387); Antilaisby Epikrates (Kock 2.284=K-A5.156). Also a Leucadia byTurpilius telling the story of Phaon,based presumably on Menander(Ribbeck 2.113-18;Rvchlewska 1971: 29-37). See Alv 2366:CamDbell 1982: 27. 3So forstandard works subsequent to Aly,see Schadewaldt1950: 9 ("Von dem Mann erfahrenwir nur eben seinen Namen und vielleicht nicht einmal diesen," without mentioning whythe name is in doubt);Hadas 51; Bowra176 ("Thereis no needto doubtthat she was marriedto Cercylas of Andros reputed to be a richman," without mentioning by whom or why ithad been doubted); R. Cantarella203; Flaceliere126; Lesky 139; Campbell 1967: 261 (who notesAly's doubt later in 1982:5 n. 4); West1970: 328 ("Sheacquired a husband,though he is conspicuousby his absencefrom the fragments"); Tarditi 73; Frankel171; Kirkwood101; Pomeroy54; Levi 82 (in a passage stillgallantly defending her against charges of homo- sexuality);E. Cantarella1981/1987: 71, 1988/1992:78. Noneof thesecites the source of the information.Rose 94-95 is uniquein citing Aly and explicitly arguing against him. Wilamowitz (1913: 73) defendsher as a "vornehmeFrau, Gattin und Mutter," and though he recognizes that thehusband's name is a joke (24),the husband himself must still have existed to account for the daughterKleis (so too Schadewaldtand Lardinois 1989: 22). Mure(1857: 591) had already pointedout the basis of this argument: "My opponent [Welcker] and his fellow apologists every whereassume that Sappho was married;on theground chiefly that she had a daughter,and the daughterof so exemplarya woman must necessarily have been a legitimatechild" (see Calder 153).Others working to rehabilitate her as a nineteenth-centuryschoolmistress flatly assert that she was unmarriedand consequentlya virgin; so Schmid-Stiihlin(417 andn. 9) baldlystate: "Verheiratetkann sie kaumgewesen sein . . . Der reicheMann Kerkylas von Andros (Suid. s. Xianrp)wird der Legende angehoren ... Mitdem Mann fallt auch die Tochter"(failing to cite Aly,missing the point that Kerkylas comes from comedy, criticizing Wilamowitz for taste- lessnessin doing so, andevidencing the same curious assumptions about the birth of children); so tooJaeger I, 133. 4WelckerII, 80 in his defenceof Sapphoon thecharge of beinga homosexualquotes Epicharmus (250 Kaibel) as his epigraph: va&pexcat p4ivaa' aitoaeiv apOpa caiVra cav ppev6v("Be soberand remember to distrust that organ of the mind"). Though Welcker had a differentax to grind, his attempt at an attitudeof skepticism is commendable. See Calder1986.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SapphoSchoolmistress 311 thispicture of Sappho and what,if any,evidence has been used to constructit, thento look at the models which (explicitlyor implicitly)have formedthe basis forthis picture. Next, I turnmy attentionto two particularattempts to rescuethis image-Sappho as music teacherand Sappho as sex-educator.To support these models there has arisen a curious double movement of assimilationand isolation.Her sexuality(the expressionof whichshe shares withno one else)5 has been absorbedinto a male model of pederasticpower and aggression,while her poetry(the expressionof which she shares with many) has been cut offfrom all otherpoets. Finally,I considera different paradigmfor understanding Sappho, whichI believe is truerto the few facts we do possess. II. Palimpsest. Perhapsan even betterimage forSappho thanthe blankpage is thepa- limpsest.There does exist a textof Sappho, but it is so thicklywritten over withcritical accumulation that it is almostimpossible to make out the words beneath.This repetitionof statementsand assumptionsfrom book to book is indicativeof what seems to me to be a widespreadtendency in the studyof Sappho, wherestatements are takenfrom previous works without any critical evaluation,frequently without citation, as ifthey were facts so basic that"ever- yone" knows them.Further, this lack of criticalevaluation towards Sappho stands in sharp contrastto the generalskeptical approach to the otherlyric poets, for example Alcaeus.6 Specially, thereis a failureto tryas far as possibleto look at thetext without first reading the commentary.
5Thatis, the first-person expression of desire by a womanfor a woman. 6Forthis widespread attitude Lesky can be takenas an exemplar.Contrast the following statements:"Ancient and moderninterpretations have often grossly simplified this period of historyand have romanticized the part played by Alcaeus. The fortunes of the poet ... gaverise in antiquityto a legendfounded mainly on thewritings of Alcaeushimself, eked out by local legends,and certainly incorporating a strong element of guessworkto fillup theholes. It is advisableto bearin mindthe uncertainty that prevails on severalpoints, and to emphasize the fewascertainable facts rather than make up a continuousnarrative" (130-31). "Sappho was widelyread throughout antiquity, and in consequence we findmany biographical details about her,mostly derived from her own writings. What has survived still gives us a certainamount of biography"(138). Fortwo examples of theongoing novelization of Sappho,see Lesky(146) on fr.150, "When her daughter is mortallyill sheforbids loud wailing." The citationis taken fromMax. Tyr.(18.9) and actuallysays "He [Socrates]was angrywith Xanthippe when he was dying,and she [Sappho]with her daughter." See also Frankel171, "She herself,by her own account[my italics], was smalland darkand notvery pretty." Her "own account,"of course,is Ovid (well,perhaps), Her. 15.31-40,backed by Max. Tyr.18.7 (259 V) and P. Oxy. 1800 (TI Loeb=252 V); theymay indeed have drawnon herpoetry, but thatis an
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The reasonsare in partunderstandable and even creditable.The textof Sappho is in fragmentswhich we mustshore against their ruin. The languageis difficult,the societyobscure. We turnto thehandbooks and commentariesfor aid. But this means thatwe come to Sappho alreadyblinded by the largely unexaminedassumptions of the previousgenerations of scholars;7and in the case of Sappho theaccumulation of assumptionsis millenniadeep and includes Greek comedies,Italian novels, and Frenchpomography. The case is worse forSappho thanfor any otherauthor, including Homer. For herewe are deal- ing not only witharchaic literature but withsexuality; the commentariesare heavilyendued with emotion and our own preconceptions.More importantly, we are dealing with homosexuality(or ratherwhat we constructas homo- sexuality)8and women'ssexuality. Sappho createsidiocies and raisesquestions thatsimply are neverasked of anymale poets. It is not thatthese various constructions and reconstructionsof Sappho are necessarilywrong. Rather, they are largelyunprovable and completelyun- examined.My note throughoutwill be thatthere is simplyno evidence for manyof the statementsso decisivelymade. Ratherthan argue ex silentio,I hope to pointout thatmuch of what we read in the handbooksis an argu- mentumex nihilo,based solely on unexaminedtradition, presupposition and prejudice.Classicists experiencea horrorvacui (especially of biographical data) perhapsmore stronglythan others and few have been able to resistthe temptationto fill in the blanks (cf. Dover 1978: 173). Every age createsits own Sappho. Her positionas thewoman poet (as Homeris themale poet),9the firstfemale voice heardin theWest, elevates her to a statuswhere she is forced to be a metonymfor all women.Sappho ceases to be an authorand becomesa symbol.She is recreatedin each age to servethe interestsof all who appro- priateher, whether friend or enemy.We, of course,are doing the same. All we can hope to do is be as littleblind to whatevidence there is and explicitlyto acknowledgethe limitationsof our knowledgeand thebases forour assump- tions.
inference,not a fact.For the novelistic and romantic treatments ofAlcaeus, see DeJean158-60, 190-91.258-59. 7Cf.the remarks of Lefkowitz 1973/1981: 69 andJenkyns &7. 8Cf.Dover 1978:vii: "I knowof no topicin classicalstudies on whicha scholar'snormal abilityto perceive differences and draw inferences is so easilyimpaired." 9AntipaterAP 7.15, Galen4.771.18K (Marquandt2.35.14, not Protr. 2 as statedby Aly 2368,the source of fr.50). Cf.Antipater of Thessalonica AP 9.26,where Anyte is thefemale Homer.
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III. Sappho Schoolmistress. In its strongestform, Sappho Schoolmistressis the well-knowncreation of Wilamowitz (1913), who was concernedwith defendingSappho from chargesof homosexuality,in particularPierre Louys' recentlypublished Chan- sons de Bilitis (1895). To do so, Wilamowitztook over the theoriesof Karl Muller(1840: 172-78=1858:228-36) and FriedrichGottlieb Welcker (98), and recastSappho as a virginschoolmistress.10 This wholeconstruction was created to explainaway Sappho's passion forher "girls," allowing her theemotion of love but denyingit any physicalcomponent, by recastingit in the formof an explicitly"Platonic" and propaedeuticlove.11 Calder and DeJean (198-220) have dealtwith this at length(see also Jenkyns1-4 and Rudiger).I will merely pointout thatit arises froma historicallyconditioned construct of feminine psychosexualdevelopment, unique to Englandand Germany,springing in part froman attemptto justifythe role of and allay anxietiesabout the current regimeof single-sexschools. Thus, Sappho is cast as a friendlyspinster teacher at a boarding school-this is not an exaggeration-educatinggirls before turningthem over to a normallife of marriageand motherhood.12The girlsin turnpass througha phase of a crushon an older teacherwhich somehow or other"prepares" them for normalheterosexuality (see section VIII below). With the authorityof Wilamowitz,Sappho the Schoolmistresscame to be enshrinedin thecanonical pages of theReal-Encyclopddie (Aly), in Schmid- Stahlin's Geschichteder griechischenLiteratur (1929) and once embalmed there,it seems as if it can neverbe buried.It passed to Jaeger(111), Flaceliere (125), Campbell (1967: 261), Gerber (161), Arthur(42) and beyond.13 It
10Welckerand Muller had a precedentin thenovels of Billardonde Sauvigny1773: I, 64 (who speaksof herfemale disciples) and Barthelemy 1790: 11, 69 (=Beaumont1806: II, 63, whereSappho is incharge of a literaryschool); see DeJean139 and 341 n. 20 11Miiller1857: I, 319-22=1858:I, 234-6;cf. Wilamowitz 1913: 77, Schmid-Stahlin418, JaegerI, 143-44,Flaceliere 128. The comparisonbetween Sappho and Socratesis originally madeby Max. Tyr.18.9 (T 20 Loeb),see below. 12Welcker97 andfollowing him Wilamowitz 1913: 73 andSchmid-Stahlin 418 letus know thatthe school was in Sappho'shouse (on thebasis of frg.150); so too Kranz88 (complete withcurriculum); West 1980: 83 ("a groupof unmarriedwomen or girlswho gatheredat Sappho'shouse to practice music and song"); Bumett 211 n. 8. 13Wilamowitz1912: 41 proposedan analogy:"Wen der moderne Ton nichtschreckt, mag das immerein Madchenpensionatnennen." Calder 140 n. 49 attemptsto protecthim from Poschel'ssarcasm (in Flashar377) bysaying, "Wilamowitz did notmean it seriously. He was drawingan amusingmodern analogy for laymen." I see nodesire to amuse in thedisclaimer to thecomparison, but in anycase his analogyhas passedto othersas partof thebaggage of SapphoSchoolmistress; two examples, Flacelire 125:"Sapho, justement, dirigea une sorte de
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reachesits ultimatepoint of absurdityin Devereux' now infamouspicture of Sappho wakingup one morning,realizing she has no penis,and dashingoff fr. 31 in a (literally)hysterical seizure. He comments(1970: 31):
Thesefindings [of Sappho's"authentic lesbianism"] can neitherprove nordisprove that she was also a schoolmistressor a cult-leader.If she was either(or both), this would prove no morethan that in Lesbos,quite as muchas in somemodem societies, female inverts tended to gravitate intoprofessions which brought them in contactwith young girls, whose partialsegregation and considerablepsycho-sexual immaturity-and thereforeincomplete differentiatedness-made them willing participants in lesbianexperimentation.
