Fragments 58-59
The “Tithonus Poem”
1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Π 1 preserves the line beginnings; Π 2 preserves the line endings
2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0
3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Π 1 has the line beginnings of the Tithonus Poem, and Π 2 has the line endings. However the verses that come before and after the Tithonus Poem differ between Π 1 and Π 2.
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Lines Preceding “The Tithonus poem” in the Cologne Papyrus 1
]. . .[
].υχ. .[
]νῦν θ̣αλ[ί]α̣ π̣α̣[ρέστω
4.]. ν̣έρθε δὲ γᾶς περ̣[ίσχ]ο̣ι
κλέος μέγα Μοίσει]ο̣ν ἔχο̣ι̣σαν γέρας ὠς̣ [ἔ]ο̣ικε̣ν̣,
πάντᾳ δέ με θαυμά]ζοιεν, ὠς νῦν ἐπὶ γᾶς ἔοισαν
κάλεισι χελίδω] λιγύ̣ρ̣αν, [α]ἴ̣ κεν ἔλοισα πᾶκτιν
8.ἢ βάρβιτον ἢ τάνδε χε]λύ̣ν̣ν̣αν̣ ̣θαλάμοισ’ ἀείδω.⊗
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Lines Preceding “The Tithonus poem” in the Oxford Papyrus 2
5.]ύ̣γοισα̣[
].[..]..[ ] ι̣ δάχθην
]χ̣υ θ[.]ο̣ι̣[.]αλλ[…….]ύταν
8.]. χθο.[.]ατί.[…..]εισα
]μένα ταν[….ώ]νυμόν σε̣
]νι θῆται στ[ύ]μα[τι] πρόκοψιν. ⊗
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lines following “the Tithonus Poem” in The Cologne Papyrus
The 13 lines that appear at this spot in Π1 are not in Aeolic verse, and are almost certainly not Sappho. You can see them at Obbink 2009, 13.
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Lines following “the Tithonus Poem” in the Oxford Papyrus 3
]ιμέναν νομίσδει
]αις ὀπάσδοι
ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ’ ἀβροσύναν, ]τοῦτο καί μοι
τὸ λά[μπρον ἔρος τὠελίω καὶ τὸ κά]λον λέ[λ]ογχε.
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Fragment 59: Continuation of the Oxford Papyrus 4
ἐπιν[ ].[…]νό.[
φίλει . [
καιν[
Obbink 2009, 13. Lardinois (in Greene & Skinner 2009) 48 thinks these four lines belong to the end of the Tithonus poem. Campbell places these lines at F. 58 vv. 23-26.
Obbink 2009, 14. Source: P.Oxy.1787 fr. 2, 2-4 and fr. 1, 26. Hammerstaedt (in Greene and Skinner 2009) 24: It is inconclusive if the lines traditionally identified as Fragment 59 are a new poem or not.
Comments
Here begins Book IV
Meter: acephalus hipponactean with a double choriambic expansion (^hipp2c)
× – ᴗ ᴗ – – ᴗ ᴗ – – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ – – (in distichs)
Texts:
Obbink, Dirk. 2010. “Sappho Fragment 58-59: Text, Apparatus Criticus, and Translation.” In The New Sappho on Old Age: Textual and Philosophical Issues. Hellenic Studies 38. Washington, DC and Cambridge: Harvard University Press. See here.
West, M. L. 2005. “The New Sappho.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 151: 1–9.
Π1 = The Cologne Papyrus, P.Köln inv. 21351 (2 fragments) + 21376 (a 3rd fragment) (3rd c. BC papyrus roll), acquired from an antiquities dealer by the University of Cologne in 2004
Π2 = The Oxford Papyrus, P.Oxy. 1787 fr. 1 (2nd c. AD papyrus roll), discovered in the Oxyrhynchus excavations 1898-1907, published by Lobel in 1925; contains the line endings for what we now know are three different poems
NB: ⊗ indicates the beginning or end of a new poem.
1 Obbink (2009), 10