Searching for Sappho

by Philip Freeman

  Phocaea was a Greek city known for seafaring and trade on the coast of Asia Minor just south of Lesbos. Athenaeus says that Sappho is addressing Aphrodite and meant “hand cloths” as adornments for the head.

  215 Poem 102: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 10.5.

  216 Poem 103: Oxyrhynchus papyrus 2294.

  The heading of the papyrus says that this is a list of the first lines of ten poems.

  216 Poem 103Aa/Ab: Cairo papyrus 7.

  217 Poem 103B: Oxyrhynchus papyrus 2308.

  217 Poem 103Ca/Cb: Oxyrhynchus papyrus 2357, frags. 1, 4.

  218 Poem 104A: Demetrius, On Style 141.

  218 Poem 104B: Himerius, Orations 46.8.

  218 Poem 105A: Syrianus on Hermogenes, On Kinds of Style 1.1.

  Himerius, in his Orations (9.16), says that Sappho compares a girl to an apple.

  218 Poem 105B: Demetrius, On Style 106.

  219 Poem 106: Ibid., 146.

  Demetrius says Sappho is speaking of an outstanding man. The superiority of Lesbian singers became proverbial.

  219 Poem 107: Apollonius Dyscolus, Conjunctions 490.

  219 Poem 108: Himerius, Orations 9.19.

  219 Poem 109: Ancient commentary on Homer, Iliad 1.528.

  219 Poem 110: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 7.6.

  The ancient commentator Pollux, Vocabulary (3.42) says the doorkeeper kept the bride’s friends from coming to her rescue—part of the wedding night ritual. Demetrius (On Style 167) says Sappho was poking fun at the rustic bridegroom and his doorkeeper by using deliberately nonpoetic language.

  220 Poem 111: Hephaestion, On Poems 7.1.

  This bawdy wedding song compares the eager bridegroom and his huge erection to the war god Ares. The bridegroom’s penis is so huge that the carpenters allegedly have to raise up the roof for him to enter the bridal chamber. Hymenaeus was a god of marriage.

  J. D. Salinger borrowed from the poem for the title of his 1955 novella Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.

  220 Poem 112: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 15.26.

  The first part of this wedding song is addressed to the groom, the latter to the bride.

  220 Poem 113: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On Literary Composition 25.

  221 Poem 114: Demetrius, On Style 140.

  Demetrius explains that repetition is skillfully used in this poem, with the first line spoken by a bride, the second by her virginity.

  221 Poem 115: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 7.6.

  221 Poem 116: Servius on Virgil, Georgics 1.31.

  221 Poem 117: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 4.2.

  221 Poem 117A: Hesychius, Lexicon “xoanon.”

  222 Poem 118: Hermogenes, On Kinds of Style 2.4.

  Hermogenes says that Sappho speaks to her lyre and the lyre answers, but its response has been lost.

  222 Poem 119: Ancient commentator on Aristophanes, Plutus 729.

  222 Poem 120: Etymologicum magnum 2.43.

  222 Poem 121: Stobaeus, Anthology 4.22.

  222 Poem 122: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 12.554b.

  Athenaeus says Sappho wrote this about Persephone, the maiden daughter of the goddess Demeter, who was kidnapped by Hades to be his bride in the underworld.

  223 Poem 123: Ammonius, On Similar but Different Words 75.

  223 Poem 124: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 15.4.

  Calliope was the muse of lyric poetry.

  223 Poem 125: Ancient commentator on Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 401.

  The commentator says it was the custom, as described by Sappho, of young people and those in love to weave garlands.

  223 Poem 126: Etymologicum genuinum 22.

  223 Poem 127: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 15.25.

  224 Poem 128: Ibid., 9.2.

  224 Poem 129A/B: Apollonius Dyscolus, Pronouns 1.66.

  224 Poem 130: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 7.7.

  224 Poem 131: Ibid.

  Atthis was Sappho’s companion; Andromeda was Sappho’s rival.

  225 Poem 132: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 15.18.

  Cleis was Sappho’s daughter (Poem 98B).