Perhaps the most astonishingthing in thisquote is the word "professions." Devereux shows no hesitationin recreatingarchaic Mytilene on the basis of Mddchenin Uniform(see thecriticisms of Marcovich).Sappho Schoolmistress has becomeSappho Gym Teacher. In the midstof all this reconstruction(or ratherromancing), one most important(and mostfrequently ignored) fact must be pointedout: nowherein any poem does Sappho teach,or speak about teaching,anything to anyone. Page demolishedthe silly notionof Sappho in some sortof formalteaching positionin 1955 (111-12) and since we have had to be remindedby Lefkowitz (1973/1981: 63), Kirkwood (101), Pomeroy (53), Snyder (1990: 12), and others,that thereis simplyno evidence for MistressSappho's School for Young Ladies. Yet despitethese efforts, this image of Sappho continuesto be takenas gospel.14So we encounterEva Cantarellaflatly asserting: "But Sappho was not onlymistress of the intellect-hergirls learned about the weapons of beauty,seduction, and charm:they learned the grace (charis) thatmade them desirablewomen. Here the descriptionfinishing school is not incorrect,but it
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SapphoSchoolmistress 315 is certainlyinsufficient."15 Though Cantarella does nottell us how she came by a copy of the syllabusat Sappho's school,we can see thatshe tookthe details fromSchmid-Stahlin, and if we ask wherethey got themfrom, we findout theyjust made themup. Since Sapphohad a school-somethingwe all know- it musthave had a curriculum,and theygrub through the poems in searchof details.Anything mentioned in thepoems becomes a courseoffering. Thus the weddingof Hectorand Andromache(44) is partof a series of "Storiesfrom GreekMyth" for her pupils, nor they do fail to list thelessons in cosmetics.16 On thisbasis, Sappho 16 would be proofthat she trainedher girlsin cavalry maneuvers.Merkelbach (4 n. 1) acceptedWilamowitz' Mddchenpensionat "cum granosalis," but stillprovides a syllabusincluding "weibliche Arbeiten," for which his evidence is fr. 102 (in which a girl tells her mothershe can no longerspin; no mentionthat she learnedto do so at Sappho's BoardingSchool), inc. auct. 17 (whichhe assignsto Sappho,apparently because it speaks about spinning),and theexistence of sewingcircles in Germanyand othercultures. Burnettwrites: "Cult, deportmentand dress were all apparentlymatters for studyamong Sappho's girls,but music was at the core of theircurriculum" (215). The college catalogue is derived fromthe various descriptionsof clothes;the deportmentfrom 57 (a rusticgirl) and 16 (Anactoria'swalk): a love poem is reducedto a reportcard. Most recentlyLardinois: "Sappho's teachingneed not have been restrictedto music and dance, however. An impressionof all theactivities Sappho performedwith her girls is to be found in fragment94" (26). Flowers,garlands, perfumes, soft beds on whichto expel desire,shrines, groves, and dance,become parts of a coursedescription. IV. The New Paradigm: "Girls" and Ritual. Thus Sappho's School forGirls still seems to be a going concern.Yet despitethese periodic attempts to close it, one thingremains untouched and unquestioned,which shows the lingeringinfluence of Sappho Schoolmistress even amongthose who ignoreit or explicitlyreject it. Sappho is stillassumed in nearlyevery book, monograph,and paperto be an olderwoman with some kindof powerover a groupof youngunmarried girls. This is theunquestioned
15E. Cantarella1981/1987: 86-87, 1988/1992:79 (cf. 3-4). Supplyinga Greekword is essentialto makeit appearas ifthere were any ancient support for these statements. Cf. the commentson theuse of "thiasos" below. Cantarella is ledinto making direct misstatements. So sheclaims (1981/1987: 86, 1988/1992:79) thatthe Suda callsSappho a didaskalos. 16Schmid-Stahlin419-20; 422 n. 9: "einMuster lyrischer Erzahlung fur die Schiilerinnen"; see Page's strictures(1955: 111 and n. 1); forthe cosmetics, cf. Saake 1971: 200 (quoted below).
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 316 Holt N. Parker assumptionwe have inheritedfrom the handbooks which still forms the basis for discussion of Sappho. Oddly enough then, it is the most Victorian, anachronistic,sexist, and perversepart of Mullerand Wilamowitz'picture of Sappho thatcontinues to exertthe strongest influence. A new paradigmhas grownup. In thisview, which is thedominant inter- pretivemodel (apartfrom making Sappho a headmistressoutright), she is still seen as an older womanpresiding over an organizationdevoted to educating younggirls before they leave formarriage, but now she does so in a ritual context.The all-pervasivenessof this assumptionleft over fromSappho Schoolmistressis shownby thepandemic use of thewords "girls," "Madchern," "jeunesfilles," "fanciulle," and thelike. The new model is informedprimarily by the growingrealization of the importanceof theoral performanceof lyricpoetry (Merkelbach; Russo; Segal; Gentili 1988: 3-23, with235 n. 2 for a fullbibliography) and by anthropo- logical studies(Brelich; Calame 1977). This importantstressing of the pri- marilyoral natureof Sappho's poetryprovides the basis forthe important new interpretationsof, among others,Merkelbach, Hallett (1979), Burnett,and Gentili (1985/1988). Sappho sang, and she musthave sung to an audience. However,all of thesescholars unquestioningly assume, still on thebasis of the old all-pervasiveparadigm, that her audienceconsisted entirely of unmarried girls.For this,to putthe matter briefly, there is no credibleevidence at all.17 V. The Evidence. Three factorshave contributedto this dominantbelief: the lingering influenceof Wilamowitzand othersin thehandbooks, certain late testimonia, and an anachronisticmodel of femalehomoerotics derived from Sparta. I will deal withthe last two in turn.Since so muchhas been built on the ancient citations,it seems necessaryto quote themin full and treatthem at some length. Five late testimoniaspeak of Sappho as a "teacher"in some sense. None of themis evidencethat Sappho ran an institutionof any sort.The earliestis Ovid Trist.2.363-65:
17Page1955: 111refers rightly to "the copious but inane biographical tradition." Lardinois mightbe takenas emblematic.In whatpurports to be a criticaland skeptical reexamination of whetherSappho was a lesbian,he providesfairly copious documentation. He theninanely states(17): "It is, however,certain that these poems concern young girls. Sometimes Sappho herselfrefers to them as suchand the testimonia confirm this repeatedly." He hasjust referred to thetestimonia as "a collectionof fiction,truths, and half-truths" (15) buthere provides not a singlereference for a statementwhich is centralto his reconstruction.
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quid,nisi cum multo Venerem confundere vino, praecepitlyrici Teia Musasenis? Lesbiaquid docuit Sappho, nisi amare, puellas?
What,except how to mingleVenus with much wine, did the Tean Muse of theold lyricpoet teach? What did Sapphoof Lesbos teachthe girls, excepthow to love?
Here,of course,Ovid is no moreimagining Sappho runninga school forlove thanhe is imaginingAnacreon running an drinkingacademy. Maximus of Tyre (c. 180-5 A.D.) in his oration'r; i1 Ioicpaitouo; epco'rt; (18.9a-d=T 20 Loeb) comparesSappho to Socrates:
6 8'? tfj Aeoft'a; [`po] .....X a'v e'?1 a&XXofj avro, ij 1ICpa&rox t%VIJ Epunt; 8oKoi5Ot yap got tlv KcaO'att6v bc&arpo; qtXiav, REJ?v yuvatK6ov,6 80 app?VO)V,XinttIi8e0ioat. Kalt yap noXX6cv Ep&v X?SyoV Kai VtO 7&vtcov&XJOKSOOaO tcGv KaX(OV. o Xtyap ?iiV 'AXKit0tu&j; Kai Xapgii&j; Kai (daltpoq, roivrotf Aeoij Fupivva Kait ArO't; Ka't 'AvaKtopia Kait o 't tlp Xo)Klp&?rt0t avrireXvot HlpO66tKo Kait ropyia; Kait 8paGVgaXoq Kai't npfp- ,rayOpa;, TOVTO 'j X ai(pol ropy' Ka't 'Av8pop?6a vVv p?v eICrtg& raiarrat;, vvv &? ix&m?t Kaic sipo)vsi$s'rataita& iKdsVa'ra lXoKpatol);.
Whatelse was thelove of theLesbian woman except Socrates' art of love?For they seem to me to have practiced love each in theirown way, she thatof women,he thatof men.For theysay thatboth loved many and were captivatedby all thingsbeautiful. What Alcibiades and Charmidesand Phaedrus were to him, Gyrinna and Atthis and Anactoria wereto the Lesbian. And what the rival craftsmen Prodicus and Gorgias andThrasymachus and Protagoras were to Socrates,Gorgo and Andro- meda wereto Sappho.Sometimes she upbraidsthem, sometimes she refutesthem and uses irony, just like Socrates.
Maximus' concernhere is to show thenobility of love. He no morestates that Sappho ran a school thanhe sets up one forHesiod, whomhe cites forcom- parisonwith Socrates immediatelybefore this passage or forArchilochus or Anacreon,whom he quotes immediatelyafterward (18.9 1-m). Further,the importantpoint is missedthat not even Socratesran a "school."As Page (1955: 111 n. 2) pointsout: "Thereis no suggestionof any formalassociation." The comparisonis made on thebasis of theirlove of beautyand a certainironic and
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 318 Holt N. Parker sarcastictone thatMaximus findsin his quotations.18And, we shouldnote, even Maximus does not speak of "girls" and "boys," but of "men" and "women."It is as wrongto deduce thatSappho was surroundedonly by pre- pubescentgirls as it would be to deduce thatSocrates never spoke to anyone exceptmales underthe age of eighteen. Maximus is our only source for such "rivals." Yet by takinghis com- parisonin a naivelyliteral fashion, there has sprungup thewidespread vision notjust of Sappho's Academybut of a Lesbos litteredwith warring boarding schools.19 This in turnhas had profoundeffect on the interpretationof the poems. Thus when Atthisleaves to go to Andromeda(131), some scholars (e.g., Kirkwood125) speak of her "defecting"from Sappho to Andromeda's possibly"larger group," despite the factthat apart from this one, late, broad, humorous,and superficialanalogy thereis no indicationthat Andromeda is anythingother than a rival lover nor is thereeven a mentionthat any of the womenthat Sappho dislikeshad a "circle" of younggirls. This idea of "de- fection"is appliedeven to poem 1, wherethe woman Sappho loves is said to be "desertingthe Sapphic thiasos for the community of a rival"(Gentili 1988: 80). But Sappho says nothingof a thiasos,or a community,or desertion,or even a rival; thereis only Aphroditeand Sappho, and a woman who does not love Sappho back. This is absurdlyout of hand.Compare the situation of Anacreon 357: thereis onlyDionysus, Anacreon and a boy who does notlove himback; or compareTheognis 250-54 or 1299-1304. Yet does anyonesay thatKleo- boulos or Kymos had "defected"from the "thiasos" of Anacreonor Theognis andjoined thatof a "rival"? Philostratus(c. 200 A.D.) in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana writes (1.30=T 21 Loeb) abouta Pamphilianwoman:
6n Xwran(poi 0' blbXijaat x'ycrat k... caXCtat roivUv{j ao0picacdTi Aago(plo`X1ica't XeYstat 'rov XaigoiS rpOxov XapO`VOUq 0'
18Max.Tyr. is a sourcefor frgs. 47, 49b, 57, 130, 150, 155, 159, 172, 188. A readingof theentire passage will how superflcial his comparison is andis meantto be. Cf.n. 6 above. 19E.g.,Schadewaldt 1950: 11,Page 1955: 133,Merkelbach 5, Friinkel,Lesky 145, Gentili 1966:49, Rivier89 (whoconjures up a visionof each"new girl" being sworn into Sappho's schoolin a religiousceremony which constitutes a contract: "engagement"), Calame 1977:1, 370,Burnett 212 (whomisquotes Max. Tyr.), Podlecki 88 (whoplays down the formal aspects of"schools"), Cantarella 1981/1987: 87 and1988/1992: 79, Gentili 1988: 80-83. Scholars have plungedheadlong into creating rival girls' schools, taking Maximus' comparison as literallytrue forSappho, without stopping to realizethat it is noteven literally true for Socrates. To what extentwere Gorgias & Co. "rivalcraftsmen" ofSocrates?
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OpkXiitpia; K'rijoaoOatirou'jwaxc r? t(vOeivaat 'a& piv epcLYtKa,'ra 6' iSjvous.
Whois said to haveassociated with Sappho ... Thiswise woman was calledDamophile and is saidalso tohave gathered maidens as disciples in themanner of Sapphoand to have writtenlove poetryas well as hymns.
Again the model envisaged for Damophile, and by implicationfor Sappho,is thatof Socratesand his pupils(o6gtXirpix;), and again thisdoes not show the existenceof a formalschool. Dover (1978: 175) cites thispassage "for what it is worth-and this is verylittle, except as an indicationof the formof theSappho-legend in muchlater times" and comments:"If in thegen- erationafter Sappho therewere otherwomen poets in the EasternAegean, Lesbiantradition will have regardedthem as pupilsof Sappho." Two sources,however, speak more directlyof Sappho as teaching,but neitheris remotelysolid evidencefor Sappho "runninga school."The oldestis a fragmentof an anonymouscommentary on Sappho datingto the second centuryA.D. (214b V=S 261a SLG=P. Colon. 5860): i 6' Fqi' iauXfx{a[;] 'RaCt5Cz'o?ToCtaT &p{rta; oi0 govov t&OV&yxwpiwv &XXc ical Txv axn 'Ivoviscg("But she in peace educatingthe best women not only from the natives [of Lesbos] but also of Ionia").The contrastin theil 6? (the papyrusbegins o jTv. . .) is apparentlybetween Sappho's quiet life in teachingand Alcaeus' stormylife in politics.20We have no idea of the commentator'ssources or accuracyand Treu (1968: 1235) rightlycomments, "Nicht verpflichtet sind wir . . . Glauben zu schenken."21Likewise the Suda (E 107=T 2 Loeb) seems to makea distinctionbetween comrades and pupils:
20So Gronewald114. Not withBurnett 210 n. 4 who translates?p' iaii%ia; as "at her leisure,"commenting "surely ?p' Ijaouia; mustmean that Sappho acted as a privatecitizen, not as a priestessor the appointed leader of an initiationgroup." While I agreewith her conclusion, thecontrast of iXov%iahere following a referenceto Kpatoi3otis withwar (cf. Thuc. 3.12), notwith public status. Burnett cites Strabo 13.2.4 for "the foreign membership" of Sappho's circle,but he saysnothing of thesort, merely mentioning that Hellanicus, the historian, and Kallias(c. 200 B.C.), thecommentator on Sapphoand Alcaeus, were from Lesbos. 21Note that the first part of thefragment (on Sappho'steaching) is notattributed to any source.Burnett 210 n. 4 mistakenlysays that the authority is Kallias (see noteabove). Rather, he is citedonly for Sappho's subsequentreputation. Further, as Dover notes,"Kallias will probablyhave based his statementabout 'high favour' on traditionas he knewit, not on evidencegiving direct access to the sentiment ofthe Lesbians in Sappho'slifetime" (1978: 175). Calder140 n. 49 accuratelysays, "Kallias of Mytilene is invoked."
