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SPRING 2000 BACKGROUND NOTES SAPPHO
Suggestions for Study Contents
(Sections):
Lyric Poetry Ancient Greek poetry is conventionally divided into two broad categories: spoken and sung. Spoken or recited poetry includes the iambos, among other forms. Sung poetry is sometimes called melic ("sung") poetry or lyric poetry. Strictly speaking the term "lyric poetry" encompasses only poetry sung to the lyre, but the designation has been extended so that lyric poetry includes any poetry sung to either the flute or a stringed instrument. (In the modern period, lyric poetry tends to designate any short poem.) Ancient Greek lyric poetry is conventionally divided into two categories: choral and monodic or solo. Choral lyric was performed by a choir which sang and danced in a ritual and/or competitive context. Recall that the Eleusinian Mysteries (like many other festivals) included a pannychis (all-night dance), and that the pannychis was depicted on the pediment of the Niinnion tablet. The most accomplished poet of choral lyric in Greek antiquity was Pindar, whom we read next week. The major types of choral poetry were: dithyramb (addressed to the god Dionysus), prosodion (processional song), partheneion (maiden song), thrênos (dirge), hymenaion (wedding-song), enkomion (song of praise), and epinikion (victory-ode). In this course, we read examples of the hymenaion (Sappho) and epinikion (Pindar). Choral lyric is especially associated with the western, Doric states, like the Dorian state Sparta (link here to a map on which you can see the location of Sparta in relation to the rest of Greece). Monodic lyric is especially associated
with the eastern states of Greece, and in particular with
the island of Lesbos (link here to a map on which you can
see the location of Lesbos
and its major city,
Mitylene).
Maiden Songs The partheneion ("maiden-song") was a choral song sung by maidens (parthenoi) in honor of other young maidens. The number of the female chorus as represented on the numerous vase-paintings on which it appears varies between two and seventeen (most commonly, three, four, six, and seven). On this red-figure vase of the Classical period, there are eleven total (including the musician). On some vases, like the one just cited, a chorus-leader or choregus appears; sometimes she is identical with the musician, but other times both a musician and a choregus are shown. Sappho: Biography For brief surveys of Sappho's biography and cultural context, consult the Notes to Sappho in your text (pages 159ff.). See also the paragraph in Martin's Historical Overview of Archaic and Classical Greek History, and the Course Notes on Lyric Poets from John Porter's course on "The Greek Lyric Poets" at the University of Saskatchewan. Follow this link to a map on which you can see the location of Lesbos and the city where Sappho lived, Mitylene. And this link will take you to a contemporary photograph of the island of Lesbos. Sappho:
Poems The metrical schemes and the topics of
solo lyric vary widely: love, politics, wine, war, myth, and
the gods were all common themes. Sappho's corpus of poems was collected in
the Hellenistic period into seven "books," each devoted to
poems in a particular meter, except that the last book
contained marriage-songs in different meters.
Miller, Sappho Poems Link here to another collection of Sappho's poems from A. M. Miller, Greek Lyric. An Anthology in Translation (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996) pp. 51-63 (modified)
Sappho on Papyrus Here is a link to a papyrus fragment of Sappho 98 (which we don't read) which is housed in The Papyrus-Collection at The Institute of Greek and Latin at the University of Copenhagen. The other half of the fragment is in Milan (Castello Sforzesco) Here is a link to a page on which the two fragments of the papyrus were brought together. To get a better idea of the kinds of problems that papyrus fragments of ancient texts present, link here to a page on which I have put up a papyrus fragment of Iliad Book I.528-540 housed in the Duke University Papyrus Archive, together with a translation and the Greek text as we read it today. Miller,
Alcaeus Poems
Sappho: Marriage-Songs and Weddings As described just above, we know that the last book of Sappho's collected poems contained marriage-songs in a variety of meters. Raynor's poems 53-59 represent a selection of short fragments which probably came from this book. Look them over and see what kind of impression you gain from them about marriage in Greek antiquity. Fragment 44 (= Raynor 51) on the wedding
of Hector and Andromache does not come from this book, but
it does describe and elaborate several features of the
ancient wedding ceremony. Betrothal The betrothal was a binding contract
between the groom and the bride's father (or, sometimes, son
or brother). The formula as we know it from later sources
took this form:
Mary Liz Williamson Greek Wedding For an illustrated guide to the ancient Greek wedding, link here to these pages for The Greek Marriage Ritual, a site posted by Mary Liz Williamson as her final project for CCIV 243 in Spring 1996. Introduction The Rituals of Marriage and Preparations The Wedding and the Unveiling Nightfall: The Procession and the Wedding Night Marriage: A Ritualized Abduction? Conclusion
Last updated 28 March 2000 |
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