Studies in Sappho and Alcaeus (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes) (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes, 86)

The poetry of the archaic poets of Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus, has been imperfectly and poorly transmitted either in book fragments or in later ragged papyri, so that new attempts of interpretation will always be required, especially when new research tools and methods have appeared in classical scholarship. The book consists of 14 articles by the author, which present and deal with diverse problems of the two poets of Lesbos. Various questions on already transmitted poems, different readings, reconstructions, and interpretations of the new finds are proposed, but, most importantly, new approaches in general topics, such as the division of Sappho's work in Books, the logic leading to this division, the order of these Books, the contents of each of them, the interpretation of the surviving fragments, often quite different than before. A feature that characterizes the old-age poetry of Sappho is her anxiety about the posthumous fate of her poetry and her hope that Kle�s, her only daughter, will ensure its dissemination. Finally, the author investigates the communal festival of Hera in Lesbos, a festival performed in common with Zeus and Dionysus, the so-called "Lesbian Triad". The festival is specified as a welcome to the season of spring at the time of the vernal equinox. Also, the location of the temenos of Hera is investigated, close to Pyrrha of Lesbos, which was the site of Alcaeus' second exile. The poetry of the archaic poets of Lesbos, Sappho and Alcaeus, has been imperfectly and poorly transmitted either in book fragments or in later ragged papyri, so that new attempts of interpretation will always be required, especially when new research tools and methods have appeared in classical scholarship. The book consists of 14 articles by the author, which present and deal with diverse problems of the two poets of Lesbos. Various questions on already transmitted poems, different readings, reconstructions, and interpretations of the new finds are proposed, but, most importantly, new approaches in general topics, such as the division of Sappho’s work in Books, the logic leading to this division, the order of these Books, the contents of each of them, the interpretation of the surviving fragments, often quite different than before. A feature that characterizes the old-age poetry of Sappho is her anxiety about the posthumous fate of her poetry and her hope that Kleïs, her only daughter, will ensure its dissemination. Finally, the author investigates the communal festival of Hera in Lesbos, a festival performed in common with Zeus and Dionysus, the so-called “Lesbian Triad”. The festival is specified as a welcome to the season of spring at the time of the vernal equinox. Also, the location of the temenos of Hera is investigated, close to Pyrrha of Lesbos, which was the site of Alcaeus’ second exile. Frontmatter......Page 1 Preface......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 List of Figures......Page 9 1. Sappho Illustrated......Page 11 2. Sappho on her Funeral Day: P.Colon. 21351.1–8......Page 38 3. Kleïs as Promoter of Sappho’s Poetry (Fr. 59 V.)......Page 48 4. Sappho’s (?) Orpheus Song......Page 52 5. P. Sapph. Obbink: the ‘Kypris Poem’......Page 82 6. Sappho’s Epithalamians......Page 96 7. Sappho Tithonus Poem......Page 124 8. Sappho 1.18–19 V.......Page 128 9. The Banquet of the Gods and the Picnic of the Girls......Page 131 10. The Danaans in Lesbos......Page 157 11. Sappho 27 V., Alcaeus 308 Lib., and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes......Page 172 12. Alcaeus on the Lesbian Triad Festival......Page 179 13. The Location of the Lesbian Triad Temenos......Page 202 14. Who was Onymacles the Athenian?......Page 214 Bibliography......Page 223 The present volume deals with various questions related to Sappho and Alcaeus. Focusing specifically on the "new Sappho", the author discusses problems of interpretation of particular passages of the newly published papyri, as well as general problems regarding the structure of Sappho's oeuvre and its division in Books. Furthermore, the author investigates Alcaeus' biography, and questions related to the worship of the "Lesbian Triad".--Back cover