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Vcaipat5? a,rfio; Kai Pikat yvyovaat rpst;, ArOi, TEXsoitrlra, MEyapa irpo; as Kat 5inoXnv ?o?saioCpo; TpXia. jlaOxtptat 8? azsi; 'Avayopa MtXkoia, royyka Kokopovia, Ei'vstKa laxajitvia.
She had threecompanions and friends,Atthis, Telesippa, and Megara, forwhom she was slanderedas havinga shamefullove. Her pupils were Anagoraof Miletus, Gongyla of Colophon and Eunica of Salamis.
Megara,Telesippa, and Eunica of Salamis are mentionedonly here in thesur- vivingevidence as is Anagoraof Miletus,unless she is thesame as (or a mis- take for)Anactoria (so Page 1955: 135 n. 1), whileGongyla is mentionedbut in poems too fragmentaryto tell if Colophon was mentioned(22, 95, 213, 213Aa, 214A). The Suda is merelycontinuing the standardprocess of turning poetryinto biography (see Fairweather;Lefkowitz 1981). The prosopography of Sappho containsmore than six entries,and thedistinction the Suda makes betweenthree friends and threepupils is illusory.It is also clear on whatbasis the Suda makes that distinction:the "companionsand friends"all appear withouta geographicaldesignation, the "pupils" are foreign.That is, wherever the Suda or its sources foundsome reason forthinking a characterwas not fromLesbos, theyexplained her presence by assumingshe was a "pupil."22The
22These foreignwomen have played an importantrole in the historyof Sappho Schoolmistress.Three points need to be made.1) Thepresence of foreign women on Lesbosis attestedonly by this bit of the Suda andby the Cologne commentary quoted above, which may sharea commonsource and that source, like so muchelse, might be comedy(see n. 3 above).I wouldbe reluctantto assume a regulartraffic of women between Athens and Sparta on thebasis ofLysistrata. There may be sometruth hidden here (Ionia matchingup withColophon and Miletus).However, if we are to use Ovid as evidence,he oughtto be used consistently:the Heroidesmentions no loverof Sappho'scoming from further afield than Lesbos (15.15-16, 201) andimplies that Anactoria (the Suda's Anagoraof Miletus?) is a native(15.17). Lardinois 17 and29 attemptedto explainwhy these two sources say that foreign women were on Lesbos: "Theregions to which some of the girls, according to the poems [my emphasis], went after their stayin Sappho'scircle, may have been held to be theirplaces of origin. In mostcases thegirls weremarried there." The laststatement has no evidenceat all toback it up,not in mostcases, notin anycase. In 16 Anactoriais gone,but we don'tknow where; in 96 someonehas left for Sardis,but we don'tknow who (that arignota in 4-5 is a propername had been debunked by Page in 1955:89; yetsee note73 below).Lardinois has acceptedothers' speculations as facts andthen convinced himself that he has readthem in thepoems. 2) UnlikeLardinois, I do not findthe idea of foreignwomen on Lesbos inherentlyimprobable. However, even if they did come to Lesbos,it does notfollow, as he and manyothers think, that they therefore came because of Sappho. This is a fineexample of whatWiseman calls "the fallacyof the conspicious"(1-2). Was Sapphothe only possible reason to visit Lesbos? 3) Evenif they were
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SapphoSchoolmistress 321 idea of Sappho withpupils, common to thesetwo sources,rests on thisbasis alone. There is stillno mentionof any sortof "school" and, let us note,even the wretchedevidence of the Suda has been misinterpreted:it limits her "shamefullove" to her "companionsand friends,"not to her students.On the value thatcan be assignedto such Byzantinespeculation we need only recall thatboth Erinna(Suda 11521, Eust. II. 326.46) and Nossis (AP 7.718 in the lemma)are turnedinto pupils of Sappho.23 Seven testimoniapresent some sortof pictureof Sappho consortingwith "girls." Ovid (Trist. 2.365, quoted above; Her. 15.15) and Horace (Odes 2.13.24-35) speak of heras in love withpuellae. Theymay be imaginingpre- pubescentshere, but puella, of course,is used equallyof girls,mature women, and goddesses,especially as objectsof love, and Horace calls Sappho herselfa puella at Odes 4.9.12. There is an implicationin the passages of Philostratus (AtoqXUrll ico. . . .rxxpO?vous0' ogiXlTpiao), Maximus of Tyre (Alcibi- ades, Charmidesand Phaedruswere youngmen), and the Cologne Commen- tary(i iSv0o-oacc)that Sappho had youngwomen as students.Even thenthere is no indicationthat these women were girls on theirway to themarriage mar- ket. Himerius(Or. 28.2=T 50 Loeb) speaks of her singingof thebeauty of a younggirl (7cxcpOevo;). Chronologically,the earliest witness (Horace) is 600 yearsafter Sappho. As evidencethe testimonia are valueless,again turningpoetry into biography. They do not prove thatSappho ran a school. They do not prove thatSappho loved only nubile girls. What theydo show is somethingquite familiarto feminists:the wholesale restructuringof femalesexuality and societyon the modelof male sexualityand society.24This is preciselythe type of construction on Lesbos,and there because of Sappho,it does notfollow that they were little girls there to studywith Sappho, much less to live withher in herhouse. We findnowhere in theGreek worldan equivalentfor unmarried girls being shipped around the Mediterranean by their fathers.This picture would be oddeven for adult males: Gorgias comes to Athens, not the other wayaround. The idea thatthe women were on Lesbosto "study" with Sappho arises from the preconceptionthat they were pre-pubescents. In turn, the idea that they were "pupils" is usedas proofthat they were "girls." If thepresence of thesenon-native women is indeeda fact,why couldthey not have been there with their (native or not) husbands and families? 23Furtheron thedubious chronology of thesources, Hermesianax makes her the contem- poraryof Anacreon(Athen. 13.598b-c; 2.47-51 Diehl; p. 99 Powell)perhaps as a deliberate joke (so Athen.599c-d), while Pausanius (9.29.8) makesher a borrowerfrom Pamphos, whomhe apparentlybelieved to be pre-Homeric,but who seems to be Hellenistic(see MaasRE 18.3.352). 24Forthe Roman world, see Hallett1989, for the construction ofthe tribas on themodel of masculinesexuality.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 322 Holt N. Parker we findin Lucian's portrayalof thewomen of Lesbos in DMeretr.5. The an- alogy, whetherstated or assumed,for the relationof Sappho to her lovers is thatof paiderastria, a power relationof older to younger,teacher to pupil, initiatorto initiated(Dover 1978). Sappho wroteof love; she thereforemust be the (necessarilyolder) erastes, those about whom she sang the (necessarily younger)eromenoilai. Lardinois is at leastexplicit: "She appearsto have been a kind of femalepederast" (17-18). Surely,this ought to make us suspicious. This reinscriptionof Sappho alongthe lines of male powerrelations is implicit in Maximus of Tyre and explicitin severalother texts. So the Oxyrhynchus commentary(252 V=P. Oxy. 1800=T1 Loeb) says thatshe was accused of being a yuvatK-s[p6a]ptpc,a nonce-formationmeaning "(female) erastes of women" (see Dover 1978: 174). Porphyrion,on Horace's use of mascula to describeSappho, comments(ad Ep. 1.19.28=T 17 Loeb): vel quia in poetico studio est
2501d age is referredto in58.13-14, but we do notknow whose.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SapphoSchoolmistress 323 youngchildren, or thatthey left her care formarriage. This latterwide-spread assumptionseem to be builtentirely on thefact that she wroteepithalamia-as if thatwere all she wrote.Outside of theobvious wedding songs (27, 30, 105, 107, 113, 114, 194), wherethe youth and virginityof thebride are mentioned, thereare exactly six referencesin the survivingfragments, some of which mightalso be epithalamia,to theage of thewomen for whom or aboutwhom she is singing.On this slenderbasis has been erectedthe whole towerof Sappho Schoolmistress.In 140a, she refersto thecelebrants as KOpOa. But the Adoniawas everywherethat we knowof a privatefestival of adultwomen, and Kopat is rituallanguage, not age description.26At themutilated end of 17, a prayerto Hera, in what seems to be partof a ritual,she probablyrefers to maiden(s): t]apO[sv . . . , thoughthe reference is notnecessarily to thecele- brants.In 56, in an unknowncontext, she says thatno girlwill have such skill. In 153, again in an unknowncontext, she refersto a "sweet-voicedgirl," using nr6pOtvo; both times. In 122 a tenderchild (tcxc' tcycwvt &irncUcv) is pluckingflowers; the contextis unknownand may well be mythological. Finally,in the mostfamous example (49), she says, np6liov A?v i7ywoCY?O?v "AT-Oti OciXco oTot6("I loved you once, Atthis")and elsewhere,aJ.t{Kpa got ICCI; 4FW?V' ?(P0IVso KCIXtPl; ("You seemed to me to be a small child and graceless").Even if we acceptthat these two linesare consecutiveor even nec- essarilybelong to the same poem or referredto the same person,which I do not,27there is nothinghere that shows thatSappho was an older woman. Indeed, the imperfect?(pxivso could equally argue quite the opposite,that Sappho speaks hereto an age-mateabout the time when both Sappho and the woman were children.That is certainlywhat is implied by Terentianus Maurus' (2154-5=6.390.4-5K) recastingof 49a: cordiquandofuisse sibi canit Atthida/ parvam,florea virginitassua cumfloret ("when she sang thatshe loved littleAtthis, when her own virginitywas in flower");the virginitassua in questionis Sappho's. This notionof Sappho surroundedby age-matesis furtherstrengthened by a fragment,which, since it does not gibe with the communisopinio, has been ignored,and thisis fr.24a.2-5:
][g]?egv&oeoOs'a[ a a IC atK]cfly ya p a? ?Ve ,V?0 Fran
26Winkler189 withn. 2. Cf. thesame use in Telesilla(717). It would,in anycase, pre- sumablyapply to the poet as well. 27Theonly reason for connecting these two fragments, which are nowherequoted by the samesource, is thefact that Terentianus Maurus (see text)uses the adjective parvam. See my article,"What Bergk Hath Joined Together: Sappho 49a andb," forthcoming.
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vax)C [E?]Xo,TjRv - ir6kkcz[g]v y&p coc c'[kc
... you will remember... forwe also did thesethings in ouryouth. Formany beautiful things ...
Here, despitethe damage to the papyrus,we have clear pictureof age- mates, who sharedcommon experiences while growingup together.In the same papyrus,we findfr. 23:
X; yap acv]rtov etioi6w(IG[y, poxive?ctig' oi09'] 'Epgtovcc ecv[c 4tgevcxtj] iCvOat6' 'EX?vct o' ?io[C]rv 0D18 ?'V OcefliC?5
[forwhen] I lookdirectly at you [not even] Hermione [seem to me to be] equalto you, and to compare you to blonde Helen [is not]unsuitable.
Now althoughHermione, Helen's daughter,might be a proper com- parisonfor a younggirl, Helen is thecomparanda fora maturewoman.28 No male lyricpoet compareshis pais withthe adult male gods or heroes.29The same comparisonto goddesses is made in 96.3, 21-3 and the statementthat A6c-rwicd Nto6fcx1i6kXc VThv (piXckx 'jacv i"-rCCpCC("Leto and Niobe were dear companions,"142)may also have introduceda comparisonto Sappho and a friend(see n. 78). The fragments,therefore, point not to Sappho thepredatory gymteacher of Devereux' fancy,but to a womanin love withwomen of her own generation.The onlything odd aboutthis picture is thatis not generally held.30
28Thespeaker may not be Sappho,though I am assumingthat she probably is, andit is not impossiblethat these two, like 27 and30, are epithalamia; see Page 1955: 125.Helen in fr.16 is theimage not for the beloved but the lover (contra Lardinois 19). 29Instead,for an example,cf. Pin. 01. 10.104-105where the boy victorHagesidamos is comparedto Ganymede. 30Cf.Stigers [Stehle] 1981: 52 (thoughshe seemsto be imaginingan olderSappho, cf. p. 45). If,however, Sappho and Atthis are age-mates, we havesomething very similar to Erinna's Distaff,and to showthat this is nota matterof femininepoetics, see Theog.1063-68 for an explicitstatement that there is nothingsweeter for men and women than to sleeptogether all nightafter a partywith one of theirown age group(obijtkt). Further, whatever we makeof Anacreon358, if the"girl" (vivt) fromLesbos does referto a womanin love withanother woman(about which I amuncertain), we haveagain an imageof the young girl herself as lover.
