What We Know of Sappho
theparisreview.org
What We Know of Sappho
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Re: What We Know of Sappho
#2Nice article
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#3Note that the fragments from mummy cartonnages and book bindings mentioned in the article are known to be fake. See here for some context: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/museum-...
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#4Note that the fragments from mummy cartonnages and book bindings mentioned in the article are known to be fake. See here for some context: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/museum-...
Thanks for posting that link, it's an interesting story in itself.
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#5Natalie Haynes is both a scholar and an excellent communicator, she does a brilliant series that you might be interested in, she also has an episode specfically about Sappho:
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#6Note that the fragments from mummy cartonnages and book bindings mentioned in the article are known to be fake. See here for some context: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/museum-...
The fragments may or may not be fake (consensus seems to be that the poem is probably genuine), but the provenance was certainly covered up. See https://eidolon.pub/the-murky-provenance-of-the-newest-sapph.... It's all quite scandalous and is connected to the theft and sale of biblical papyri to the Museum of the Bible. See also https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-ox... and https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/16/oxford-profe...
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#7For the 0 or handful of you who like to read critical editions in ancient Greek, here is something to look forward to: Finglass is preparing a new edition of Sappho (and also Alcaeus). https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/major-research-fellowships/sapp...
Finglass is a litte bit of a "celebrity" in 21st century classical studies: his works on for example Sophocles are very highly praised, and I have strong reasons to believe that his Sappho will be really good.
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#8Analyzing her "Midnight Poem" is a favorite pastime, there has been attempts by astronomers to pinpoint the date of this night, the latest I know is a paper from 2016 (https://dhayton.haverford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Sap...). From this paper, here's the poem in Ancient Greek and three translations:
ἐδυκε μὲν ἀ σελάννα
καὶ πληΐαδες μέσαι δε
νύκτες, πα ὰ δ‘ ἔ χετ‘ ὤ α,
ἔγω δὲ μόνα κατεύδω
The Moon hath left the sky;
Lost is the Pleiads‘ light;
It is midnight
And time slips by;
But on my couch alone I lie.
(Symonds, 1873–1876).
The moon has set, and the Pleiades;
it is midnight,
the time is going by,
and I sleep alone.
(Wharton, 1887: 68).
The silver moon is set;
The Pleiades are gone;
Half the long night is spent, and yet
I lie alone.
(Merivale, 1838: 226).
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#9The author whose books I maintain changed forever how I saw, spoke and reflected, Gene Wolfe, wrote a book that uses a corruption of a fragment of Sappho to remind the main character of his identity:
"Though trodden beneath the shepherd’s heel, the wild hyacinth blooms on the ground," is Wolfe's take on, "As on the hills the shepherds trample the hyacinth under foot, and the flower darkens on the ground."
Re: What We Know of Sappho
#10For the 0 or handful of you who like to read critical editions in ancient Greek, here is something to look forward to: Finglass is preparing a new edition of Sappho (and also Alcaeus). https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/major-research-fellowships/sapp... Finglass is a litte bit of a "celebrity" in 21st century classical studies: his works on for example Sophocles are very highly praised, and I have strong reasons to believ…
What does "preparing a new edition" mean? Is it mostly just a new/improved translation? Or are there accompanying notes to contextualize for the reader?