In Praise of Sappho & Erinna: Greek Anthology 2.69-71 & 2.106-108

The following poem depicts statues that were on display in public in Thebes:

2.69

And the Muse-like, famous-voiced honeybee Sappho

Of Lesbos sat there; it seemed like she was working on a honey-sweet song;

Her heart set on the Muses.

Pierica clara-voce apis sedebat Sappho

Lesboa, quieta; melos autem canorum texere

videbatur, animo ad silentes Musas intent

Πιερικὴ δὲ μέλισσα λιγύθροος ἕζετο Σαπφὼ

Λεσβιάς, ἠρεμέουσα: μέλος δ᾽ εὔϋμνον ὑφαίνειν

σιγαλέαις δοκέεσκεν ἀναψαμένη φρένα Μούσαις.

***

Here sits Erinna, a maiden who was a talented singer;

There wasn’t a Distaff* in her hand, but bee-like

She quietly dripped nectar from her silent heart.

* This is a pun of her famous poem, The Distaff

Hic Erinna sedet, virgo cantare perita:

pensa manu non tractat: apis sed sedula more

Pierium tacito destillat pectore nectar.

παρθενικὴ δ᾽ Ἤριννα λιγύθροος ἕζετο κούρη,

οὐ μίτον ἀμφαφόωσα πολύπλοκον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνὶ σιγῇ

Πιερικῆς ῥαθάμιγγας ἀποσταλάουσα μελίσσης

--Greek Anthology 2.69-71, 106-108; Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

The Greek Anthology is a modern collection of Greek lyric poetry compiled from various sources over the course of Greco-Roman literature. The current collection was created from two major sources, one from the 10^th century CE and one from the 14^th century CE. The anthology contains authors spanning the entirety of Greek literature, from archaic poets to Byzantine Christian poets. 

The 9 Earthly Muses: Sappho and Her Sisters, Greek Anthology 9.26

Sappho and the Earthly Muses

Name:  Antipater of Sidon Date:    2nd – 1st century BCE Region:     Sidon [modern Lebanon] Citation:     Greek Anthology 9.26

Helicon and the Pierian mountains have nourished the following divinely-inspired women with song:

·                      Praxilla

·                     Myrus

·                     Anyte, the female Homer

·                     Sappho, the glory of pretty-haired Lesbia

·                     Erinna

·                     Famous Telesilla

·                     And you,Corinna!, who celebrates Athena’s raging spear in song,

·                     Woman-tongued Nossis

·                      Sweet-tongued Myrtis.  

All these women’s words will outlast the ages.

Great Heaven has nine Muses,

But earth has created nine of its own,

Women who will bring eternal joy to mankind.   

τάσδε θεογλώσσους Ἑλικὼν ἔθρεψε γυναῖκας ὕμνοις, καὶ Μακεδὼν Πιερίας σκόπελος, Πρήξιλλαν, Μοιρώ, Ἀνύτης στόμα, θῆλυν Ὅμηρον, Λεσβιάδων Σαπφὼ κόσμον ἐυπλοκάμων, Ἤρινναν, Τελέσιλλαν ἀγακλέα, καὶ σέ, Κόριννα, θοῦριν Ἀθηναίης ἀσπίδα μελψαμέναν, Νοσσίδα θηλύγλωσσον, ἰδὲ γλυκυαχέα Μύρτιν, πάσας ἀενάων ἐργάτιδας σελίδων. ἐννέα μὲν Μούσας μέγας Οὐρανός, ἐννέα δ᾽ αὐτὰς γαῖα τέκεν, θνατοῖς ἄφθιτον εὐφροσύναν.

Sunt enim doctae, muliebria nomina, vates quas Helicon aluit Pieriumque iugum. Praxilla et Myro facundaque gloria Lesbi [Sappho], et quae vix Anyte cedit, Homere, tibi. Est Erinna etiam Telesillaque, tuque Corinna, Quae docta clypeum Palladis arte canis: Et Myrtis placida et versu quoque femina Nossis, Omnes perpetui carminis artifices. Aetheris aequavit tellus fecunda labores, Ille novem Musas protulit, ista novem. Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

Antipater of Sidon [2nd – 1st century BCE, modern Lebanon] was a Greek poet who lived under Roman rule during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Dozens of his poems were preserved in the Greek Anthology.