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Most importantly,in none of the epithalamiais the girlgetting married addressedby name; in none is she spokenof as lovedby Sappho. Nor in anyof thepoems in whichSappho speaksto or abouther companions, is therea men- tionof theirmarriages, their having "studied" with Sappho in preparationfor theirmarriages, or anythingelse to indicatethat they were otherthan what Sappho calls them(160): her "companions"(?Taipaot).31 In short,the "girls" of theepithalamia and the"companions" of thelyric poems are simplynot at all the same people,a pointrightly made by Winkler(165, citedbelow). Only the presuppositionsof Sappho Schoolmistresshas caused them to be so mistaken. VI. Sparta. The searchfor formal occasions involving young girls has led manyinto invokingAlcman's partheneia.32However, as Treu (1968: 1235) succinctly says, "Doch schon die allernachsteParallele, Alkman und die Madchenschar seinerMadchenchore, stimmt nicht." Alcman is not the same as Sappho nor doingthe same thingsas Sappho.33Alcman is a man,hired by thecommunity, to providechoral songs, on civic occasions,for choruses composed of young women and of young men, to whom he evidences no individual erotic emotions.34Sappho is a woman,independent of any demonstrablecivic role,a
Forthe most recent work on thispuzzle, see Marcovich1983, Renehan, Gentili 1988: 94-96, Pelliccia. 31At96.6-7, a companionnow standsout amongthe women (yovaiKx ootv) of Sardis. McEvilley262 presupposesthat the woman has leftSappho a virginto go to Sardisto be marriedand so translatesy-vij as 'wife,'arguing that: "In theother occurrences of yvvi', for example,the yovcYxiKS; or matrons,are specificallydistinguished from the ia'p9evot, or unmarriedgirls." This is notso: yuviqoccurs only two other times in Sappho,both in 44: atline 15, theyare indeedcontrasted with the virgins, but 44.31 refersonly to Y1VatKE; ... .po- ycvGt?epa[t'the older women,' a contrastwith the young matrons, ifwith anyone. Further, in Alcaeus,our only close dialecticalcomparandum, yivij simplymeans 'woman' (130b.19, 347.4, 390; 41.21 is fragmentary;cf. also Inc. Auc. 35.6 V). If theuse of y-vv'in 96 is evidenceof anything itis evidencethat the unnamed woman of 96 wasindeed a woman. 32Thefirst uses of this comparison that I knoware Diels 352 andWilamowitz 1897: 259-60. 33EvenGentili writes: "It hardlyneeds saying,of course,that Alcman composed his partheneiaon commissionfor the Spartan th[asoi of histime, whereas Sappho, being a poet, composedsongs for performance in her own thiasos" (1988: 77). Sinceit hardly needs saying, Gentiliproceeds to ignore it. 341nthe surviving frgs. Alcman talks about his relation to thechorus only at 26 (hislament thathe is tooold to dancewith them), and 34: 'AXKKgRVr'; ??paOTOV; KOpai; kyet &i-Ttr; ("Alcmancalls beloved girls 'aitis' "); themasc. a T-a;is a Thessalian(not Doric) term for the tpORevo;, accordingto the scholiaston Theocritus12 (cf. 12.14, Anecd. Bekk. 348.2=Aristophanesfrg. 738 [prob.A. of Byzantium,see Gow 1950: II, 224]: dcitCav. TOv &aczipov.'Aptoro9pa`vl; 6' obpdgevo;, Et. M. 43.41), whichI am assumingrefers to the
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 326 Holt N. Parker lyricpoet performingsolo songs, who also writeschoral worksfor private marriageceremonies, singing often to individualwomen, with whom she is in love. Not onlyis Sappho lumpedin withAlcman, but their societies are held to be identical.However, archaic Lesbos and archaicSparta share only a single factor: expressions of desire by women for women.35 The assumption underlyingtheir facile equation, therefore, is a formof sexual essentialism:all femalehomosexuality is the same, and thereforethe societies are the same. This is logicallyfallacious as well as theoreticallyand anthropologicallynaive. We knowlittle about archaic Lesbos apartfrom Sappho and Alcaeus; we know littleabout archaic Sparta apartfrom Alcman; but it seems unlikelythat the two had muchin common,whatever picture one mayform of Alcman's Sparta by contrastwith Tyrtaeus or the austeremirage spartiateof latertimes.36 To comparethe two on thebasis of thisshared ignorance does notprofit us much. In a famoussentence in theLife of Lycurgus(18.9), Plutarchsays of the Spartantype of paedeuticmale homoeroticism:
OVTO 6s -roo ?pav syKeKptg?vOlO zcap ffl)tOi, O(iMTE Kait TG)V itxpOe?vov ?p&v Ta; Ka?%aX;Kcat &yaOxa;yuvatKa;, TO &vrsp&v OVK lyV, aXka Xakkov&pXiiv Cirotovro qniat ip6; &X?kov ot r6v ax&r6v ?pOCGOCVTC;, Kat 8t?Xo?UV KOtVfi 0a7Cot6COVtU; 0r&; apstcTov aXpycXaCivto TOV pio)geVOV.
This love was so approvedamong them, that even thebeautiful and good [i.e., noble] women loved virgins. But rivalryin love did not exist. Rather those men [specificallymasculine] who were in love with the chorus(see, however, Gallavotti 186-89). Lardinois 27 impliesthat the masc. &?ra; is known to havebeen in officialuse at Sparta(for the facts, see Gow II, 224,Dover 1978: 193 n. 16; contraCartledge 1981/1988: 391 n. 18; fora possibleLaconic attestation, see Gallavotti)and writesthat the fem. was theterm "for a younggirl in a sexualrelationship." Even if this were so, withwhom? Not necessarily each other or olderwomen as he seemsto assume;the word, ofdubious etymology, seems to mean no morethan 'comrade, beloved.' Cantarella 1988/1992: 84 impliesthat aitis was a termin generaluse. Contrast this with Sappho's expressions of love forwomen, and compareher lack of expressionsof love forthe brides in theepithalamia. 35Page1951: 66-67 and Lardinois 28 denythat the language of the girls of Alcman's chorus is erotic,but Diels hadalready rightly noted its character (352-53) and see Calame1977: II, 86- 97. So Lardinois28-29 in a circularargument says that Lesbos resembled Sparta because "in bothcases we are dealingwith highborn women .... Also theage of theSpartan girls and thoseof Sappho's circle appear to be similar." 36Forthe difficulty of thesources see Forrest16. For what little we knowor surmiseabout Alcman'sSparta, see Huxley61-62, Michell 11-28, Fitzhardinge 129-35; and for the social role ofwomen at Sparta,Redfield, Cartledge 1981.
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sameboys made it a startingplace forfriendship between themselves, andcontinued to strivein common to make the beloved boy [masc.] the best.
Note herethat Plutarch mentions female homoeroticismonly in orderto show the high regardthe Spartanshad formale homoeroticism.He does not allot womena partof theagoge.37 Scholarshave shownremarkably little restraint in takingthis single remark38 and recastingAlcman's Sparta,some 700 years earlier,on itsbasis, and thenusing that reconstruction of Sparta as a modelfor Lesbos. Gentili (1988: 72-89), for example, swings back and forthfrom Sappho's Lesbos to Alcman's Spartato Plutarch'sSparta, with a breath-taking disregardof both space and time.Thus when he reacheshis "single,unam- biguousconclusion" that Alcman's "partheneion is an epithalamiumcomposed for ritualperformance within the communityto which the girls belonged"
37So rightlyHallett 1979: 452; andcf. the cautious assessment of Cartledge 1981/1988: 405. Cantarellain herparaphrase mistakes the Greek: "At Sparta,says Plutarch, the best women lovedgirls, and when it happened that more than one adultfell in lovewith the same girl, they wererivals with one another but joined forces to educate the beloved" (1981/1987: 87), an error repeatedin 1988/1992:84. Talbert31 correctlymakes the distinction; cf. Cartledge 1981/1988: 394. She thereforebelieves that the women and theirlovers also wereviewed as havinga separatebut equal formof education. So shewrites: "It is perhapsno accidentthat it is a man (Plutarch)who stresses the pedagogical function of the relationship between women, whereas Sappho-thoughshe insists on theeducational and ennobling aspect of lifein thethiasos- stressesinstead the affective and erotic aspect of the relationship" (89; cf.1988/1992: 84). This is typicalof theproblems created by the presuppositions involved in SapphoSchoolmistress. Note: 1) thefacile equation of Plutarch'sremarks on Spartawith Sappho's situation; 2) the statementthat Sappho insists on ennoblingeducation, in the complete absence of anything of the sortin the poems; 3) theuncritical use of "thiasos" to validate the reconstruction; 4) the isolation of Sappho:how does Sappho'semphasis on the"affective and erotic" differ from that of any otherpoet? 38Anadditional piece of remarkably misunderstood evidence is citedby Calame 1977: I, 434, followedby Bremmer 292, Cantarella 1988/1992: 84 n. 25 andLardinois 27. Calamestates that a certainAcademic philosopher, Hagnon, tells us thatSpartan women had sexual relations with younggirls before their marriage. The sourceis Ath.13.602e and clearly says that among the Spartans tp6oTOv y&iuv rcO; cxpOe'voI; 6S; ntuc&icoi; v6go; arTivktCiv ("It is the customto have intercourse with virgins before marriage as withpaidika"), i.e., anal intercourse (so rightlyDevereaux 1967: 83=1988: 222, Dover 1978: 188;Cartledge 1981/1988: 407 n.69). TheGreek is unmistakable,but Calame asserts, with the aid ofa misleadingFrench translation, thatbecause the context of the passage is "homosexualite,"we canbe certainthat the custom is thatof adultfemales, thus anachronistically ascribing to theGreeks our lumping together of maleand female homoeroticism as forms of the same deviancy. He protestsagainst Devereaux bysaying, "la Sparteantique n'est pas unpays latin et catholique,"apparently ignorant of the factthat the custom was notunknown to Greece (Hdt. 1.61) and was a standingjoke aboutthe Spartans(Ar. Lys. 1173-74);see Dover 1964:37. The entirediscussion is notabout "homo- sexuality,"but Knabenliebe; no womenhave been mentioned for pages.
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(75), i.e., a homosexualritual quasi-marriage between Agido and Hagesichora, he is able to cut immediatelyaway and state(76), "Himerius,writing in the fourthcentury A.D., and interweavinghis orationswith paraphrasesand citationsfrom archaic lyric, particularly that of Sappho and Anacreon,bears witnessin one passage [Or. 9.4=T 154 Loeb] to the presenceof an internal ceremonyof exactly this sort [i.e., two women in a formalmarriage]." In passing,beside the dubiousmethodology of employinga fourthcentury A.D. paraphraseof Sappho as if it wereevidence about seventh century B.C. Sparta, Gentilimistakes a metaphoricaltreatment of Sappho's poetryas a description of a real event,turns the textualmess typ&(psttmxpOevouS ( vuVVRt0piov intoevidence forlesbian marriagein Sparta/Lesbos,and ignoresAlcman 81, wherethe poet has thechorus of maidensask fora husband. Gentili states (1988: 73): "We know fromPlutarch (Lyc. 18, 9) that homoeroticfemale relationships were also allowed in archaicSparta, in com- munitiesof moreor less the same typeas the Lesbian ones. And it has been demonstrated... thatthe partheneia of Alcmanare fullof stylemes,metaphors and typicalexpressions that derive fromthe the language of love and are extensivelyparalleled in Sappho."But we "know"nothing of thesort. We don't knowwhat, if any,source Plutarch had forthis statement; we don't knowthat female erotic relationshipsin archaic Sparta were in the form Plutarch imaginesfor them;we don't know anythingabout Spartanwomen's "com- munities"(in the plural) nor of Lesbian "communities,"nor thatthey were "more or less the same type." What we do have is ample evidence for Plutarch'sback-projection of his assumptionsabout contemporary Sparta onto the time of Lycurgus.39Plutarch may well be rightabout the existenceof femalehomoeroticism in contemporarySparta or even theSparta of Alcman's day. However,we mustbe suspiciousof his constructionof it. Even Cantarella notes:"In some way,then, one sensesthat female homosexuality was culturally 'constructed'on themodel of themale and presented-bythe few male sources thatallude to it-as a copyof this"(1981/1987: 89).40
39SeeOllier II, 187-215,Redfield's remarks (146), and Plutarch's own opening statement in Lyc. 1.1. 40By1988 Cantarella was, rightly, even more suspicious of the male construction offemale (homo)sexuality:"My feeling, in short,is thatfemale homosexuality ... was constructedfrom theoutside-which is to say,by men-on themodel of pederasty"(1988/1992: 83-84). She shows,however, a curiouslysplit vision on thispoint. While arguing against any sort of initia- toryfunction (e.g., formarriage) for ancient Greek female homosexuality in generaland Sapphoin particular,she is yetunable to ridherself of thenotion of Sapphoas teacherand Sapphoas sexinstructor before marriage.