  225 Poem 133A/B: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 14.7.

  The word “revenge” can also mean “exchange” or “recompense.”

  225 Poem 134: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 12.4.

  “Cyprus-born” refers to the goddess Aphrodite.

  225 Poem 135: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 12.2.

  Pandion’s daughter is Procne, child of the king of Athens, who was changed into a swallow. Sappho mentions Irana in Poem 91 as well.

  226 Poem 136: Ancient commentator on Sophocles, Electra 149.

  226 Poem 137: Aristotle, Rhetoric 1367a.

  Aristotle says the first two lines are spoken by Alcaeus, Sappho’s contemporary poet in Lesbos, but it could well be, as a later commentator claims, that Sappho wrote both sides of the dialogue.

  226 Poem 138: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 13.564d.

  The translation of the first line is uncertain, but Athenaeus says that Sappho is addressing a man much admired for his form and handsomeness. It may be that she is being sarcastic.

  226 Poem 139: Oxyrhynchus papyrus 1356, folio 4.

  A fragment of uncertain meaning, but the author, Philo, says that it is better advice about the gods than a missing passage just before this one.

  227 Poem 140: Hephaestion, Handbook on Meters 10.4.

  This is one of the earliest references in Greek literature to the cult of Adonis, which spread west from Syria to the Aegean world. In mythology, Adonis was a lover of Aphrodite (Cytherea) but was killed by a wild boar and mourned by the goddess and her followers. Pausanias 9.29.8 says that Sappho sang of Adonis.

  227 Poem 141: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 10.425d.

  Ambrosia (literally “deathlessness”) was the food of the gods. Athenaeus quotes these lines to show that Hermes was a wine pourer for the gods. The setting may be the wedding of the goddess Thetis to the mortal Peleus, father of Achilles.

  227 Poem 142: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 13.571d.

  Leto was a goddess and the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus. Niobe was a mortal queen who boasted that she had more and better children than Leto. Apollo and Artemis killed all of her offspring as punishment.

  Given the rivalry of the two mothers, this line claiming they were companions seems odd. The Greek term (h)etairai was often used in the centuries after Sappho for very expensive and well-trained prostitutes, but Athenaeus reports that it continued to be used for dear and intimate friends.

  227 Poem 143: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 2.54f.

  228 Poem 144: Herodian, On the Declension of Nouns.

  Gorgo was a rival of Sappho.

  228 Poem 145: Ancient commentator on Apollonius of Rhodes 1.1123.

  The word cherados refers to small stones such as gravel. The line is likely proverbial. Sappho’s contemporary Alcaeus (Poem 344) also speaks of it:

  I know this for certain, that if a man moves gravel—such a tricky stone to work—he’ll end up with a headache.

  228 Poem 146: Tryphon, Figures of Speech 25.

  Quoted by the first-century-BC grammarian Tryphon, this line is a proverb that the ancient scholar Diogenian (Proverbs 6.58) says is used of those who are not willing to take the bad with the good.

  228 Poem 147: Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 37.47.

  228 Poem 148: Ancient commentator on Pindar, Ode 2.96.

  229 Poem 149: Apollonius Dyscolus, Pronouns 126b.

  229 Poem 150: Maximus of Tyre, Orations 18.9.

  Maximus says that Socrates was angry at his wife, Xanthippe, for lamenting when he was dying, while Sappho likewise rebuked her daughter with these lines.

  229 Poem 151: Etymologicum genuinum 19 (Etymologicum magnum 117.14ss.)

  229 Poem 152: Ancient commentator on Apollonius of Rhodes 1.726.

  229 Poem 153: Atilius Fortunatianus 6.301.

  230 Poem 154: Hephaestion, Handbook of Meters 11.2.

>   230 Poem 155: Maximus of Tyre, Orations 18.9d.

  Maximus says that both Socrates and Sappho used irony like this phrase in addressing their opponents. This line of Sappho could be translated several ways, including: “I wish the daughter of the house of Polyanax a fond farewell.”

