DOCSLIB.ORG

What Women Want: Sappho's Desires Sumana Gupta

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
What Women Want: Sappho's Desires Sumana Gupta What Women Want: Sappho’s Desires Sumana Gupta Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Andrew Sherwood for reading over my paper, his valuable edits and much appreciated guidance. Thank you to Professor Walsh for always being a great mentor and encouraging me to pursue my now greatest passion, Classical Studies. Thank you to my friends and family for your endless support and love. And lastly thank you to the Guelph Classics Society for publishing my paper. !1 Sappho was a poet hailing from the island of Lesbos from about 630-570 BC. We only know the basics of this woman, but her poetry has gained such acclaim that it has created debates on the smallest intricacies of her life. Today she holds a tremendous amount of renown and im- portance, but what did she represent in antiquity? Her poetry did not discuss the routine matters in which women of ancient Greece were usually involved in, like children bearing and rearing, domestic work, or being a good wife.1 Instead, Sappho discussed the rich ideas of love and de- sire, filtering them through wedding songs and various mythological allusions.2 Via her poetry, Sappho was able to represent women’s desires and teach them that they had the power and agency to pursue their passions. The following paper will argue how Sappho was able to teach such lessons to women regarding their romantic lives, with the term ‘desires’ being used to illus- trate what women wanted concerning the maintenance of one’s virginity, sexually pleasing one’s husband and pursuing love. Her esteem as a poet is evident in the ancients’ marginal apotheosis of Sappho, as Plato credits in an epigram that he believes her to be the 10th muse.3 While there are many named male poets, writing about all aspects of Greek life, Sappho is the earliest and one of the only female poets with surviving works that give a proper, authentic voice to the lives of women in ancient Greece - thus, she serves a pivotal role in the development of the female poetic tradition.4 The very existence of the female poetic tradition is contested, but Skinner argues that it can be found within Sappho’s community, delving into the theory of how Sappho’s poems were used in per- formances for other women.5 As a result of the traditional isolation of women from men in Greek society, perfor- mances by and for women allow for an authentic female voice that reflects their experiences and can be observed in such poems.6 We must acknowledge here that this isolation was not universal as men and women were able to converse with one another in certain spaces.7 Though the per- formance of Sappho’s works provides us with the most relevant platform for the female voice, other expressions of female privacy were present in civic festivals such as the Thesmophoria, an 1 Page DuBois, Sappho Is Burning (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 12. 2 DuBois, Sappho Is Burning, 12. 3 Warren Castle, “Observations on Sappho's To Aphrodite,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 89, (1958): 66; Pl., AP 9.506. 4 Marilyn B. Skinner, “Corinna of Tanagra and Her Audience,” Tulsa Studies in Women's Litera- ture 2, no. 1 (1983): 9. 5 Marilyn B. Skinner, “Corinna of Tanagra and Her Audience,” 16. 6 Laurel Bowman, “The "Women's Tradition" in Greek Poetry,” Phoenix 58, no. 1/2 (2004): 6. 7 Marilyn B. Skinner, “Corinna of Tanagra and Her Audience,” 12. !2 event shrouded in mystery as a result of this exclusivity.8 Suffice to say, within this segregated patriarchal society, private spaces for women existed and provided a space for Sappho to write in which would allow for the creation of such a poetic tradition. With the existence of a female poetic tradition established in Sappho’s poetry, let us move forward to how she discussed desires. One such desire expressed in Sappho’s works is the preservation of a woman’s virginity, which is expressed through surviving fragments that discuss marriage. This is shown in Fr. 44AA, which models Artemis as a role model for virginity: Artemis swore the great oath [of the gods]: By your head, I wish to be a virgin, always [unmarried], roaming the mountain peaks alone. Please, accede to my desire. So she spoke. The father of the blessed gods nodded his consent