Fragment 17
“The Hymn to Hera”
⊗ πλάσιον δή μ’ [εὐχομέναι φανείη,
πότνι’ Ἦρα, σὰ χ[αρίεσσα μόρφα,
τὰν ἀράταν Ἀτ[ρεΐδαι κλῆ-
4.τοι βασίληες·
ἐκτελέσσαντες μ[άλα πόλλ’ ἄεθλα,
πρῶτα μὲν περ Ἴ̣[λιον ἔν τε πόντῳ,
τυίδ’ ἀπορμάθεν[τες ὄδον περαίνην
8.οὐκ ἐδύναντο,
πρὶν σὲ καὶ Δί’ ἀντ[ίαον κάλεσσαι
καὶ Θυώνας ἰμε̣[ρόεντα παῖδα·
νῦν δὲ κ[ἄμοι πραϋμένης ἄρηξον
12.κὰτ τὸ πάλ̣[αιον.
ἄγνα καὶ κά̣[λα
π]αρθ[εν
ἀ]μφι.[
16.[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
ἔμμενα̣[ι
20.[ἶ]ρ̣’ ἀπίκε[σθαι. ⊗
Page 17
Comments
Book I
Meter: Sapphic Stanzas
– ᴗ – × | – ᴗ ᴗ – | ᴗ – ×
– ᴗ – × | – ᴗ ᴗ – | ᴗ – ×
– ᴗ – × | – ᴗ ᴗ – | ᴗ – ×
– ᴗ ᴗ – ×
Text: Campbell, David A. 1982. Greek Lyric, Vol. I: Sappho and Alcaeus. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Commentary: Page, Denys Lionel. 1955. Sappho and Alcaeus: An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Lesbian Poetry. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Source: P.S.I. ii 123.3-12 + P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 1 col. II 2-21 + 2166(a) 3 (Ox. Pap. p. 122) + 2289 fr. 9
NB: ⊗ indicates the beginning or end of a new poem.
At vv. 9-10, Sappho invokes Hera, Zeus, and Dionysus. They were worshipped together at the Shrine of the Three Gods, at the sanctuary of Messon in Lesbos. The place is described in Alcaeus 129 (1-9):
...τόδε Λέσβιοι
...]....εὔδειλον τέμενος μέγα
ξῦνον κά[τε]σσαν, ἐν δὲ βώμοις
ἀθανάτων μακάρων ἔθηκαν
κἀπωνύμασσαν ἀντίαον Δία
σὲ δ’ Αἰολήιαν [κ]υδαλίμαν θέον
πάντων γενέθλαν, τὸν δὲ τέρτον
τόνδε κεμήλιον ὠνύμασσ[α]ν
Ζόννυσσον ὠμήσταν.
See Quinn, Jerome D. 1961. “Cape Phokas, Lesbos-Site of an Archaic Sanctuary for Zeus, Hera and Dionysus?” American Journal of Archaeology 65 (4): 391–93. (JSTOR permission required)
Click here for more on the sanctuary of the three gods.