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I do notknow exactly what is goingon in Alcman'spartheneia, but there is no traceof thismale typeof erastesto eromenos/ older to youngerlove in them.Instead, we findsomething quite different:expressions of love between age-mates,each for the other.41In the Louvre Partheneion,the singers,in- cludingHegesichora and Agido (Page 1951: 46), are ten girls together(99), who call Agido theircousin (52).42 Outsidethe circle of thechorus stands the shadowyfigure of Aenesimbrotabut she is not a candidatefor a role of elder femaleerastes. In 73-77 thechorus sings:
ov' ?; Aivaot,gfp[6Ira;?VOoioa paaCt5; 'Aocarpi;[t oT] got 7Vy Kat noTtyX?0cot'Di?XXua (AxPc Ta T' caT6E FtavOEg' aXX' 'Aytlotxopca1estipet.
Norgoing to Aenesimbrota's house will you say: "LetAstaphis bemine" and"Let Philylla look at me andDamareta and lovely Vianthemis." ButHagesichora wears me out."43
First,let us admitthat we have no idea who Aenesimbrotais. All we know is thatshe has some connectionwith the fourgirls named here. Page (1951: 65) suggeststhat she is "one to whosehouse you would go if you were lookingfor Astaphis, Philylla, and therest." This seems reasonable,though in factall thetext says is thather house is a place to go to say thingsabout the fourgirls.44 However, Page's nextsentence quite overstepsthe evidence:"In
41Theerotic language is directedonly at each other;see above,note 35. Yet theeffect of SapphoSchoolmistress is so powerfulthat it can blindscholars even to this.So Lardinois,in orderto save his model of a pederasticfemale homosexuality, is prepared to deny that the girls' languageis at all eroticand writes: "There is, however,no reasonto suppose that relationships also existedamong the girls themselves. The other sources [emphasis mine] also referonly to relationshipsbetween adult women and girls" (28). 42Forthe choruses consisting of age-mates, see Calame1977: 1, 63-70. 430nthe reading -ripet and its meaning, see Page 1951:91, Merkelbach3. 44West1965: 199-200has thebizarre suggestion that she mightbe a dispenserof love- potions,followed by Griffiths 22, Puelma40; tentativelyraised by Campbell 1988: 367, Lef- kowitz1991: 19, and Lardinois,who adds,"Otherwise she mighthave beena womanwho allocatedthe girls among the women of Sparta" (28). Aenesimbrotahas become the official civic lesbianprocuress (so explicitlyHooker 79). Again,it is possibleto see thestrange slant that the discussionof femalesexuality can occasion.The pointin all theseauthors is a supposed parallelismbetween male and femaleversions of theagoge. Yet despiteall thatwe do know
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 330 Holt N. Parker short,the text indicates, without the least obscurity,that she is thekeeper of a trainingschool for choir-maidens."45While Hagesichora's leading of the chorusis explicitin thetext (44, 84, besidesher name), there is no mentionof any "training"by Aenesimbrota.There would seem to me to be a superfluity of trainers:the chorusleader Hagesichora,her second-in-commandAgido,46 now Aenesimbrota,all of whomleave verylittle for Alcman to do.47Page's suggestionmay verywell be so, but thereis moreobscurity here than he was willingto admit.An equallypossible (and equallyunprovable) scenario is that Aenesimbrotais the motherof the fourgirls,48 especially if the choruscon- sistedof actual cousins,49and thisnotion receives some supportfrom Pindar's fragmentaryPartheneion H.50 Yet whateverAenesimbrota was to the girls,there is one thingthat she most definitelywas not, and thatis theirlover. Even Calame (1977: II, 97) believes thatAenesimbrota was a teacherto the chorus,"mais qui resteraiten dehorsde leurs relationsamoureuses." In short,there is no evidence forthe sortof masculineerastes to eromenosrelationship that Plutarch envisions for Spartanwomen to be foundin Alcmanat all. Aenesimbrotacannot be turnedinto Sappho. I doubt she was a pro- fessionalchorus trainer. Even if she was, Sappho wasn't. Page (1951: 65-66) explicitlydenied any comparisonto Sappho's "school," but otherswere and continueto be less circumspect.Thus we have a vicious circle: the image of aboutthe formal male agoge and all thecommentary that has beenwritten on it (forwhich see Brelich113-207, Cartledge 1981/1988), no one hasever suggested that the boys had recourse tolove-potions or that there was anofficial civic boy-bursar. 45Pageheads the section, "The Academy of Aenesimbrota." For Aenesimbrota as teacher, cf. also Bowra57. 46RightlyPage 1951:44-46. 471fshe is a trainer,she seems to be responsiblefor only half the chorus-less one leader- andPage himself(1951: 48, 57-62)has fairlywell demolished the idea thatthere were semi- choruses,in thesinging at anyrate. Further, why would the trainer of one halfthe chorus be mentionedand not the other? 48Asensible suggestion made by Campbell 1983: 189. 49SeePage 1951:67-68. The argumentsof West 1965: 196and Griffiths 29 forsome vague use of"cousin" (explicitly influenced by English usage) are extremely weak. Gentili 1988: 259 n. 16 flatlyproclaims itan "institutionaldesignation." 5094bSnell-Maehler (83 Bowra),a civicritual of thedaphnephorikon at Thebes. The rela- tionshipsbetween the named persons in thepartheneion are uncertain, but they seem all tobe membersof the familyof Aeoladas, his son Pagondas and his grandsonAgasicles. Andaesistrota,who instructed the chorus-leader with her arts ('Av cat;tpoxa av CrXiaicGae1C 8sco[t]:94b.71-72 Snell) is mostlikely the maiden's mother. For a newtext, discussion, and reviewof theprevious literature, see Lehnus(esp. 83), whois followedby Lefkowitz 1991: 17-19(cf. Lefkowitz 1963: 188-90).
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Sappho Schoolmistressis invoked to explain (and misinterpret)Alcman's Spartawhich in turnis used to justifySappho Schoolmistress.We simplycan- notturn Plutarch into Alcman and Alcmaninto Sappho. VII. Sappho Music Teacher. The lingeringinfluence of Wilamowitz,the searchfor a ritualsetting to "explain"her poetry, and theinvocation of Alcmanas a parallel,have led to a verypopular by-formof Sappho Schoolmistress,that of castingSappho as musicteacher. Thus Dover writes(1978: 175):
In what,if anything, did Sappho"educate" Lesbian and Ionian girls?51 Mostobviously, in thatin whichshe herself excelled, poetry and music, establishinga female counterpart toa predominantlymale domain; there wouldbe a certainimprobability in supposing that Lesbian girls of good familywere sent by theirparents to a schoolof sexualtechnique, but nonein supposinga schoolwhich enhanced their skill and charm (charm is withinthe province of Aphrodite) as performersin girls' choruses at festivals.
Dover is rightto rejectthe notion of a "school of sexual technique"but a "charm"school (confinedto the natives) faresno better.52Again, it is nec- essaryto pointout thatin no extantpoem does Sappho "teach" anythingto anyone.But Dover pointsout a way thatSappho Schoolmistressmight yet be saved. Since she wrotechoral poetry, she would have, presumably,taught the chorusher songs.53However, as Page notes(1955: 119; cf. 72, 126): "Thereis no evidence or indicationthat any of Sappho's poetryapart fromthe Epi- thalamians[and 140, a fragmentof a song foran Adonia: p. 119 n. 1], was designedfor presentation by herselfor others(whether individuals or choirs) on a formalor ceremonialoccasion, public or private."Along withPage and others,I am presuminghere thatSappho's epithalamia are actual songs for
51Doverrefers to frg. 214b=SLG S 261a, quotedabove. 52Formusic as partof thecurriculum at Sappho's school,cf. thecitations in sectionIII above,Wilamowitz 1913: 73, Aly 2371, 2377-78,Schmid-Stiihlin 421 (whoinclude poetry lecturesand verse composition), Kranz 88, R. Cantarella203: "Saffofu a capo di un<
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 332 Holt N. Parker actual ceremonieson Lesbos,54but they cannot be pressedinto service to turn Sappho intoa professionalmusic teacher. Dover and othersare correctto state thatSappho presumably"taught" these songs to herchorus. The mistakecomes not in calling her thereforea "chorus-teacher"but rathertrying to use the ambiguityof thatword to implysome sortof modernidea of "teacher,"as if "chorus-teacher"were the name of a profession,a specificsocial role distinct fromthat of poet. There are two extremelyimportant differences between Sappho's epithalamiaand thetype of choralsongs that Dover is imagining,and between Sappho and Alcman (the poet to whom she is explicitly or implicitly compared),Pindar, Bacchylides, or latertragic and comic poets. First,epi- thalamia are partof theprivate, familial, ritual of themarriage (Maas; Muth; Keydell 927-31). They are not a public,civic, or politicalrite. Alcman is said to be the 8&6aiccAo; for the traditionalchoruses of girls and of boys at Sparta,55maintained then, one presumes,at public expense to provide the chorusfor public ceremonies,such as thepartheneia. This is a completely differentsituation than Sappho's, whose epithalamia were createdfor the specificprivate occasion of individualmarriage ceremonies, consisting of the relativesand friendsof thebride and groom.Unlike Alcman, Sappho was not hiredby the cityfor the occasion nor was the entirepolis expectedto attend. Partheneiaand epithalamiaare distinctgenres and themere fact that choruses of younggirls feature in bothdoes notmean that they are thesame thing,have thesame poetics,or servethe same societalfunction, a factthat Calame rightly pointsout (1977: I, 167). Thus thecivic choeursde jeunesfilles that he studied have,by his own admission,simply nothing to do withSappho.56 Second, theredid not exist,as faras we know,anywhere in the Greek world, an institutionof standingchoruses. Even for the greatestof civic
54Page1955: 120,122. The epithalamiaare frg. 27, 30 (in Sapphics),perhaps 104-106 (?) (dactylichexameter), 107-109 (prob. dactylic hexameter), 110-1 17 (a varietyof meters,some uncertain).Only these last are in whatmight be choralmeters. Demetr. Eloc. 167 saysthat her epithalamiaare notsuitable for the lyre or thechorus, but this is criticismof herchoice of prosaicwords rather than an indication of the modes of performance. 55p. Oxy. 2506, called by Page the"Commentarius in Melicos"=10.32-34PMG (T 5 Calame): 6MLaKxakov rCovOuyccrIJpov ic&t ?f[po]v neatpio[t;]I Xopoi;. Cf. also TA 1lb PMGF (5 SLG=T 29 Loeb), whichmentions his ta6xica; 'training'. 56ForCalame's remarks on epithalamiasee 1977:1, 159-62;for partheneia, I, 18-20,167. Cf. also [Plut.]Mus. 17.1136f=AlcmanTB 2 PMGF (T 15 Loeb), wherePlato knows partheneiaby Alcman, Pindar, Simonides and Bacchylides (also prosodia and paeans), with no mentionof Sappho.Sappho is doingsomething quite different in theepithalamia from the partheneiaof the other poets.
