THE HONEYCOMB OF ERINNA: AN EXAMINATION OF HOMOEROTIC LOVE, LOSS, AND LAMENTATION By Julia Barclay !1 "#$%&'( Ἠ*+((,- ./01 2,*+'(. 1ἰ 0# .& µ&2*/(, ἀ55᾽ ὅλ'( ἐ2 9':$#;( 2&*(<µ1('( µ#5&.&. οἱ 0ὲ .*&,2/$&'& .?@.,- $.+A'& ἶσ'& ὉµDρῳ, .ῆ- 2?& G?*H1(&2ῆ- ἐ((1?2?&012#.1:-. ἣ 2?ὶ ἐG᾽ ἠ5?2<.ῃ µ,.ρὸς N/%ῳ, ἥ 2?ὶ ἐN᾽ ἱσ.ῷ ἑ$.D21& 9':$#;( 5<.*&- ἐN?G.'µ#(,. R?GNὼ 0᾽ Ἠ*+((,- ὅσ$'( µ15#1$$&( ἀµ1+(;(, Ἤ*&((? R?GNοῦ- ./$$'( ἐ( ἑV?µ#.*'&-.1 (AP Anonymous, 9.190) Erinna, a Hellenistic poetess praised in antiquity by those who came after her, spun the majority of her surviving works around the marriage and death of her childhood friend, Baucis, throughout which she is palpably consumed by grief.2 In the above anonymous epigram, the largest of these works, her Distaff, here described as the “honeycomb” of Erinna, is stated to be equal to Homer and superior to Sappho in its hexameters. What modern scholarship has taken from this antique statement is the opportunity to analyse the thematic and linguistic relationships between Erinna, Homer, and Sappho, though few studies have performed this task with the intent of reading homoeroticism into the relationship between Erinna and the sole focus of the majority 1 All translations of the original Greek can be found at the end of this paper. 2 Erinna mourns the loss of Baucis both to death and her marriage, most notably in the Distaff, though her epigrams detail more of the relationship between death and marriage as the agent that took Baucis to the underworld, a com- mon motif in Greek myth – particularly in that of Persephone and Demeter. As far as her praise goes, Antipater of Thessalonica featured Erinna in his canon of in female poets and Meleager weaves her into his Garland of poets. !2 of her surviving poetry, Baucis.3 In comparison to Homer, it is clear that Erinna adopted both meter and a pattern of lament observed in the Iliad and, in Sappho, her use of the Aeolic dialect, themes of feminine separation, and Homeric motifs themselves are explicit. In turn, Erinna’s mo- tivations for applying each of these can be read as homoerotic through a deeper exploration of these elements and a consideration of the erotic perception of Erinna amongst her Hellenistic successors. Accordingly, the following study seeks to rectify this gap of intent in taking from and building upon these previous efforts in scholarship while addressing the use of Erinna’s poetry by her successors in order to highlight the homoeroticism inherent to her work. First, let us account for Erinna’s surviving body of work in a brief assessment of the Distaff and two of her epigrams before we expand upon our comparisons and antique perception. This introductory discussion is necessarily restricted to the 20 extant lines we have from the Distaff, though, as our anonymous epigram affirms, “ὅλ'( ἐ2 9':$#;( 2&*(<µ1('( µ#5&.&.”4 [51]:2ᾶ( µ?&('µ#(['&$&( ἐ$<5?.' G]'$$ὶν ἀN᾽ ἵ[G]G;[(]Y [?ἰ]?ῖ ἐ[\, µ#[᾽ ἄ:$?Y N[+5?. .ὺ 0᾽ ἔ'&$?] A15@((?, [ἁ5]5'µ#(? µ1[<5?- [ἔ0*?µ1- 2?.ὰ] A'*.+'( ?ὐ5ᾶ-. [.?]ῦ.? .@, c?:2ὶ .<5?&[(?, %?ρὺ $.'(?]A1ῖσ? [/,µ[&]Y [.?]ῦ.< µ'& ἐ( 2*?[0+?& . .] G?+A(&? 21ῖτ?& H#*µ᾽ ἔ.&Y .ῆ([? 0ὲ .οῖσ&( ἀH]@*'µ1- ἄ(H*?21- ἤ0,, 0?[@[0];( .1 A[&.ῶ(1$ . ] +01- ἐ( H?5<µ'&$& (@µ[N?&]$&( [ . ] #1-Y ἅ .1 Gὸτ ὄρθρον µά.,* ἀ1ίδi '&$? [. .]'&$&( ἐ*1ίH'i &-i .ήi (?- ἦ5H1 [ . ] µέ(?i ἀµN' ἁ5ίπ?$.'(, ἇ& µi &2ρᾶ& $.[ . ] µ#[?( iNόβ'( ἄ[ ][?[1 9'*µώ, .ᾶ- iἐ( µὲ( 2'*:Nᾶ& µ1[ά5' ὤ?.?, G'$$ὶ 0ὲ N'&.ῆ& .έ.*i ?i $&(Y ἐ2 0' ἑ.έ*?- ἑ.έ*?( µ1.1%ά551.' ὀπ;Gά(. 3 Of the studies treating Erinna sourced in this study alone, the intent behind each generally concerns a study of Homer, Erinna and their usage of lament with Marilyn Skinner, “Briseis, the Trojan Women, and Erinna,” The Clas- sical World 75 (1982): 265-269, similar themes between Sappho and Erinna in John Rauk, “Erinna’s Distaff and Sappho Fr. 94” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 30 (1989): 101-116, and Diane J. Raynor, “The Power of Memory in Erinna and Sappho” in Ellen Greene, Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome (University of Okla- homa Press: Norman, 2005), as part of a greater discussion of women and women poets in antiquity in Sylvia Barnard, “Hellenistic Women Poets” The Classical Journal 73 (1978): 204-213, Josephine Balmer trans. Classical Women Poets (Bloodaxe Books: Newcastle, 1996), Laurel Bowman, “The ‘Women’s Tradition’ in Greek Poetry.” Phoenix 58 (2004): 1-27, Jane