Ancient Greek Lyrics

Sources and Notes

Sources and Notes 291 Sources and Notes (NB: The number at the start of the entry refers to the source number following each Sappho poem.) 1 Papyri Oxyrhynchus, 2288. Also, Dionysios of Halikarnassos, On Literary Composition, 23 (vi. 114ss. Usener-Radermacher). “I shall now give paradigms of this style [that is, polished and florid], selecting Sappho among poets and Isokratis among orators. I begin with the lyric poet.” [There follows the poem, and then again Diononysios] “The euphony and charm of this passage lie in the cohesion and smoothness of the connecting phrases. For the words are juxtaposed and interwoven according to the natural affinities and groupings of the letters. . . .” See Dionysios of Halicarnassos, 40 in Testamonia for a more complete context of the poem, being with “The polished and florid composition. . . .” The poem to Afroditi (Aphrodite) is usually considered the one of two complete poems that has survived of Sappho, and therefore not a fragment, but by accepted convention all lines of Sappho are identified by their fragment number , and here too we refer to frag. 1 and frag. 58. The other complete poem, frag. 58, was published for the first time in 2005. There are fragments of other poems, however, which have more lines than either of the complete poems, such as frag. 44, “Wedding of Andromache and Hektor.” Despite the tone of intimate friendship and camaraderie, the poem has the formal structure of a prayer, with the expected invocation , sanction, and entreaty. 2a Fragment 2 is preceded on the same Ostracon Florentinum (an ostracon is a potsherd or potshard, which is a fragment of broken pottery) with a composite word ranothenkatiou, which can be plausibly restored to mean, “coming down from heaven.” Sappho 292 2 Ostracon Florentinum, edited by Norsa, Annali della reale Scuola normale superiore di Pisa, Lettere, Storia e Filosofia, series 2, 6 (1937). Kriti (Crete) was thought to be the original seat of worship of Afroditi, or so its inhabitants claimed. The scene described here is a real place in Lesbos devoted to the worship of Afroditi. Apples and horses were symbols of Afroditi, who was known as Afroditi of the Apples as well as Afroditi of the Horses. The prayer for epiphany in the poem is by no means proof that Sappho was a priestess or a poet of cult songs. Her concern with Afroditi was with a figure who represented beauty and love. In Lobel and Page, there is word preceding the poem, which is not usually translated (not in Campbell’s text, only in his note), which is σανοθεν κατιου, meaning probably “coming down from the sky,” or “coming down from the mountain top.” Line 11 retains only the first two words, and line 12 is missing altogether. The English translation might retain obediently not indent line 11 and leave and extra blank line or brackets between the third and fourth stanzas. However , here as elsewhere I attempt to go partway in reflecting the abused Greek text (which can have its own delight and freshness in mirrored English). Normally I limit the mirror so the English can live. But sometimes in treating very brief fragments, I try to make the English wording correspond in spacing as close as possible. This device may still make the English conversion intelligible while giving it an interesting form based on the haphazard remains of the Greek text. 3 Papyri Berlinenses, 5006 + Papyri Oxyrhynchus, iii 424 (6–18). 4 Papyri Berlinenses, 5006 (see 3). The text is obviously fragmentary, scarcely more than a column of words, yet the words are intelligible. The syntax and connective words present the main difficulty. Ezra Pound’s early poem, imitating Sappho, suggests a similar scrap of papyrus: Papyrus Spring . . . Too long . . . Gongula . . . Sources and Notes 293 5 Papyri Oxyrhynchus, 7 + 2289. 6. Sea nymphs in the Greek are Nereids or mermaids. The poem is to her brother Haraxos (Charaxos). The black torment is presumably Egyptian mistress, Doriha (Doricha), on whom Haraxos was “wasting” his fortune. In the mutilated lines that follow (not included here), Sappho seems to broaden her attack on Doriha. There are numerous attack poems against Doriha, or Rodopis (Rhodopis), which are mentioned much later in Herodotos and Strabo and Athinaios’s Doctors at Dinner. This woman who is the object of Sappho’s hostilities was a Thracian by birth, who later went to Egypt as a prostitute. She became the mistress of Sappho’s brother Haraxos, who...