She is known as [virgin and shooter of deer] by gods [and men], huntress, a great title. Eros [limb-loosener] never approaches her. (Sappho, Fr. 44AA, 3-11) This fragment describes Artemis, an eternally virginal goddess, wishing to protect her virginity and refuse marriage – perhaps even denying the subordination of women observed in heterosex- ual relationships.9 This is evident by the last line of the poem, as it leaves the impression that Artemis is a chaste maiden who chooses to remain separate from marriage. As a young woman and a goddess, she has the power to implement her decision, and the unfaltering maintenance of her virginity would have set a clear example for other young women.10 Several of Sappho’s fragments mourn the loss of virginity in support of Artemis’ chastity, and though some scholars believe that this supports the poetess’s longing and passion for other women, it also reflects a desire to remain chaste in Artemis’ image.11 On the reasoning behind Fr. 44AA, Wilson questions the purpose of whether it was didac- tic or used to honour Artemis.12 If we are to assume that this fragment had educational intent, we can infer that Sappho’s herself wanted women to choose to remain unmarried and retain their virginity – a desire which can be observed outside of Sappho in instances where women become 8 Jack Winkler, “Gardens of Nymphs: Public and Private in Sappho's Lyrics” Women's Studies 8, no. 1-2 (1981): 66. 9 Hatherly Lyn, Wilson, Sappho's Sweetbitter Songs Configurations of Female and Male in An- cient Greek Lyric. (London; New York: Routledge, 1996), 91. 10Wilson, Sappho's Sweetbitter Songs, 90. 11 Sappho, “Fragments 105c”, 235, ‘Fragments 117”, 239, “Fragment 114, 233; Holt N. Parker, “Sappho Schoolmistress," Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) 123 (1993): 313. 12 Wilson, Sappho's Sweetbitter Songs, 90. !3 heroines, for maintaining their chastity.13 A key difference we must note in the treatment of he- roes and Sapphic virgins is that these heroines were publicly worshipped as symbols of purity and as worthy sacrifices to better their community, where Sappho only champions virginity itself.14 Sappho’s portrayal of virginal women is inherent to women themselves, which is - in es- sence, a private proclamation that enhances the importance of this perspective. In antiquity, it was expected for young women to be virginal, as the breakage of an intact virginity was used to show the legitimacy of potential heirs for their husbands.15 While the majority of her wedding songs celebrate the relationship between a man and a woman, the resistance to marriage in Fr. 44AA lends to the theory that Sappho herself did not favor marriage, a desire that could have been felt by women throughout the Greek world. In short, Sappho’s depiction of Artemis’ auton- omy and preservation of her virginity can be observed as an encouragement to young women to remain virginal, but perhaps, also as a representation of feminine desire for marriage. The extent of Sappho’s views on desire will be revisited, but suffice to say that Sappho’s depiction of Artemis’ autonomy and the preservation of her virginity in Fr. 44AA is evident of Sappho’s unique voice for women in a society that marginalized them. Though we have Fr. 44AA as an example of the feminine rejection of marriage, a greater amount of Sappho’s surviving poetry depicts wedding hymns - a reflection of the diversity of feminine desires. Conversely to our Artemis example, the wedding hymns observed in Fr. 113 and 112 indicate that Sappho viewed marriage to be equally unique and special to both the bride and bridegroom. Where ‘Fr. 113: ‘For you, O bridegroom, there was never another girl like this one,’ Fr. 112 goes on to further express the bride’s good qualities: blest bridegroom, your marriage that you prayed for is accomplished, you have the girl for whom you prayed, and you, bride, your appearance is full of grace, your eyes are gentle and love wells on your delightful face: Aphrodite has honored you beyond all others (Sappho, Fr. 112) In these fragments, Sappho is one of the few writers in antiquity to revel in the joys and delights of marriage, as she saw that it could be equally pleasurable for both the bride and bridegroom. Fr. 113 emphasizes the bride’s uniqueness, and that the groom should value her. Sappho praises the beauty of both in Fr. 112, where it can be seen that she did not value or praise one companion over another.16 While these fragments are not explicit in the sexual pleasure of marriage, the praises signify that she saw marriage as an equal partnership. 