Love and relationships Pt2

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Lesbos context?
Closer to Anatolia than to Greece
More in common with Persian empire than Greek
3rd largest Greek island
Lots of beautiful flora and fauna
1 of 67
Women of Lesbos?
Infamous for their beauty and sexual behaviour
Alcaeus suggests that there were regular beauty contests on Lesbos
2 of 67
Political situation in Lesbos?
- Not mentioned in Sappho's poetry
- Sappho's family probably exiled to Sicily
a the start of the 6th century because
of a change of government
- Much contact between Greece and Lesbos
- Quite wealthy - lots of changes in fashion
3 of 67
Sappho's family?
Mother, father, brothers
Daughter Cleis
No husband referenced
4 of 67
Name of Sappho's potential husband?
Cercylas from Andros
'Mr Penis from man island'
5 of 67
Sappho on Vases?
Athenian vase from 5th century
Only historical woman depicted on a vase
6 of 67
Modern interpretations of Sappho?
Lesbian
Politically dangerous
Sex symbol
School mistress
7 of 67
What does Ovid say about Sappho?
That she threw herself off of a cliff for
love of a ferry man
8 of 67
What does Plato call Sappho?
The Tenth Muse
9 of 67
What kinds of poem did Sappho write?
Personal poems
Hymns
Wedding songs
Songs for male AND female symposia
designed to entertain
10 of 67
Musical innovations that Sappho is
credited with ?
Inventing the plectrum
Inventing the Mixolydian scale
11 of 67
Poem 118
Who is Sappho's muse?
Her lyre
12 of 67
Scholars' suggestions for who
Sappho's "Companions" were?
Students
Fellow poets
Members of a religious cult
Lovers
Friends
13 of 67
Evidence for Sappho being aristocratic?
She talks about the 'less refined' of
Lesbian society
Poem 57 - her lover prefers a farm girl
with 'thick ankles'
14 of 67
Where do a majority of Sappho fragments come from?
Egyptian rubbish dumps
15 of 67
Topos/ Topoi
A reccurrent theme in Greek literature
16 of 67
Topoi in Sappho?
The pain of love

The bounty of nature

Invocations and personal relations with gods

The metaphor of nature for sex
17 of 67
Literary devices in Sappho?
Metaphor
Simile
Imagery
Hyperbole
Repetition
Assonance
Double entendre
18 of 67
Mythology and humour in Fragment 16?
Sappho compares Anactoria to Helen
19 of 67
Mythology references in Fragment 17?
Sappho makes an appeal to Hera,
like Agamemnon and Menelaus
on their return from Troy,
almost compares herself to them.

Love compared to a battle
20 of 67
Humour in Sappho's wedding poetry?
Not much humour, but lightheartedness
Sexual innuendo about weddings
21 of 67
Fragment for Hyperbole?
Fragment 110
5 hides to make the sandals of the
doorkeeper,
"Size 27"
22 of 67
Fragment for Innuendo?
Fragment 110
Big feet = big penis
23 of 67
Fragment for the glory of war?
Fragment 16
Anactoria is more beautiful than
soldiers and cavalry
24 of 67
Two schools of thought about the reception of Sappho?
That she was empowering and liberating women through her work

That she was a dangerous role model
(hence ugly and suicidal image)
25 of 67
Sappho's thougths on marriage?
Cause of celebration and regret
A girl passing into womanhood
26 of 67
Natural imagery used for virginity in Sappho?
Where do they appear?
Apples and hyacinths
Fragments 105 a & c
27 of 67
Interpretation of fragments 105?
Apple - idea that men can see the girl but cant touch her
Hyacinth - men ruin and trample the hyacinth

Men ruin girls through sex?

Homoerotic sexual relationships with women
are more beautiful and less brutal than those
with men?
28 of 67
Where was Ovid exiled to?
When?
Exiled to Tomis on the Black sea

8CE
29 of 67
What kind of family did Ovid come from?

How many times did he marry?
Came from an Equestrian family

Married 3 times, third time the longest
30 of 67
When was Ars Amatoria written?
2BCE - 2CE
31 of 67
Possible readers of Ovid?
• Elites
• Rich plebians e.g. merchants
• Rich freedmen
• Literate slaves
• Rich women
32 of 67
Possible interpretation of the title
Ars Amatoria?
Love = Not romantic love, but rather
seduction to fulfill desire

Art = A skill, a game to be good at

Ars Amatoria = The game of sex
33 of 67
How does Ovid open Book 3 of
the Ars Amatoria?
Compares men to Greeks and women
to Amazons. Says he is arming women
against the tactics of men.
34 of 67
What does the word "girls" in
the Ars Amatoria suggest?
Unmarried and of low social status
Young and infames

Would they even have been able
to read the book?
35 of 67
Unusual nature of the jokes in Ars Amatoria?
The "girls" who are the addressees of the
poem are often the **** of the joke.