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celebrations,the tragicfestivals at Athensfor example, each choruswas put togetherfor a single specific occasion. Nowhere did there exist choral "schools" in whichthe citizensof even a singlepolis enrolledto learna job skill,much less a Pan-Hellenicchoral academy. Alcman was the"teacher" of his choral verses to the sons and daughtersof Sparta,yet no one has ever suggestedthat he ran a "school" there.Pindar was in demandthroughout the Hellenic world,but no one speaks of his "school." He did not travelwith a band,nor were childrenor citizenssent to anykind of centralmusic academy runby him in orderto learnhow to sing and dance in his choruses.57Alcman and Pindarhave a precise social role: it is not "teacher,"not even "chorus teacher,"it is "poet."These kindof suggestionsare nevermade aboutany male poet, only about Sappho. There is indeed improbability-and,more im- portantly,no evidence-in supposinga school to train"performers in girls' chorusesat festivals."And the epithalamia were not in factsung at public festivals,but privateweddings. The pictureof girlsbeing sent fromall over Asia Minor to enteran academy in order to forma permanentchorus of bridesmaidsbelongs to Gilbertand Sullivan,not archaic Greece.58 VIII. Sappho Sex-Educator. Earlier authorslooking for details of Sappho's educationalprogram in her poems forcedthe epithalamiainto this role. And therehas been a return, again in ritualguise, of the idea of Sappho as sex-educator.59Schmid-Stahlin
571nstead,Pindar, on occasionsent his poem with a chorodidasklosto teach it (01. 6.87-91; withscholia on 87-88=148a,149a Drachmann). We do,however, hear of choruses traveling to otherfestivals, as in Pi. 01. 6.98-100. P. Oxy. 2389 fr.35, col. i, 16-18 (Alcman 11 PMGF=24Calame) may speak of "the women of Dyne" going to Pitane (Spartan villages) to do somethingwith the women of Pitane, but the text is severelydamaged (Podlecki 111 is overly confident).According to Paus. 5.25.2-4,the Messinians regularly sent a boys' chorus,with didaskalos,to Rhegium. What we do notfind is theMessinians sending their sons to Rhegium tobe trained.For other evidence, see Herington189-91. 58Further,the fact that the epithalamia fit so neatlyinto the image of SapphoSchoolmistress has led to a strangeforgetfulness of Sappho's lyrics.So Tarditi73: "Saffoera una Xopo- t&iacaxXo;con il compitodi prepararei cori per le festepubbliche e private,e dirigevaun tiaso,"with no mentionthat she was a lyricpoet as well.Again, note the use ofGreek words to authenticatethe unauthentic. 59Cf.Dover 1978: 175quoted above. Lardinois evidences his own two minds about Sappho. While on the one hand,recognizing that calling Sappho a homosexual"is necessarily anachronistic"(25), he operateswith a purelymechanical definition of lesbianism:if she touchedthe girls, she's gay. He tooseems more concerned to deny the "charge" of lesbianism, thanto questionwhat would constitute proof. The questionof "sincerity"raises its pointless head.He admitsthat "probably she engaged in sexualrelations with the girls," but describes her poetryas "conventional"and warns that "it is impossibleto gatherfrom her poem her personal
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(421) and Merkelbach(4, cf. 12-16) speak vaguelyof "instructionand prep- aration for marriage." For other examples of "sex-education"courses at Sappho's school,cf. Cantarella's remarks about "beauty, seduction, and chann" quotedabove (1981/1987:86-87). Hallett,in a perceptivearticle (1979), is one of thefew to have thoughtseriously about what ritual purpose Sappho's erotic monodies mighthave served.60However, I cannotagree withher view of Sappho as a "sensual consciousnessraiser" (460), since it begins fromthe assumptionthat Sappho's circle consisted of girls being educated before marriageand thather love poetrywas writtenonly to thesegirls.61 Further, I findno evidence thatGreek fathersor husbandswanted their daughters' or wives' sensualconsciousness raised. The emphasisthroughout the society is on therepression of femalesexuality rather than its encouragement.62A wife who enjoyssex too muchis a potentialadulteress, not a valuablecommodity.63 Burnettpresents the most explicitpicture of Sappho's Sex Academy (1983):
Soon thegirls of theseyouthful groups would marry, and it was to this endthat their elegant accomplishments were acquired. Their value was beingincreased, so thattheir fathers could boast more fulsomely [sic] to theirprospective grooms, but theywere not just polishedfor the market-theywere being prepared for marriage itself. (216)
Ideallythey were to haveenough understanding of Eros to bringtheir husbands pleasure. . . . Their lessons were in part practical, for . .. they,as herage-mates, accompanied the bride almost to her bed. Sappho taughtthem just what to do. (218)
feelings.... onecannot infer that Sappho was a lesbianat heart" (20). Later,he saysthat "we aredealing with an institutionalizedtype of sexuality, in which the preferences ofthose involved mayhave been of little consequence" (30). It mightthen not have been Sappho's fault; society is toblame. Again, a contrastwith male poets is instructive:no onehas ever claimed that Alcaeus or Theogniswas forcedinto writing homosexual poetry by convention. This necessitates his belittlingthe very poetry he seeksto defend(24-25): "Could it be thather frivolous songs praisingthe beauty of younggirls gave rise to theassumption that she would also havebeen morethan willing to sleepwith numerous men, preferably in a shamelessmanner?" Sappho's poetryhas been called many things before, but never "frivolous." 60Inwhat the publishers call an "updated"edition of Dover's Greek Homosexuality, Hallett's influentialarticle is stilllisted as "unpublished"(Dover 1978/1989: 181). 61Seealso Stigers'response (1979) andWinkler 187. 62SeeArthur for a excellentoverview. 63E.g.,Hes. WD 373-75,695-705, Sem. 48-54,90-91, or Homer'sand Aeschylus'por- traitsof Klytemnestra; Ar. Lys. 163-66 is theremarkable exception.
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Ritualsongs of this sort were a formof instruction in the corporal side of marriage.(219)
Burnett'sinsistence on an educative/ritualfunction for every song leads ultimatelyto a distortedpicture. There is simplyno evidencefor any of this.64 Thereis no sex-educationin theepithalamia. The purposeof an epithalamium is to praise thebride (103b V, 108, 112, 113, 117a) not to give her advice on the finerpoints of intercourseon her way to the weddingchamber. What we findinstead is regretfor the loss of virginity(105c, 107, 114). Thereis noth- ing said about "attendantjoys."65 And how exactlyall thiswas supposedto workis leftmisty. Are we to imagineSappho fallingin love withjust one girl at a time,or all of themindiscriminately, or as each one comes to market? Lardinoisalone has tackledthis ticklish problem head on: "Sappho had a circle of younggirls around her, and it is unlikelythat she had a sexual relationwith all of them"(29). His solutionis thatSappho sleptonly withthe head-girl at her boardingschool, who was thenappointed the "choragos" of the school choir. WhatI findcurious about this reconstruction is that its originsso clearly lie in theproducts of masculinefantasy. This does notmean thatit is therefore incorrect.But whendealing with a reconstruction-andit mustbe emphasized thatit is only a recontruction-thathas its originsin Victoriansexism and sexology,we shouldbe at leastsuspicious.66 This idea of a homoerotic"phase," eitherof "crushes"or of sexual experimentation,leading (being tamed/trans- formed)to "normal"heterosexual, reproductive sex is a common-placeof both theliterature of pornographyand developmentalpsychology. It has a venerable historyin both.For thefirst, cf. Nicolas Chorier'sSatyra Sotadica de Arcanis Amoriset Veneris,which has claims to be the firstpornographic best seller (1660/1935:31-39).67 Betterknown is Cleland'sFanny Hill (1748-49/1985:46- 51). Comparethe way in whichSappho is imaginedto Cleland's descriptionof PhoebeAyres, Fanny's first lover, "whose business it was to prepareand break such filliesas I was to the mountingblock; and she was accordingly,in that view, allottedme fora bedfellow;and to give herthe more authority, she had
64HimeriusOrat. 9.4 (T 154Loeb) andAP 7.406.6(T 58 Loeb) aresometimes pressed into service,but they simply mean that Sappho wrote epithalamia; see above. 65Hallett1979: 456. 66CfCantarella's remarks above and n. 40. 67Chorierpublished this dialogue novel under the name of theSpanish humanist and poet LuisaSigea, in anotherof the ongoing series of sexual attacks on learnedwomen.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 336 Holt N. Parker thetitle of cousinconferred on herby thevenerable president of thiscollege." Marks(353-78) emphasizesthe importance of theschool setting to muchof this literature.For psychology,Helen Deutsch (I, 30-32, 85-87, 119-20) popular- ized the notionof the "pashes" of Anglo-Germanschool girlsas a stage in a universalfeminine psycho-sexual development. The resultis thatSappho's verylesbianism and poetryare forcedinto the service of normativemale heterosexuality.Sappho falls in love and writes poetryon commission,it would seem, in order to benefitmen. Sappho, whethershe touchesthe girls (Burnett) or not (Wilamowitz),still warms them up and hands themover to men forthe real thing.She is leftbehind, blindly jealous or tenderlyregretful, as you wish, in any case not threatening.This pictureborders on the literallyporno-graphic.68 IX. Formal Isolation. We findourselves trapped in a particularlyvicious hermeneuticcircle. Aware to a greaterextent perhaps than the New Criticsof old thata poem can only be understoodin termsof the societyin whichit was created,modem criticsfrequently wind up reconstructinga society on the basis of its poetry and theninterpreting the poetryon the basis of thatreconstruction. This can turnout to be only a slightlymore sophisticatedversion of the biographical fallacy.It has, however,been the dominantform of interpretationof Sappho since antiquity.Cf. Lefkowitz'warning (1973/1981: 62): "Thus biography,it- selfderived from interpretation of her poems, is in turnreapplied to thepoems and affectsour interpretationof them."The problemis thatwe are almost completelyignorant of whatthat social backgroundwas. This is particularly truein thecases of archaicLesbos and Sparta.The objectionis made thatone must have some lens throughwhich to view the poetryin orderto be able interpretit. The problemarises when the glass darkenswhat we see. A dis- tortingcontruct is a danger,not an aid-a pointalready made by Kirkwoodin a lengthyand perceptivefootnote (267-68). Here again I wantto urgea greater skepticismin distinguishingwhat we know(and wherewe knowit from)from what we were told, fromwhat we assume is likely,from what we see as parallelsin othersocieties.69
68SeeKappeler 44, Bunch 90-94. See above,for a similarview of Alcman's Aenesimbrota. 69ThusGentili (1966: 48, 1988:77) offersthe fact that a friendonce told Simone de Beau- voirthat there were lesbian marriages in Singaporeand Canton as evidencethat second cent. A.D. Spartawas just like sixth cent. B.C. Lesbos.Snyder 1989: 2-3 makes the point well.
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This ignoranceabout the circumstancesof performanceaccounts for the largeelement of arbitrarinessapplied to assigningformal, ritual social settings for poems. This arbitrarinessapplies to threecategories: the degree of for- malityenvisioned, the types of poems, and thepoets themselves. First,the degree of formalitycan be easily overstated.An audiencedoes not,as Merkelbach,Schadewaldt (1970) and Lasserrethink, necessarily imply a ritual.70Winkler's remarks are to the point: "The view of lyricas a sub- ordinateelement in celebrationsand formaloccasions is no morecompelling than the view, which I prefer,of song as honoredand celebratedat least sometimesin itself.Therefore I doubtthat Sappho alwaysneeded a sacrificeor dance or weddingforwhich to composea song" (165). Secondly,it is selectivelyapplied to particulartypes of poems.71It is easy to visualizethe social settingsfor choral poetry, for skolia and epithalamia.But we are almostcompletely ignorant of thecircumstances under which solo lyric poetrymight have been performedin fifth-centuryAthens, much less seventh- centuryLesbos. The problemof "occasion" is particularlyacute for erotic poetry.We can say littlebeyond that-for men at least-a sympoticsetting seemslikely.72 A fuller realization of the element of performance in a still predominantlyoral culturehas, however,led to a certainmonolithic approach in some scholars.Since theepithalamion is an easily imaginedsocial occasion, Sappho's poems are forcedto be epithalamiawhether they wish it or not.Thus Merkelbach(5, cf. 23-35) and othershave takenfr. 17 as a "propemptikonfor the passage of a brideover to her new home and country."The same is true for94 and 96: theybecame a new genreof "Trostgedichte"for when the girls leave Sappho's school to get married(12-13). The absence of any mentionof bride,husband, or weddingdoes not seem to botherhim.73 This is hardlyless
70See thestrictures of Jenkyns6-7, Burnett 209 n. 2, Herington36. Cf. thediscussion at Russo720-21. 71Merkelbach7 and n. 1 admitsthe difficulty of findingan occasionfor some poems: "Sappho1 stelltein schwieriges Problem." 72See West 1974: 10-13;Crotty 76-103; Herington36, 60, 195; Gentili1988: 89-104; Bremmer1990. The chief ancient source for the sympotic setting and for repeat performances of solo song(here elegiacs) is Theog.237-54. 73Kirkwood269 is mistakenin sayingthat Merkelbach calls it an epithalamionbut correct whenhe writes:"Even Fr. 17 ... is calledan epithalamianby Merkelbach, apparently because it cannotbe provednot to be." So tooWilamowitz 1913: 54 on fr.96, "jetztist sie in Sardes verheiratet,"Rose 98, "Another, Arignota is marriedto someone in Sardis"or Gentili 1988: 82, "Now,however, Arignota is in Sardis-doubtlessmarried." So too Lardinois17 and 29 (see abovenote 22).
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 338 Holt N. Parker absurdthan Wilamowitz' reading of fr.31 as a epithalamion,which Merkel- bach also endorses(7) withthe changeof heterosexualjealousy (Eifersucht) intohomosexual regret for the loss of a purebeloved to "normal"life.74 Thus in an recentarticle entitled "Public Occasion and PrivatePassion in theLyrics of Sappho of Lesbos," Snyder(1990) shows how difficultit is to determine whichpoems fell intowhat category and West (1970: 309, 318) appeals to an equallysubjective sense of decorumat symposia. Most importantly,a degree of ritualformality is invokedfor Sappho that is not invokedfor any male poet. Sympoticthemes make it easy to discuss Alcaeus or Theognisas operatingwithin a formalizedsocial settingand it has been suggestedthat "ritual" occasions are soughtfor Sappho moreoften than formale poetsbecause she lacks such a clear sympoticsetting. However, there are manymale poets and poems whichare difficultto imagineas sung at a symposiumor in any otherformal setting; they are not thereforelabeled "ritual."Kirkwood's observations still apply: "I am not consciousof any con- cernto determinethe specific occasion of Alcaeus 130, theremarkable descrip- tionof thepoet in exile . . . or the occasion of Archilochus'sfamous song of hatred. . . (79a), or the specificoccasion of any poem of Archilochus,Al- caeus, or Anacreon,except where the subjectof thepoem readilysuggests its occasion, as in some of Alcaeus' drinkingsongs. Only for Sappho are the effortsof scholarshipbent on providingoccasions" (267-68). So forSappho, Kraus (1546) calls theexistence of her school,"zwar nur eine Annahme,aber eine notwendige."I thinkit a mostunnecessary assump- tion,certainly an assumptionno one findsnecessary for any otherpoet. Could Sappho not have writtenpoetry except at a ladies' seminary?Male poets are simplyleft to be poets but Sappho, it seems, needs to be explained away, isolated in a cult or shutaway in a school. Like manya woman of genius, Sapphohas been institutionalized. X. The Nonexistent "Thiasos." The sign of thisattitude is the constantuse of the word thiasos in con- nectionwith Sappho. This wordis neverused anywherein any of thepoems of Sappho (or Alcaeus) nor is it ever used anywherein any ancientsource about her.Yet it is approachingits hundredthanniversary, copied fromWilamowitz
74Againone would imagine the stake had been fairly well driven into this one by Page 1955: 30-33, but it rises stillin Frankel176, and as recentlyas E. Cantarella1981/1987: 73, 1988/1992:80.