13 Wilson, Sappho's Sweetbitter Songs, 99; Marilyn A. Katz, "Sappho and Her Sisters: Women in Ancient Greece," Signs 25, no. 2 (2000): 516. 14 Katz, “Sappho and Her Sisters: Women in Ancient Greece,” 516. 15 Wilson, Sappho's Sweetbitter Songs, 88. 16 Judith P. Hallet, “Sappho and Her Social Context: Sense and Sensuality." Signs 4, no. 3 (1979): 456. !4 Sappho expresses her views of pleasurable marriage in Fr. 115 with natural imagery as a metaphor for the bride and bridegroom’s beauty, ‘To what shall I best liken you, dear bride- groom? Most of all to a slender sapling I liken you’ (Sappho, Fr.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sappho of Lesbos [Born C
    Sappho of Lesbos [born c. 612 B.C.] Know the following people, places, and terms: Aphrodite (=Kypris [refers to her sanctuary on Cyprus], =Cytherea [refers to her sanctuary on Cythera]) Eros, Aphrodite's son (sometimes known as Boy, Love or Cupid) Helen, wife of Menelaus, abducted by Paris to Troy Artemis, sister of Phoebus Apollo, goddess of the hunt Hector, greatest of the Trojan warriors, son of King Priam Andromache, Hector's wife Sardis, a town in Lydia, the area of Asia Minor across from Lesbos choriamb: − ∪ ∪ − Sapphic meter: three hendecasyllabic lines − ∪ − x | − ∪ ∪ − | ∪ − − followed by an Adonean − ∪ ∪ − | − 1. What is Sappho's world like? With whom does she associate and care for? What recurring images do we find in Sappho's poetry? In short, what did she value? 2. How is Aphrodite portrayed? Playful? Serious? Powerful? What were her powers? attributes? How does Sappho's view of Aphrodite compare with Homer's and Hesiod's? Whose view do you prefer? 3. What is Sappho's attitude toward love? Does Sappho's portrayal of Aphrodite (her theory of love, if you will) correspond to her actual relationships (i.e. the practice of love)? 4. What kind of relationship did Sappho have with her hetairai , "female companions"? Was it physical as well as emotional? Was there an intellectual component? If you were to speculate, what were the reasons for Sappho's attachment to her companions? What evidence is there that Sappho's hetairai were attracted to her? Is there any evidence in her poems of the erastes-eromenos relationship that we see in classical Athens? 5.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Aphrodite in Sappho Fr. 1 Keith Stanley
    The Rôle of Aphrodite in Sappho Fr.1 Stanley, Keith Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1976; 17, 4; ProQuest pg. 305 The Role of Aphrodite in Sappho Fr. 1 Keith Stanley APPHO'S Hymn to Aphrodite, standing so near to the beginning of Sour evidence for the religious and poetic traditions it embodies, remains a locus of disagreement about the function of the goddess in the poem and the degree of seriousness intended by Sappho's plea for her help. Wilamowitz thought sparrows' wings unsuited to the task of drawing Aphrodite's chariot, and proposed that Sappho's report of her epiphany described a vision experienced ovap, not v7rap.l Archibald Cameron ventured further, suggesting that the description of Aphrodite's flight was couched not in the language of "the real religious tradition of epiphany and its effect on mortals" but was "Homeric and conventional"; and that the vision was not, therefore, the record of a genuine religious experience, but derived rather from "the bright world of Homer's fancy."2 Thus he judged the tone of the ode to be one of seriousness tempered by "a vein of prettiness and almost of playfulness" and concluded that there was no special ur­ gency in Sappho's petition itself. While more recent opinion has tended to regard the episode as a poetic fiction which serves to 'mythologize' a genuine emotion, Sir Denys Page has not only maintained that Aphrodite's descent is a "flight of fancy, with much detail irrelevant to her present theme," but argued further that the poem as a whole is a lightly ironic melange of passion and self-mockery.3 Despite a con- 1 Sappho und Simonides (Berlin 1913) 45, with Der Glaube der Hellenen 3 II (Basel 1959) 109; so also J.
    [Show full text]
  • Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
    Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F.