  230 Poem 156: Demetrius, On Style 162.

  Demetrius quotes this line in reference to effective hyperbole, saying that the charm of such phrases lies in their impossibility. Earlier (On Style 127), he writes that “one of the most amazing features of the divine Sappho is that she uses with charming effect a tool that is difficult and hazardous.”

  230 Poem 157: Etymologicum genuinum (Etymologicum magnum 174.43ss).

  230 Poem 158: Plutarch, On Restraining Anger 456.

  Plutarch says that when one is angry, there is nothing more dignified than silence, and then he quotes this advice from Sappho.

  231 Poem 159: Maximus of Tyre, Orations 18.9.

  Maximus writes that Aphrodite says this to Sappho in one of her poems.

  231 Poem 160: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 13.571d.

  231 Poem 161: Bouriant papyrus 8.90ss.

  231 Poem 162: Choeroboscus, On the Canons of Theodosius 1.193.

  231 Poem 163: Julian, Epistle 193.

  232 Poem 164: Apollonius Dyscolus, Pronouns 136b.

  232 Poem 165: Ibid., 106a.

  This may be an alternate beginning of Poem 31.

  232 Poem 166: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 2.57d.

  In a story of classical mythology with many variants, Zeus in the form of a swan had sex with the mortal woman Leda, who gave birth to an egg from which hatched Helen and Pollux.

  232 Poem 167: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 2.57d.

  232 Poem 168: Marius Plotius Sacerdos, Art of Grammar 6.516.

  232 Poem 168A: Zenobius, Proverbs 3.3.

  The ancient collector of proverbs Zenobius says that Gello was a girl who died young and was said by the people of Lesbos to haunt little children, for whose deaths she was blamed.

  233 Poem 168B: Hephaestion, Handbook of Meters 11.5.

  233 Poem 168C: Demetrius, On Style 164.

  233 Poem 169: Ancient commentator on Homer, Iliad 14.241.

  233 Poem 169A: Hesychius, Lexicon A 1621.

  233 Poem 170: Strabo 13.1.68.

  Aiga is the name (meaning “the goat”) of a promontory on mainland Asia Minor across from Lesbos.

  234 Poem 171: Photius, Lexicon 1.370.

  The Byzantine scholar Photius says Sappho used the word akakos (“innocent”) of someone who has no experience with evil, not of someone who has experienced evil and rejected it.

  234 Poem 172: Maximus of Tyre, Orations 18.9.

  Maximus says that Sappho is speaking of Love (Eros) when she says the god is both bittersweet and algesidoron (“pain-giver”).

  234 Poem 173: Choeroboscus, On the Canons of Theodosius 1.331.4.

  234 Poem 174: Orion, Lexicon 3.12ss.

  234 Poem 175: Apollonius Dyscolus, Adverbs 596.

  234 Poem 176: Athenaeus, Learned Diners 4.182f.

  Barbitos and baromos are two different spellings of a word for “lyre” used by Sappho.

  235 Poem 177: Pollux, Vocabulary 7.49.

  Pollux defines the word beudos used by Sappho as a “short, transparent dress.”

  235 Poem 179: Phrynichus, Sophistic Preparation 60, 14ss.

  According to Phrynichus, Sappho uses the word gruta to describe a bag used by women for perfume and other items.

  235 Poem 180: Hesychius, Lexicon E 1750.

  Hesychius reports that “the Holder” is a name Sappho gives to Zeus.

  235 Poem 181: Ancient commentator on Dionysius of Thrace 493.

  235 Poem 182: Ancient commentator on Homer, Iliad 14.241.

  235 Poem 183: Porphyry, Homeric Questions on Iliad 2.447.

  Porphyry says that Alcaeus and Sappho used the adjective katore to describe a down-rushing wind.