Snyder, The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome (Bristol Classical Press: Bristol, 1989), and Sarah Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Clas- sical Antiquity (Shocken Books: New York, 1975), and themes in Erinna alone with Marilyn B. Arthur, “The tortoise and the mirror. Erinna, PSI 1090.” The Classical World 74 (1980): 53-66, in Averil Cameron and Alan Cameron, “Erinna’s Distaff” The Classical Quarterly 19 (1969): 285-288, Giuseppe Giangrande “An Epigram of Erinna” The Classical Review 19 (1969): 1-3, Elizabeth Manwell, “dico ergo sum: Erinna’s Voice and Poetic Reality” in Ellen Greene, Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome (University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2005), and Eva Stehle, “The Good Daughter: Mother’s Tutelage in Erinna’s Distaff and Fourth Century Epitaphs.” In André Lardinois and Laura McClure, Women’s Voices in Greek Literature and Society (Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2001). Though several of these briefly mention the potentials of Erinna’s sexuality, Marilyn B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (Wiley Blackwell: Chichester, 2014) alone stands out in its intentional address of Erinna’s sexu- ality as expressed in her work and discussions of her in antiquity. 4 “…it is entirely infused with honey by the Muses.” !3 ἁ(ίκ? 0' ἐ- 5έA'- ἀ(0ρὸς ἔ%?-, .ό2i ? Gά(.i ' i ἐ5έ5?$', ἅ$$' ἔ.& (i ,Gιά$?$i ? .1ᾶ- G?ρὰ µ?.ρὸς ἄ2':$?-, c?:2ὶ Nίλ?Y 5άH?( [ . ] 1[ . ] ἈN*'0ίτ?. .ῷ .: 2?.?25?ίοισ? .?[i . ]1 51ίπ;Y 'ὐi i[ά* µ'& Gόδ1- ἐ(.ὶ 5&Gῆ( ἄGi 'i 0ῶµ? %έ%?5'&, οὐ0i 'i ἐ$&0ῆ( N?έ1[$$& θέ5; (έ2:(, οὐ0ὲ [οᾶ$?& [:µ(?ῖσ&( A?ίτ?&$&(, ἐG1ὶ N'&(ίκ1'- ?ἰδώ-5 (Erinna, Distaff, 21-40) In beginning to quantify the relationship between Erinna and Baucis as homoerotic, the Distaff provides us with personal language demonstrating their closeness as our poetess refers to her childhood friend as “N+5?,” “dear one” and she clearly holds their memories together equally dear. In listing their childhood antics, Erinna weaves the image of two young girls attached at the hip in their youth – in playing tortoise outside, clutching their dolls, even fearing the Ancient Greek boogeyman, Mormo.6 We begin to read some semblance of homoeroticism in the Distaff where Erinna describes playing young brides in their chambers, a memory which Snyder has taken in tandem with our poetess’ Sapphic qualities to be a potentially erotic scene.7 We will re- turn to this motif in our discussion of Sappho’s influence on Erinna’s work, but suffice it to say here that their relationship was undoubtedly close. In the remainder of our extant lines, we come to understand that Baucis’ marriage drew her away from Erinna, leaving her alone and unable to attend her funeral or properly mourn a death that is not explicitly mentioned in these lines of the Distaff. As such, Baucis’ marriage is the impetus of separation, a credible statement as she would have left Erinna’s company and their childhood together to live in her new husband’s household.8 What Erinna first mourns in the Distaff is that Baucis forgot the memories Erinna immortalized through verse, only later mourn- ing an assumed death she could not attend.9 There have been various reasons supplied for Erin- na’s inability to appear at Baucis’ funeral; some argue that she was a priestess in a cult that pro- hibited funeral attendance, others suggest it was her age as an unmarried woman, or even the fact that she was not a blood-relative of Baucis – whatever the reason, though, we should note here that she blushes in shame at her incapability, which could indicate the depth of her emotion.10 5 The original Greek and suggested fragments here are according to the PSI IX 1090 edition. 6 For a deeper analysis of the tortoise game and its various connotations as expressed in the Distaff, see Arthur, “The tortoise and the mirror,” 53-66. 7 Snyder, The Woman and the Lyre, 95. 8 Skinner, “Briseis, the Trojan Women, and Erinna,” 269. 9 For more detail on these conclusions, see Rauk, “Erinna’s Distaff and Sappho,” 114. 10 For more on Erinna’s blush as an indication of the depth of her feelings, see Rauk, “Erinna’s Distaff and Sappho,” 115. !4 With the context of Erinna’s epigrams we receive greater detail regarding Baucis’ death and its inextricable link to the marriage Erinna mourns in the Distaff. 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