    [Show full text]
  • Archaic Lyric Voices
    Archaic Lyric Voices An Introduction to Three Greek Lyric Poets: Alcman, Alcaeus, and Sappho The aim of this short article is to provide an introduction to three lyric poets of the archaic period, Alcman, Alcaeus, and Sappho. We will examine each poet and examples of his or her poetry individually, while at the same time exploring some overarching themes. I will throughout consider how and to what extent the poetry of these authors is different from the well known epics of Homer, the Iliad and Odyssey, and whether there is any continuity. I will also look at the performance context, mode, and tone of the poetry to give a sense of what is individual and unique about the poetry of Alcman, Alcaeus, and Sappho. Let me begin by situating these three poets chronologically in the tradition of Greek poetry and geographically in the ancient Greek world. The dates of literary activity I am about to mention are approximate, as our knowledge of the lives of these poets is in most cases quite scanty, but they will at least give you a sense of when these poets were working. The locations are more certain, and, as we will see, very important for the understanding of the lyric poetry. Now, the Iliad and the Odyssey attributed in antiquity to the blind bard Homer, although derived from a long oral tradition, were put into a form close to that which we have today between the end of the 8th and middle of the first half of the 7th century B.C.E., most probably in Ionia.
    [Show full text]
  • Eroticism in Theognis Josh C
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK World Languages, Literatures and Cultures World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses 5-2015 Eroticism in Theognis Josh C. Koerner University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/wllcuht Recommended Citation Koerner, Josh C., "Eroticism in Theognis" (2015). World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses. 2. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/wllcuht/2 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the World Languages, Literatures and Cultures at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Eroticism in Theognis An Honors Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors Studies in Classical Studies By: Joshua Koerner 2015 Classics J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences The University of Arkansas Introduction and Background to Theognis 3 Background to Symposium 13 Eroticism in the Theognidean Corpus 25 Appendices 75 Bibliography 122 Acknowledgements 125 !2 of !125 Introduction and Background to Theognis Understanding masculinity and the way it self-defines is an integral part of understanding symposia as “masculine,” and using an elite context inherently includes in its discussion a greater degree of contrast between the self, or the community that identifies in a particular way, and the other. Further, given that sexuality is an integral component to the human experience, it is quite relevant to pursue the question of eroticism in a general context as well as the specific.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Imitations of Pindar and Sappho by Horace
    Some imitations of Pindar and Sappho by Horace The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Nagy, Gregory. 2015.12.31. "Some imitations of Pindar and Sappho by Horace." Classical Inquiries. http://nrs.harvard.edu/ urn-3:hul.eresource:Classical_Inquiries. Published Version https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/some-imitations-of- pindar-and-sappho-by-horace/ Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:39699959 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Classical Inquiries Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith Stone Consultant for Images: Jill Curry Robbins Online Consultant: Noel Spencer About Classical Inquiries (CI ) is an online, rapid-publication project of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies, devoted to sharing some of the latest thinking on the ancient world with researchers and the general public. While articles archived in DASH represent the original Classical Inquiries posts, CI is intended to be an evolving project, providing a platform for public dialogue between authors and readers. Please visit http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:Classical_Inquiries for the latest version of this article, which may include corrections, updates, or comments and author responses. Additionally, many of the studies published in CI will be incorporated into future CHS pub- lications. Please visit http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:CHS.Online_Publishing for a complete and continually expanding list of open access publications by CHS.