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(1897: 259-60)75to Aly (2357, 2371, 2377-78),Rose (97), Hadas (51), Schade- waldt 1950: 11, Latte (36), Frankel (175), Flaceliere (128), R. Cantarella (196), Tarditi(73), Russo (721), Stigers(1977: 92-93, 98), Tsagarakis(70 n. 5), E. Cantarella(1981/87: 71, 86; 1988/1992: 107f.), Crotty(80), Burnett (211), and Commoti(21). Its only purpose,whether conscious or not, is to lend a spuriousair of antiquityto a moderncreation, and to makeit soundas if we actuallyknew what Sappho's "thiasos"was.76 I am officiallyannouncing its death.It shouldnever be used again in connectionwith Sappho. Merkelbach(4 n. 1) writes,"Ob man den Bund ,Thiasos' oder ,Hetaerie,'ist natiirlichgleich- giiltig."77But it is important:the wordthiasos is not used in connectionwith any one but Sappho. And its primarypurpose is to isolate Sappho fromall otherlyric poets. Alcaeus calls his comrades`tatpot (129.16; 150.4); he has a hetairia. Sappho calls her comrades ctatpaC(160.1); she has a thiasos.78 Alcaeushas friends;Sappho has a cult. XI. Poetic Isolation. This isolationextends not only to thecircumstances in whichwe visualize Sappho singing,but to hersongs themselves. She is segregatedas a poet from considerationwith other poets. Thus Gentili(1988: 109) describesthe topics and formatsof the lyricpoetry of praise and blame as, "politicaland social polemic, the occasional anecdote based on some commonplaceepisode of
751 havenot chased the application of theterm to Sapphoback further than Wilamowitz' articleon Alcman. 76Seealso Calame's warning(1977: I, 367) aboutits use, "etant donne que les indicesde l'existenced'un veritable thiase sapphique sont extremement tenus, et que le motn'est jamais employea proposde la poetessede Lesbos,"which does not prevent him from tossing the term aboutelsewhere (27, 362,429, 438). LikewiseFernandez Galinano 56: "La reuni6n... no es untfaso, ni unacofradfa, ni unpensionado, ni unaacademia, ni unaescuela poetica" and West 1970: 324: "Oicxoo;, forexample, which some modernwriters readily apply, does not occur eitherin Sappho or in Alcaeus." 77Theword "natuirlich" is a warning.Lanata 66 saysthe same thing. 78Further,Ath. 11.463e continueshis quotationof fr.2 withtolYrotxot iti;CiTcCipot; goti; ye Kxt ooi;, so some such wordsmay have been in Sappho (Page 1955: 39; fora summaryof positions, Burnett 275 n. 128). In fr. 126 she writes 6aci$ot; aiarAaX; rcax(i)pac; ?V a-Oowtv ("Mayyou sleep on thebreast of yourtender companion"). And Athenaeus quotes 142 to showthat Sappho called her friends C`tactpcn: Leto and Niobe weredear companions (piactt ?9rcatpat) andthe commentary at 90 (fr.lOa), seemsto say,if it is aboutthis passage, thatSappho compared her friendship to Atthisto thesetwo, i.e., once friends,now enemies. Even the Suda (Y 107, 4.322 Adler=T2 Loeb) speaks of itaitpat &6 avtijtc; icA piXat, as well as hergaiO`rptat (see above).So throughoutGentili 1988: 72-104, "The Ways of Love in the Poetryof Thiasos and Symposium," cf. 3, 56, 81 ("maleclubs ... femalecommunities"), 259 n. 16.So Snell30-33 on Alcaeus'"hetairia" vs. (44) Sappho's"circle."
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 340 Holt N. Parker ordinarylife, personal abuse, moralizing invective,cynical criticismof traditionalideas and thepoets who are theirspokesmen." Such is thepoetry, he says, of Archilochus,Hipponax, Semonides, Xenophanes, Solon, Theognis, Alcaeus,and especiallyAnacreon; in shortof everyone,except Sappho. Yet all thesethemes (except perhaps a "cynical"criticism) are foundin herpoetry.79 Burnett describes the circle of Alcaeus: "Met togetherfor pleasure, they celebratedcommon cults and entertainedone anotherwith songs of every sort-hymnsand exhortations,but also riddles,jokes, abuse,and salutesto the victoriesand defeats,departures and reunions,as well as to the sexual ad- ventures,that made up theirmutual lives" (121).80Again, this differs not at all fromwhat we findin Sappho, save in perhapssubstituting "love" for"sexual adventures"in bothpoets. Modem scholarshave ancientprecedent for segregating Sappho by sex fromher fellow lyricpoets. Strabo (13.3.3=T 7 Loeb), Antipaterof Thessa- lonica (AP 7.15=T 57 Loeb; 9.26: a listof ninewomen poets), Galen (4.771.18 K), Anon. AP 9.190.7-8 (T 35 Loeb) compareher only withother women, while Antipaterof Sidon (AP 7.14=T 27 Loeb, 9.66), Plato (AP 9.506=T 60 Loeb), Plutarch(Amat. 18) makeher a Muse nota poet.81 But thereexists another ancient tradition which counted her simply as one of thenine lyricpoets (Anon.AP 9.184, Gel. 19.3=T 53 Loeb, Ath. 14.639e). Sappho sang of love. A wide varietyof authorsrecognized that her subject matterwas more importantto her poetrythan her genderand comparedher with otherpoets who sang about love. Above all theycompared her with Anacreon(Winkler 163). So Clearchus(c. 300 B.C., Ath. 14.639a=T 39 Loeb) treatstheir love songs together,as do Horace (Odes 4.9.9-12), Ovid (Trist. 2.363-65, quoted above), Pausanius (1.25.1), Aulus Gellius (19.9.3=T 53 Loeb), Maximus of Tyre (18.9 1-m,see above), Themistius(4th. cent. A.D., Or. 13.170d-71a=T52 Loeb), and Plutarch(Mul. Virt.243b=T 54 Loeb), who providesmy epigraph.Apuleius (Apol. 9=T 48 Loeb) says theonly difference betweenthe love songs of Sappho and Anacreon,Alcman, or Simonidesis dialect. MenanderRhetor (9.132, 134=T 47 Loeb) sees no differencein the kletichymns of Sappho and Anacreonor Alcman.Dionysius of Halicamassus (Dem. 40=T 42 Loeb) chooses Sappho,Anacreon, and Hesiod as representing thepolished (yXopup6) style.Demetrius (Eloc. 132=T 45 Loeb) in a famous
79Seemy article, "Sappho's Public World" (forthcoming). 80Notehere that Alcaeus is notthe leader of his hetairia. 81Anon.AP 9.571 cutsher from the nine lyric poets to add herto thenine Muses; cf. also DioscoridesAP 7.407,Anon. AP 9.189,9.521.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SapphoSchoolmistress 341 passage summedup "the whole of Sappho's poetry"as vugqoxiot icfirxot, OU?vocoti,Epo)te5 ("gardensof nymphs,wedding-songs, love-affairs"). These are notunique to Sappho.What is uniqueto Sappho is thedesire to lock herup in thegarden. Sappho sang hymns,wedding songs, love songs, songs of blame, and songs of praise.Russo (721) on whathe terms"the great Question of Sapphic studies"writes: "I findit easierto assumethat some specialpurpose lay behind the existenceof Sappho's circle of women,and thatsome degree of formal organizationexisted to carryout thatpurpose." My questionis, why is that purposemade more formalthan that which bound togetherAlcaeus' circle? Why is she alone made the leaderof a thiasos,a schoolteacher,a priestessof Aphroditeand theMuses? For all his hymns,Alcaeus is nevercalled theleader of a thiasos.82For all his choralpoetry, no one says thatStesichorus (!) setup a school for young boys. For all his erotic verse, no one calls Theognis a "sensualconsciousness raiser." XII. A Different Reading/Reading Otherwise. The interpretivemodel of Sappho as Schoolmistress,Sappho as Ritual Leader does not work.It has no evidence to supportit and it leads to some grotesquemisinterpretations of the poetry.But if Sappho was not a School- mistress,what was she? Let us turnfrom Victorian fantasy and modernreconstructions to theone indisputablefact about Sappho: she was a poet. Let us look thenat whatpoets did. It is timewe ceased thisdouble standard. I wish to proposean alternative reconstructionof Sappho's social world.She calls hercomrades (pixat (43) and ?tcapaC (142, 160.1). She calls herself"a firmfriend" ((plXca qpoig' %iSpaC ye[vcaOac,88.17). She shouldtherefore be seen,not in a thiasos(whatever that mightbe) but,like Alcaeus, in a hetairia,an associationof friends.I am not raisingthis point for the first time, but it seemsto have been powerlessagainst so entrencheda seriesof preconceptions.So Burnetthas written:"Sappho sang foran audiencein some waysvery much like thefraternity that Alcaeus fought withduring the day and drankwith at night.Her circle,like thehetaireia, had a customaryrole to play in Lesbian society, and it too was aristocratic, musical, and constrainedonly by bonds of love and loyalty"(209). So too Winkler:"It is by no means certainthat her own poems are eitherfor a cult- perfomanceor that her circle of women friends(hetairai) is identicalin extension with the celebrantsin a festival she mentions"(165). Trumpf
82Forhis hymns see Page 1955:244-72, Campbell 1983: 169-72.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 342 Holt N. Parker compared the hetairia of Alcaeus to Sappho's circle and writes,"Der Wirkungskreisder Dichtersind die halb kultischen,halb politisch-sozialen Organisationsformender Buindeund Hetarienmit ihren festen Institutionen" (160). Any overly stringentattempt to separate the cultic fromthe socio- political is fundamentallymistaken-I doubt if any Greek would have understoodthe distinctionwe weretrying to make-thoughcivic celebrations (involvingthe whole polis) can be differentiatedfrom private ceremonies.83 The point I wish to make is thatthere is no justificationfor imposingon Sappho a greaterdegree of ritual,formality, or institutionalizationthan on any other(male) poet. Sappho has a social role-it is thatof poet. Since she does thesame thingsas otherpoets and writesthe same thingsas otherpoets, why is she not treatedlike all otherpoets? This rhetoricalquestion has an answer: scholars for the most part are still refusingto treatSappho as a poet and instead are turningher into a "wonderfulthing" (Strabo 13.2.3=T 7 Loeb: OCxRCGstovtt xpigca), thatis, a freakof nature.84A singleexample: Gentili says: "The closenessto theMuses can onlybe explainedby thehypothesis of an actual cult in theirhonor within the community"(1988: 84). May I offeran- otherhypothesis? Sappho invokesthe Muses because she is a poet. Alcaeus invokesthe Muses. Whydo theseremarks not apply to him,or to Archilochus, or Pindaror anyoneelse who ever wrotepoetry in theentire history of Greek literature? Men got togetherwith othermen in a varietyof formaland informal settingsat which poetrymight be sung. These includedcivic festivalsand competitions,banquets (OaXki, ?opTIJ,-Oawo) and above all thesymposium.85
83Cf, forexample, McEvilley 268: "Fragment94 doesnot present exactly a ritenor exactly a party,but a privateoccasion which involved the symbolic objects common to both." This draws a linethat did not exist in Greece and asks on whichside particular occasions fell. Every party beganwith a sacrifice;every sacrifice was followed by a party. 84Forthis attitude as basicto most interpretations ofthe work of women poets, see Lefkowitz 1973/1981and Gubar. 850nbanquets as a placefor poetry, and the synonymy of thesewords, see Schmitt-Pantel.I followher usage of the term "banquet" to indicate the falsity of applying modem distinctions of "secular"activity from "sacred." Cantarella in a curioussection (1988/1992: 86-88) invokes symposiaas sitesfor lesbian love. She, however, is imaginingthe hetairai at men's symposia fallingfor each other. How muchthis is influencedby modern notions of the lesbian hooker, I don'tknow, though her remarks certainly point in thatdirection (87). She can,however, offer no evidenceapart from Anacreon 358 (see above note30), whichmay not be aboutfemale homosexualityand failsto mentionsymposia, and AlciphronEp. 4.14.4, a buttockbeauty contestbetween two hetairai, which she reads as a "homosexualturn-on" (88). The lavishly illustratedworld of thesymposium offers no suchimages. The Apollodorusvase (Para. 333, 9bis; illustratedin Dover 1978: 173 [R 2071,Keuls 85 [fig.1511, Boardman 1975b: 110-11),
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What mightthese occasions have been forSappho? Bearingin mindthat we knowlittle about archaic Lesbos, we mustgo primarilyon thebasis of herown and Alcaeus' poetry.If, however, we stripaway theblinkers of Sappho School- mistress,we findher celebratingthe same or similaroccasions in settings neithermore nor less formalor culticthan those celebratedin the circles of friendsthat included Alcaeus, or Mimnermus,or Ibycus, or Theognis, or Anacreon. There is no theme,no occasion, in Sappho thatwe do not findin other poets.For identifiableoccasions, those which seem to us to be more"formal" are Sappho writingchoral song foran Adonia,86singing about some sortof all nightcelebrations,87 singing about choruses (70.10, 94.27), and (accordingto an anonymousepigram) leading a chorusof womento theprecinct of Hera.88 The Adoniawas a women'sfestival and Praxillawrote an famous(and derided) hymnto Adonis(747).89 Pindar describes an all-nightfestival (Ism. 4.65-68).90 Alcman,of course,speaks of Xopo; "dancing"(besides thepartheneia, see IO(b)11, 15; 27.3), as do Alcaeus (249), Anacreon(386), Ion (26.1, 11), Pra- tinas(708, 709), [Socrates]3.1 (Ath. 14.628e),Theognis 779 (of a paean), and
sometimesoffered as evidenceof lesbian masturbation (Dover ibid.), rather shows one hetaira perfumingthe pubic hair of another(note the perfume jar) and is comparableto thebathing scenes(Boardman, ibid; Keuls, ibid.). Such a scenewould not be impossible:vase painting does show women drinkingby themselves(e.g., psykterby Euphormios,AR V 16,15=Boardman1975a: #27; hydria by Phintias, ARV 23,7=Boardman 1975a: #38) and is not shyabout showing women masturbating with dildos (ubiquitous; e.g., Keuls 82-86) or by hand (Thalia painter,ARV 113,7=Boardman1975a: #112=Johns 140). Keuls 242 is incorrectin citingher fig. 251 (ARV34,16) as a possiblescene of masturbation (and fails to note the Thalia painter)and further misidentifies (87) herfig. 81 (Apulianpelike by the Truro painter, c. 350 B.C.) as homosexualgesture of a womantouching another's breast; the hand is clearlyon the shoulder. 86140a; cf. 168, 221 b iii,AP 7.407 (Dioscorides18 Gow-Page=T58 Loeb). For the Adonia,see Detienneand Winkler's criticisms (188-209). 8730.3,43, 149,perhaps 126, 151, 157; cf. 154. Since 30 is certainlyan epithalamium, thereis a possibilitythat some of theothers are also. For43, thedirect address to friendsand theend of the poem, seem to indicate a non-narrativecontext; we cannotknow the character of theoccasion. For 154,the presence of thealtar seems more "cultic," but cf. Xenoph.1.11 (below). Further,the past tenses might indicate either simply an antecedentsetting, or the narrationperhaps of a myth.Fr. 23.12, and 126may simply be aboutabout spending the night witha companion. 88AP9.189=T 59 Loeb; Hera is also mentionedat 9, 17. Perhapsthe mysterious "beauty contests"of Lesbos fitin somewhere,though Sappho in whatsurvives makes no mentionof them.The testimonia are conveniently assembled by Treu 1963: 120-21 (with German trans.). 89Forother poets apparently writing choral works for the Adonia, cf. Cratinus,Boukoloi (3.16 Kock=K-A4.131). A certain"Glykon" told his story (Ad. 1029). 90Forwhich see Parke49-50.
