Table Of ContentKyriakos Tsantsanoglou
Studies in Sappho and Alcaeus
Trends in Classics –
Supplementary Volumes
Edited by
Franco Montanari and Antonios Rengakos
Associate Editors
Stavros Frangoulidis · Fausto Montana · Lara Pagani
Serena Perrone · Evina Sistakou · Christos Tsagalis
Scientific Committee
Alberto Bernabé · Margarethe Billerbeck
Claude Calame · Jonas Grethlein · Philip R. Hardie
Stephen J. Harrison · Richard Hunter · Christina Kraus
Giuseppe Mastromarco · Gregory Nagy
Theodore D. Papanghelis · Giusto Picone
Tim Whitmarsh · Bernhard Zimmermann
Volume 79
Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou
Studies in Sappho
and Alcaeus
ISBN 978-3-11-062983-5
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-063039-8
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-063086-2
ISSN 1868-4785
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019947137
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Editorial Office: Alessia Ferreccio and Katerina Zianna
Logo: Christopher Schneider, Laufen
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Preface
The recent discovery and publication of large papyri containing poems by Sap-
pho, sparked off a large-scale interest, which gave birth to an extensive produc-
tion of scholarly treatises on the poetry of the archaic poets of Lesbos. To this
wider dialogue I have also contributed with a number of articles, fourteen of
which are included in the present volume. Some of them have already been pub-
lished in classical journals, others not.
I have to admit that, in spite of their appealing object, my articles do not re-
frain from my usual positivistic policy. It has been my conscious effort to avoid
wide-ranging ventures and to restrict myself to concrete observations which help
in constructing a stable text. When this necessary stability is established, the field
is then open to broader interpretations. Especially in the case of papyri, the blind
acceptance of the editio princeps, a common practice in our scholarship, proves
hazardous. I attempted, at the expense of time and leisure, never to start a papy-
rus investigation taking the original reading for granted. On the other hand, I re-
alize that, by discussing in detail exiguous observations such as the shape of par-
ticular letters, I often end up in making the approach to the articles a laborious
and boring enterprise. I only hope to be forgiven by the reader. Yet, I know that
too often a slight trace that establishes even a single letter, may unexpectedly
lead to a great profit in the sense of the text examined.
Some articles appear moving in much the same spheres: the first three
around the old age of Sappho in connection with the topic of the poetic survival,
the last three around the worship of the so-called ‘Lesbian Triad’. The articles in
each group are products of a research sequence in progress with successively pro-
posed solutions, and so both some contradictions and some repetitions were in-
evitable. No doubt, it might be possible for two or three articles to be merged in
one, at the cost, however, of the fascination of continuous creation.
Another deficiency is related to the subjective circumstances in composing
some of the articles. Age and the accompanying health conditions may have oc-
casionally impeded me to peruse and examine at length the relevant bibliog-
raphy. In addition, the economic environment, in a time of financial collapse of
my country, brought about a sudden suspension of every acquisition whether of
books or periodicals in our libraries, even of access to the scholarly digital librar-
ies. It was thanks to my younger colleagues, who resorted to inventive techniques
for gaining access to alternative sources, that I managed to somehow replace
these deficiencies.
I close the account of my shortcomings with a natural grievance. The latest
boom in Sapphic and Alcaic research made its appearance during my advanced
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110630398-202
VI Preface
years and frail health. So, I have been unable to confirm some of my findings with
a visit to Lesbos and was forced to depend on indirect sources for the contentious
spots I am describing. Still greater is, however, my complaint for not being able
to convince younger scholars to take on the task. I only hope that, whenever the
necessary investigation will be carried out, my proposals won’t be recorded as
mere illusions.
The list of acknowledgments is short. Apart from the persons gratefully men-
tioned in each article, my colleagues Gregory Sifakis and Michalis Tiverios offered
me unstintingly their friendly help. Jürgen Hammerstaedt’s deft criticism was of
great assistance for several articles. Sotiris Tselikas, a consummate but low-pro-
file scholar, was a steadfast cooperator who saved me from numerous blunders.
Antonios Rengakos not only proposed the publication of the book in the Trends
in Classics Supplementary Volumes of De Gruyter GmbH, but was also a constant
and tenacious source of encouragement.
Thessaloniki, May 2019
Contents
Preface V
List of Figures IX
Sappho Illustrated 1
Sappho on her Funeral Day: P.Colon. 21351.1–8 28
Kleïs as Promoter of Sappho’s Poetry (Fr. V.) 38
Sappho’s (?) Orpheus Song 42
P. Sapph. Obbink: the ‘Kypris Poem’ 72
Sappho’s Epithalamians 86
Sappho Tithonus Poem 114
Sappho 1.18–19 V. 118
The Banquet of the Gods and the Picnic of the Girls 121
The Danaans in Lesbos 147
11 Sappho 27 V., Alcaeus 308 Lib., and the Homeric Hymn to
Hermes 162
Alcaeus on the Lesbian Triad Festival 169
The Location of the Lesbian Triad Temenos 192
Who was Onymacles the Athenian? 204
Bibliography 213
List of Figures
Ch. 1, Fig. 1: National Museum of Athens hydria-calpis inv. no. 1260 1
Ch. 1, Fig. 2: Drawing of the above vase-painting by Jules Chaplain 2
Ch. 1, Fig. 3: Detail of the above showing the written roll in Sappho’s hands 9
Ch. 7, Fig. 1: Supralinear correction on v. 7 of the Tithonus Poem (P. Colon. 21351 l. 3) 115
Ch. 8, Fig. 1: Detail from cod. P of Dion. Halicarn. De comp. verb. 23 119
Ch. 9, Fig. 1: The Florence ostrakon containing Sappho’s fr. 2 142
Ch. 13, Fig. 1: Coin of Sicilian Acragas 195
Ch. 13, Fig. 2: Map of the Gulf of Kalloni with the places mentioned in the article 197
Ch. 13, Fig. 3: The Γιαλοβούνι promontory as seen from the hill of Pyrrha 198
Ch. 13, Fig. 4: Γιαλοβούνι in the Google Earth Images 198
Ch. 13, Fig. 5: Enlargement of the Google image showing particular spot of the octastyle tem-
ple 199
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110630398-204