    [Show full text]
  • Letters Before Letters Ewen Bowie the Genre of 'Epistle'/'Letter', Including Its
    Letters before letters Ewen Bowie The genre of ‘epistle’/’letter’, including its species ‘love letter’, was developed and depended upon a world that had access to writing. Was the notion of communication of ideas to a remote audience therefore foreign to a pre-literate Greek society? Several poems surviving from the archaic period, when Greek culture was moving from an oral to an oral-cum-literate stage, show that it was not. Just as a king or community might arrange for a messenger to memorise a message and deliver it to a chosen recipient, so too a poet could have a friend or associate memorise a poem or, in most cases, a song, and sing that to an audience remote from the poet himself or herself. Our clearest case is Alcaeus fr. 428, where we have two testimonia, Herodotus 5.94-5 and Strabo 13.1.38 (600), who present complementary data, and surely both had access to and drew on Alcaeus’ poem, most of which is lost to us. It seems that the poem was addressed to Melanippus (also the addressee of the meta-sympotic fr. 38A), and asked him to act as a herald (kēryx) to carry to Mytilene the news of Alcaeus’ loss of his armour to the Athenians. Not, therefore, a remote immediate addressee: but Alcaeus envisages two audiences, Melanippus, and doubtless other hetairoi, in the hic et nunc in the Troad, and then other, remote Mytileneans back home. That Alcaeus presented himself giving instructions to Melanippus underlines the expectation that this song will be sung in Mytilene, but of course the move is one Alcaeus can make because he knows that sympotic songs of all sorts travel from one part of the Greek world to another, carried by singing symposiasts who learn a song that they like, whether for its tune, its words or its message, and then sing it at another symposium.
    [Show full text]
  • Sappho's Aesthetics by Lauren R. W. Vanderdeen Submitted in Partial
    Sappho’s Aesthetics by Lauren R. W. Vanderdeen Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2020 © Copyright by Lauren R. W. Vanderdeen, 2020 ἀεροβατῶ καὶ περιφρονῶ τὸν ἥλιον. ii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 (i) Lyric poetry: problems and contexts .......................................................................... 2 (ii) Ideas of beauty .......................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2. Beauty................................................................................................................ 6 (i) Situating κάλος in Sappho .......................................................................................... 6 (ii) Adjacent aesthetic language .................................................................................... 17 (iii) “the most beautiful thing on the dark earth” .......................................................... 27 Chapter 3. Nature .............................................................................................................. 34 (i) Fullness
    [Show full text]
  • Herodotus, the Old Sappho and the Newest Sappho Giulia Donelli University of Bristol, UK
    e-ISSN 2724-1564 Lexis Num. 39 (n.s.) – Giugno 2021 – Fasc. 1 Herodotus, the Old Sappho and the Newest Sappho Giulia Donelli University of Bristol, UK Abstract This paper focuses on Herodotus’ mention of Sappho in the Histories (2.134-5). Through the analysis of some of the extant sources on the involvement of her brother Charaxus with the hetaira Doricha/Rhodopis, it advances an interpretation of Sappho’s fr. 55 V as relevant to the affair. It then draws attention to Herodotus’ descrip- tion of courtesans, in the same context, with the poetic term ἀοίδιμος. The adjective occurs only once in Homer, in the self-deprecating words that Helen speaks to Hector (Il. 6.354-8). Such Homeric echo might be understood as triggering an allusion to Sappho’s own treatment of Helen in fr. 16 V: Helen’s behaviour in that poem in fact closely matches no one other’s than Charaxus’ own. The possibility that Herodotus might be engaging with more than one Sapphic poem in this context finds a parallel in his engagement with Pindar’s poetry in 3.38, where, it has been argued, he ‘contaminates’ two distinct Pin- daric intertexts (frr. 169a and 215 S.-M.). The contamination of thematically linked poems might in turn suggest, in both cases, sympotic reperformances as possible contexts for Herodotus’ reception of Greek lyric poetry. Keywords Herodotus. Sappho. Rhodopis. Homer. Pindar. Summary 1 Introduction. – 2 Herodotus’ Version (2.134-5): Rhodopis, Aesop, Charaxus and Sappho. – 3 Doricha: Ancient Sources, Modern Readings. – 4 Homer’s Helen, Sappho’s Helen and Herodotus’ Hetairai.
