Chapter 5. Tithonus in the “New Sappho” and the Narrated Mythical Exemplum in Archaic Greek Poetry Lowell Edmunds carminis fi nem statueram, nunc dubito —M.L. West [1] At present, some think that the twelve lines of the “New Sappho” are a complete poem; some think that the poem must have continued, as it appears to do in the… Read more
Chapter 6. No Way Out? Aging in the New (and Old) Sappho Deborah Boedeker I will not rehearse in detail the brief but exciting history of the “New Sappho” Cologne papyrus that was published in 2004 by Michael Gronewald and Robert Daniel, familiar as it is to readers of this volume. [1] Suffice it to say that P.Köln 21351 (with… Read more
Chapter 7. Acceptance or Assertion?Sappho’s New Poem in its Books Joel Lidov That time of year thou mayst in me behold, When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. Shakespeare’s image of the absence of song neatly sums up the familiar notion that… Read more
Chapter 8. The Meter and Metrical Style of the New Poem Joel Lidov POxy. 1787, including Sappho 58 V—and so the “New Poem”—has been assigned to Book Four of the Alexandrian edition of her works since its first publication (Ox. Pap. XV:26; cf. Lobel 1925:xii). Because the assignment is a conjecture, this is a good moment to review the status of the question, and at the… Read more
Chapter 9. “Once” and “Now”: Temporal Markers and Sappho’s Self-Representation Eva Stehle It is well known that memory plays an important role in Sappho’s poetry. As scholars have emphasized, Sappho vividly evokes the past, even “blurs” past and present, through her poetic recall. [1] But the fragment and the apparently complete poem yielded by the new Cologne papyri call attention to… Read more
Chapter 10. The New Sappho in a Hellenistic Poetry Book [1] Dee Clayman While most of the interest in the “New Sappho” (Köln. Inv. Nr. 21351 + 21376) has rightly centered on the “Tithonus” poem, fragments of another precede it on the Cologne papyrus and parts of a third follow. [2] I argue below that the… Read more
Chapter 11. Sappho 58: Philosophical Reflections on Death and Aging [1] Ellen Greene Although most contemporary scholars are in agreement that Sappho’s verse appropriates themes and poetic conventions employed by both Homer and male lyric poets, there is considerable disagreement about the extent to which Sappho’s extant poetry ought to be considered ‘woman-centered,’ that is, poetry chiefly concerned with love, sexuality,… Read more
Chapter 12. A Reading of Sappho Poem 58, Fragment 31 and Mimnermus [1] Marguerite Johnson Much has been written on the Sapphic gaze, primarily in relation to the representation of the various personae in her poems and fragments. [2] I would like to address this subject as it relates to the poet’s depiction of herself, or… Read more
Chapter 13. The “New Sappho” Reconsidered in the Light of the Athenian Reception of Sappho Gregory Nagy The text of the “New Sappho,” found in a Cologne papyrus dated to the third century BCE (P.Köln inv. 21351 + 21376), is different from a later text of Sappho, found in an Oxyrhynchus papyrus dated to the second or third century CE (P.Oxy. 1787). In the two papyri,… Read more
About the Contributors DEBORAH BOEDEKER, Professor of Classics at Brown University, works mainly on archaic and classical Greek poetry, historiography, and religion. Her publications include Aphrodite’s Entry into Greek Epic; Descent from Heaven: Images of Dew in Greek Poetry and Religion; and essays on Herodotus, lyric poetry, Athenian religion, Simonides, tragedy, and traditions about the Persian Wars. She has edited and co-edited a number of volumes, including… Read more