  236 Poem 184: Choeroboscus, On the Canons of Theodosius 1.270.

  236 Poem 185: Philostratus, Pictures 2.1; Aristaenetus, Love Letters 1.10.

  Philostratus describes “honey-voiced” as “Sappho’s delightful epithet,” and Aristaenetus characterizes it as “Sappho’s most delightful word.” The two grammarians list two slightly different adjectives: meliphonoi and mellichophonoi, respectively.

  236 Poem 186: John of Alexandria, Rules of Accentuation 4.29.

  This word could be the name of the sorceress from the tale of Jason and the Argonauts (Medea) or the feminine singular form of medeis (medeia, meaning “no one”).

  236 Poem 187: Homeric Parsings on Iliad 2.761.

  236 Poem 188: Maximus of Tyre, Orations 18.9.

  Maximus says that Socrates calls Eros (Love) a sophist, while Sappho prefers muthoplokon (“weaver of tales”).

  236 Poem 189: Phrynichus, Attic Words and Phrases 272.

  In the Attic Greek of Athens, the word for “carbonate of soda” is litron, but in Sappho and elsewhere, it is nitron.

  237 Poem 190: Ancient commentator on Homer, Iliad 3.219.

  237 Poem 191: Pollux, Vocabulary 6.107.

  Pollux reports that both Sappho and Alcaeus use this word.

  237 Poem 192: Pollux, Vocabulary 6.98.

  Specifically, golden cups with bottoms shaped like knucklebones.

  237 The Brothers Poem: See Dirk Obbink, “Two New Poems by Sappho,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 189 (2014).

  238 The Cypris Poem: Ibid.

  FURTHER READING

  Bagnall, Roger S., ed. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

  Barnard, Mary. Sappho. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1958.

  Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

  Bowman, A. K., R. A. Coles, N. Gonis, D. Obbink, and P. J. Parsons, eds. Oxyrhynchus: A City and Its Texts. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2007.

  Budelmann, Felix, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Lyric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

  Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985.

  Burn, A. R. The Lyric Age of Greece. London: Edward Arnold, 1978.

  Burnett, Anne Pippin. Three Archaic Poets: Archilochus, Alcaeus, Sappho. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.

  Calame, Claude. The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

  Campbell, David A. Greek Lyric I: Sappho and Alcaeus. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.

  ———. Greek Lyric Poetry. Bristol, England: Bristol Classical Press, 1990.

  Carson, Anne. Eros the Bittersweet. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2009.

  ———. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.

  Connelly, Joan Breton. Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.

  Davidson, James. The Greeks and Greek Love. New York: Random House, 2007.

  DeJean, Joan. Fictions of Sappho: 1546–1937. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

  Demand, Nancy. Birth, Death, and Motherhood in Classical Greece. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

  Dover, K. J. Greek Homosexuality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.

  DuBois, Page. Sappho Is Burning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

  Edgeworth, Robert J. “Sappho Fr. 31.14.” Acta Classica 27 (1984): 121–24.

  Ehrman, Bart, and Zlatko Plese, eds. The Apocryphal Gospels. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

  Fantham, Elaine, Helen Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. A. Shapiro, eds. Women in the Classical World: Image and Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

  Ferrari, Franco. Sappho’s Gift: The Poet and Her Community. Ann Arbor: Michigan Classical Press, 2010.

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  _______. The Greek Way of Life. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.

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  Golden, Mark. Children and Childhood in Classical Athens. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

  Green, Peter. The Laughter of Aphrodite: A Novel about Sappho of Lesbos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

  Greene, Ellen, ed. Reading Sappho: Contemporary Approaches. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

  _______, ed. Re-reading Sappho: Reception and Transmission. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

  _______, ed. Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.

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  Johnson, Marguerite. Sappho. Bristol, England: Bristol Classical Press, 2007.

  Keuls, Eva C. The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

  Klinck, Anne L. “Sappho’s Company of Friends.” Hermes 136 (2008): 15–29.

  Kraemer, Ross Shepard. Her Share of the Blessings: Women’s Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

  Lefkowitz, Mary R. The Lives of the Greek Poets. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

  Lefkowitz, Mary R., and Maureen B. Fant, eds. Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook in Translation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.