    [Show full text]
  • "Longinus, Sappho's Ode, and the Question of Sublimity"
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Érudit Article "Longinus, Sappho’s Ode, and the Question of Sublimity" Peter Cochran Revue de l'Université de Moncton, 2005, p. 219-232. Pour citer cet article, utiliser l'information suivante : URI: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/014359ar DOI: 10.7202/014359ar Note : les règles d'écriture des références bibliographiques peuvent varier selon les différents domaines du savoir. Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter à l'URI https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. Érudit offre des services d'édition numérique de documents scientifiques depuis 1998. Pour communiquer avec les responsables d'Érudit : [email protected] Document téléchargé le 9 février 2017 03:58 Revue de l’Université de Moncton, Numéro hors série, 2005, p. 219-232. LONGINUS, SAPPHO’S ODE, AND THE QUESTION OF SUBLIMITY Dr. Peter Cochran The University of Liverpool England Résumé De prime abord, cet article peut sembler porter sur les attitudes à l’endroit de l’autorité des anciens, mais il porte en fait sur l’ironie du ton et sur la difficulté qu’on peut avoir à la déceler, même quand le locuteur ou l’écrivain est un de nos proches.
    [Show full text]
  • The Presocratics
    1 The Presocratics Preliminaries The writings of the Presocratics are substantial – the standard edition of their works (by Hermann Diels, 1922, revised by Walther Kranz, 1961) contains three large volumes – and so we are immediately faced with the problem of text selection discussed in the Introduction. There is, in addition, another significant problem when it comes to the source material of Presocratic philosophy: it is fragmentary in nature. Further- more, the fragments are of two kinds (at least according to Diels): some (the “A” fragments) are reports about the Presocratics given by other ancient thinkers, while others seem to be original to the thinkers them- selves (“B”). Trying to defend a coherent interpretation of these fragments is a monumental challenge for a philological detective. The “A” fragments pose a unique difficulty. For example, several of the most extensive of them come from Aristotle. But, as one scholar, echoing the complaint made by Kingsley cited in the Introduction, says, “Aristotle focuses narrowly on exactly that aspect of [his predecessors’] theories which is of relevance to his own intellectual concerns” (Inwood The Presocratics 11 RTAC01 11 27/2/04, 3:07 PM 2001, p. 73). In short, Aristotle may not give us an objective or accurate account of the Presocratics. In this chapter, all my citations of the Presocratics will be from Diels and will be indicated by using his notation (for example, A12, B34). Unless mentioned otherwise in the notes, translations are my own. Before beginning, however, a small step backwards must be taken. The first author to be discussed in this book will not be a philosopher at all.
    [Show full text]
  • Pindar, Sappho, and Alexandrian Editions Enrico Emanuele Prodi
    Text as Paratext: Pindar, Sappho, and Alexandrian Editions Enrico Emanuele Prodi HAT LITTLE SURVIVES of the archaic Greek lyricists has come down to us as bare text, shorn of music, Wdance, location, ambience, occasion, ceremony.1 Our texts ultimately go back to Alexandria and the late third century B.C., when the scholars of the Museum compiled what were to become the canonical editions of those poets; and what those editions preserved and enabled to circulate anew throughout the Greek-speaking world were written words alone. But that from sung spectacle to written text, from body and voice to papyrus and ink, was not the only change of state to which lyric poetry was subjected between the archaic and the Hellenistic age. Another, equally momentous transforma- tion took place: individual compositions which were originally independent of, and unrelated to, one another became joined together in a fixed sequence as constituents of a larger unit, the book.2 Lyric was not the only kind of poetry that was affected by this 1 Fragments of Pindar are cited from Snell-Maehler, fragments of Sappho and Alcaeus from Voigt. All translations are my own. 2 G. O. Hutchinson, “Doing Things with Books,” Talking Books: Readings in Hellenistic and Roman Books of Poetry (Oxford 2008) 1–2, cf. 4–15. On ancient poetry books see also J. van Sickle, “The Book-Roll and Some Conventions of the Poetic Book,” Arethusa 13 (1980) 5–42. The interrelation between Pindaric song and the materiality of the book is now the subject of T. Phillips, Pindar’s Library: Performance Poetry and Material Texts (Oxford 2016), a volume I was regrettably unable to consult until rather late in the composition of the present article.
    [Show full text]