Particularly unusual in didactic poetry as it undermines the pupil teacher dynamic.
36 of 67
Questionable advice to women?
Ovid gives advice that they should give
into men's lusts.
This advice seems to be more to a
man's benefit than a woman's.
37 of 67
In Loeb 1, which Homeric Prayer
does Sappho emulate?
Diomedes prayer to Athena in the Iliad
38 of 67
Sappho quote for the pain of love?
Loeb 95
"I long to see the River Acheron"
39 of 67
Meaning of Homeric references in Ovid?
• Cultural capital
• Shows off his level of education
• Adds gravitas
40 of 67
What is Ovid's 'get out of jail free card'
in Ars Amatoria?
"Venus herself ordered me to teach you"
41 of 67
What caviat does Ovid add to his introduction
to adhere to Augustus' morality laws?
"That modesty, principals and your rules allow"
42 of 67
Who blames Alcibiades for the failure
of the Sicilian expedition?
Thucydides
Cites Alcibiades' uncontrolled and
unreasoning desire
43 of 67
When was Socrates executed?
What did Plato do?
399 BCE
Plato fled Athens
44 of 67
Who were the Sophists?
Philosophical movement that prized oratory
and the power of persuasion.

Sophists taught rich young Athenians for a price.
45 of 67
Attitude of many towards the Sophists?
Many considered them responsible for undermining the state and destructive to philosophy
46 of 67
Attitude of Plato towards the Sophists?

Motives for setting up the Academy?
Hostile towards them.

Set up the Academy , perhaps in response to
the growing influence of the sophists.
Perhaps to rehabilitate the reputation
of Socrates
47 of 67
Poets that Augustus patronised?
→ Ovid
→ Horace
→ Virgil
→ Propertius
→ Tibullus
48 of 67
Examples of Augustus' moral laws?
→ Mandatory marriage
→ Tax relief for those with large families
→Unmarried and childless could not inherit
or bequeath property
49 of 67
Exemptions to Augustus' moral laws?
Virgil and Horace (unmarried and childless)
were given the some of the same privileges
of citizens with three children.
50 of 67
Origins of the love elegy?
→ Really a Roman genre
→ Traced back to Ancient Greece
→ Links to the University at Alexandria
51 of 67
Conventions of love elegy?
→ Figurative enslavement of the lover to the beloved, how behaved as a dominating mistress, controlling her paramour and the relationship, even though she was the poet's social inferior

→Reversed normal pattern of male dominance and female submissiveness
52 of 67
Structure of Roman didactic poetry?
Dactylic hexameter
Short books of 800 lines
53 of 67
Features of Roman didactic poetry?
• Instructive: reference to 'you'
• Took a subject and presented it in a different way
• Similar format to epics e.g
→ Hesiod on agriculture
→ Virgil on farming
→ Lucretius on philosophy
• Used mythology as examples
54 of 67
Examples of sex manuals in the ancient world?
Philacris - 4th century BCE
Elephantis - 1st century BCE
^both Greek women

Scenes of brothel workers teaching
disciples in Greek comedy
55 of 67
Elegiac couplet structure?
2 adjacent lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter
56 of 67
Ovid using metaphors?
"****** the swift fruits that fly in your hand"
^^^Take whichever lovers come

"Delay's a grand seductress"

"The horse runs swiftly from the starting gate when he has others to pass."
^^^^Encourage rivalry between lovers
57 of 67
Ovid using similes?
"he burns, alas, with slow fires, like wet straw"
^^^older lovers being less passionate

"The years go by like flowing waters"
^^^^Have fun whilst you are young
58 of 67
Ovid using metonyms?
"the bed's pact"
^ refers to sex

"The dense bought curls"
^ Wigs
59 of 67
Ovid using litotes?
"I don't forbid your hair being freely combed"

"Bacchus you don't go badly with Venus's boy"
^^ Alcohol as a facilitator of love
60 of 67
Ovid using hyperbole?
"Anger swells the face: the veins darken with blood: the eyes flash more savagely
than the Gorgon's"

"though a thousand use it, nothing's
destroyed that way"
^^ have as much sex as you want
61 of 67
Ovid using repetition/anaphora?
"the wave that's past cannot be recalled,
the hour that's past never can return"
^ live whilst your young

"come late and come upon us charmingly"
^ come to dinner late
62 of 67
Ovid using contrast?
"The mind of mature years and of green youth"
63 of 67
According to Ovid:
Merits of older and younger lovers?
Young
Quick and passionate

Old
Longer sex, but less passionate
64 of 67
Hollis on Ovid?
The work's didactic form is something of a facade
65 of 67
Why does Ovid use myhtology?
To show his credentials
Put his work in the context of the ancient world
To make it more academic
Illustrate his point
Use them as a guide as how to act/ not act
Cultural touchstones
66 of 67
Reason to suspect women are not really
the target readership of Ars Amatoria?
He apologises to men a lot for giving away
their secrets for a book supposedly
addressing women.
67 of 67

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Women of Lesbos?

Back

Infamous for their beauty and sexual behaviour
Alcaeus suggests that there were regular beauty contests on Lesbos

Card 3

Front

Political situation in Lesbos?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Sappho's family?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Name of Sappho's potential husband?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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