This content downloaded from 91.220.202.46 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 10:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 344 Holt N. Parker an anonymousdrinking song (900). Alcaeus (129) invokesHera; Alcman (3) writesa partheneionin herhonor.91 Numerous poets have invokednumerous gods. OnlySappho is turnedinto a priestess. A principaloccasion forwomen (and men) gatheringtogether in a less "cultic"setting for Sappho's songs is the wedding.92Alcman wrote wedding songs (hymenaia);93 Homer, Hesiod and Aristophanesknow of them;94 Licymnius(768) and Telestes(808) wrotedithyrambs about Hymenaios. Only Sappho setsup a schoolfor bridesmaids. But most of all, we find Sappho singing about (and I presume at) banquets.She speaks of the OaXix at a templegrove to whichshe summons Aphrodite(2.15). So do Archilochus(11, 13), Theognis(778, 983), Pindar(0. 7.94, 10.76, P. 1.37, 10.34, Paean 6.14), Ion of Chios (23.3), and Xenoph- anes.95 She speaks of a i'opTi for Hera (9.3); so do Anacreon(410.2) and Pindar(0. 3.34, 5.5, 6.69, 6.95, 10.58, P. 8.66, N. 9.11, 11.27, fr.59.4, 193, Thr. 4.15).96 She refersto sacrificialmeals (Oiaio, ioV)97; the same words are used by Alcaeus (306 A (b) 24), Hipponax(104.48), Simonides(519 fr.73 (c) 2), Theognis(1146), Timotheus(783), Philoxenusof Cythera(823), Pindar (0. 6.78, 7.42, 10.57, 13.69, P. 5.86, l. 5.30, Paean 3.96, 6.62, 12.6, fr. 59.12, 78.2, 86a) and the anonymousdrinking song the "Hannodius" (895.3). And everywhereshe speaks of garlands.98So do Alcaeus, Alcman,Anacreon, Hipponax,Simonides, Stesichorus, Theognis, and Xenophanes.99To say that
91Also in praiseof Hera: the author of theHomeric Hymn, and the shadowy Olen ofLycia (Paus. 2.13.3); cf. Bacch. 11 on thejust wrathof Hera.For Alcman3 as a choralwork for Hera,see Campbell1983: 155 and Calame's cautious assessment (1977: 11, 107-108). 92Forthe festival setting of the wedding, see Gernet1981: 23-25. 93Accordingto LeonidasAP 7.19=159PMG (T 9 Calame=T3 Loeb), ofwhich 4c, 81 and 107 PMG mightbe examples;they are not partheneia. Griffiths 11 quotesGow-Page II, 366 withapproval for the existence of Alcman's epithalamia: "We canhardly suppose Leonidas to havebeen mistaken or to have confused partheneia with epithalamia"; he thendoes just that by interpretingAlcman's Partheneion 1 as an epithalamionfor Agido and an unnamedman, in whichhe is followedby Gentili 1988: 73-77, who turns it into a weddingsong for Agido and Hagesichora(see above). 94I1. 18.491-96,Hes. Scut.273-80, Ar. Peace 1316-57,Birds 1722-65. 95Cf.Stesichorus 210 (theopening of the Oresteia). 96Cf.Alcman 56.2 on thefeasting of the gods. 97Fr.19, 40. ForOxyia the sacrificial meal, see Detienne-Vernant1989: esp. 87-92and, for thebibliography of 1979-89,Schmitt-Pantel. 98Fr.81.7, 92.10,94.12-17, 98a.8, 125, 191; 168c V if by Sappho(fr. adesp. 964) refers merelyto the earth producing garlands. See also West1970: 321. 99Alcaeus48.17, 296b.8,306 A(b)14, 362.1, 436; Alcman58; Anacreon352.2, 396.2, 410.1, 434.1, 496; Hipponax60; Simonides506.2, 519, fr.77.3 and fr.80.5; Stesichorus 187.3;Theognis 828; Critias4.1; Xenophanes1.2. Also Critias,Philoxenos of Leucas in the
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Sappho's OaRXa is a cult but Archilochus'is a party,that Sappho's garlands belongto ritualbut Anacreon's belong to banqueting,is a falsedistinction and special pleading.100Pollux (6.107=Sappho 191=Alcaeus 436) and Athenaeus (15.674c-d=Alcaeus 362=Sappho 96.15) make no distinctionin quoting Anacreon,Sappho and Alcaeus togetherfor the use of garlandsat banquets.101 She speaks of myrrh(94.18, 20), not as a matterof cosmetics,102but as partof a celebration,exactly as do Alcaeus (45.7, 50.1, 362.3; cf. 36), Anacreon (363.3, 444), Archilochus(205), Theognis (730), and Xenophanes (1.3). Finally,it is clear thatwine was presentat some of the celebrationsat which Sappho sang. She certainlythinks it suitablefor the weddings of gods (141b.1) and heroes(44.10) and she relatesthe story that Achelous invented the mixing of wine (212).103And in fr.2, she refersto thenectar given by Aphroditewho pours the wine (2.15-16: o6voXo6cIov; cf. 96.27 also of Aphroditeand nectar)into their kylixes, the cup fordrinking wine (cf. 44.29 on thewedding of Hectorand Andromache;192: a descriptionof cups froman unknowncon- text).Athenaeus (11.463e) quotes thepoem as partof a seriesof descriptions of thefeatures of a perfectsymposium104 and Page (Page 1955: 43) explicates the role of Aphrodite:"The wine whichSappho and her companionsdrink is conceived of as being, or including,nectar poured by the hand of theirin- visiblebut unquestionably present patroness."105 For Bowra, Sappho 2 "has certainlythe air of cult about it, and though Sappho's positionmay not be official,she certainlyofficiates" (196). Saake
dithyramb"The Banquet"836 (a) 3, (b) 4, 43; thedrinking songs Skol. 885.2, 956, Ad. 1018 (b) 7: Ad. eleg.30.9 (?). Corinna654 (a) col. i.26 is mythological- I00Forthe significance of garlands, see Vonder Muhll 1957: 87=1975: 486. 101Both show that the setting is sympotic. 102Saake(1971: 200) is typicalof thisbelittling approach, in speakingof "Kosmetik" and "rmedicaminafaciei femineae>>, der Essenzen, Ole undSalben einer kultivierten Toilette." Apparentlythe girls were at a make-upparty. Sappho merely refers to myrrh. Cf. the attack of Semonides7.64. 103Amyth whose relevancy outside of a festiveoccasion is hardto see. At 173,Sappho mentionsthe vine, but this might be somepiece of incidental descrption. 104Ath.11.463a-63c is thesource of Xenophanes' famous description (1), as wellas Ana- creoneleg. 2 W (96 D), Ion 27, Theophr.fr. 120 (Wimmer),Alexis Tarentines (2.377 Kock), andSappho 2.13-16. 105Soalso Bowra 198 and West1970: 317. For nectaras a metonymyfor wine, cf. Arch. 290,Ion 26.9,Philoxenus of Leucas 836(d)1. Yet, this has not prevented certain interpretations in whichthe actual wine of the celebration has been ignored in thesearch for the poetic mean- ingsof the nectar of Aphrodite. So Burnett275: "Aphroditeis tomix nectar, the matter of the gods,into the immaterial festivity ofher followers." Yet she acknowledges the materiality ofthe imagesof that festivity. That the nectar "verleiht den siiBen Rausch der Liebe" (Theiler-Von der Miihll25) maybe truebut ignores that these images begin in the concrete fact of actual feasting.
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(1972: 63) sees her as a priestess.Gentili (1988: 79) calls it a "ritualinvo- cation."But Sappho does notrule a cult;she singsa song.Bumett (265) rightly criticizesWest's flippanttone, but he is correctto call the settingof fr.2 a "picnic" (1970: 317),106 an outdoorbanquet of a well-knowntype (Gernet 14- 15). We maynot wish to call any of thesebanquets symposia as such,107those exclusivelymale drinkingparties, but if we compareXenophanes 1, his de- scriptionof theperfect symposium, with Sappho 2, 94, and others,we findall the same elements:cups, wine,wreaths, perfume.108 Even the incense,altars, and hymnsare as much a featureof the symposiumas of the sacrifice.109 Sappho is not servingas a priestessto girls;she is attendinga banquetwith friends.
XIII. Conclusion. Justas Sappho's poetryshares concerns and subjectmatter with Alcaeus and the otherlyric poets, so Sappho's societyshould also be regardedas a hetairia.Analogous to Alcaeus' circle,Sappho's societywas a groupof women tiedby family,class, politics,and eroticlove. Like anyother association, it co- operatedin ritualactivities, cult practice,and informalsocial events. Her subjects,like thoseof the otherlyric poets, were praising her group'sfriends, attackingits enemies,celebrating its loves, and offeringsongs for its banquets. This picturehas I believe a greaterfidelity to thefacts. It removesa distorting series of assumptionsand revealsan excitingworld, where women as well as men are concernedwith love and politicsand whereSappho is no longera schoolmistressbut a poet.
106Herefers later dismissively to"jolly outings" (1970: 322). 107SoWest 1980: 38: "a women'ssociety which was themirror image of themen's, with theirown symposia and love affairs." 108Frankel180 rightly invokes men's banquets and compares Xenoph. 1 andSappho 2. 109Forincense: Sappho 2.3-4, cf. Xenoph.1.7 (bothspecifically frankincense); altar: Sappho2.3, cf. Xenoph.1.11. Xenophanes tells of themen hymning the gods, and I would haveno difficultyin seeing Sappho's kletic hymns 1 and2 inexactly this sort of festive setting.
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Works Cited
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