Words and Verse
Hymn to Aphrodite (Translation-Greek)
Sappho was a Greek poet during the 7th century B.C. She was revered, even idolized throughout all antiquity, and by critics too stubborn to jump on bandwagons. Plato even goes so far as calling her the tenth muse. Of the original nine volumes comprising her work we have very few fragments remaining, partly because her bisexuality caused the early Christian church to burn all of her works. Only one of her poems remains intact because some ancient rhetorician quoted it in a textbook. This is the Hymn to Aphrodite which I present below:
Throned on gold and wonders of art*1*, immortal
Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus with tricks to
Lead me on*2* through blisses and pain! Why doom me,
Body and soul now?
Oh my Goddess! Help! If on other days you
Ever heard me off in the distance, moaning-
Heard and hurried, leaving your father's home to
Harness your golden
Carriage. Had it yoked in a second to sparrows*3*
As they drew you quick as a wink above the
Sultry earth, whirling flaps in a blur, careening,
Out from your cover,
Spiraled down here. as your immortal features
Formed into a smile in your quips and questions,:
“What's up now love? Trouble again? And this time
Why all the ruckus?
What's your wild heart throbbing to have? Who is it
This time? Only tell me the girl you'd have me
Twist and turn around to your love. She's being
Cruel to you, Sappho?
Running off now? Soon she'll be chasing you, love.
Won't take gifts? Tomorrow she'll even give them.
Just won't love? Tomorrow she will. She'll love you
Like it or not, dear”
Come right now though! Now's when I need you. End this
Tossing, turning! All that I'm crazy for you
Know so well then fight for it, standing by me
Shoulder to shoulder*4*.
Footnotes to the translation:
In order to view the polytonic Greek text your Browser must be Unicode compatible
*1* In the original Sappho uses the epithet Ποικιλόθρον' to describe Aphrodite. This has been translated by others as “On a throne of many colors,” “on your many-splendored throne,” “rainbow-throned” and “on your many splendored colored throne.” These are all viable, but Sappho was not a poet who would use any such vague effulgence as “many-splendor-colored.” The word also has a slight twist to it. ποικιλος meant not only many-colored, or intricately crafted in the context of art or furniture, but also cunning, crafty and tricky as Aphrodite herself was. An exact translation of the latin varius.
*2* Here the original gives us δολοπλοκε which translates as something like “trick-weaver” or “wile-weaver” but this was a common word for women at the time, used colloquially and did not at all have the high-flown literary resonance that wile-weaver would have. Thus I have used “lead us on” to mimic nuance.
*3* It is not known what sort of bird the στροῦθοι were, nor are we ever likely to know, given our scant information on Sappho's Aeolic dialect of Greek. My best guess is sparrows for two reasons. First in Attic Greek the στροῦθοι were indeed sparrows. Second sparrows were considered by the ancient Greeks to be extremely sexy birds, held sacred by Aphrodite. So sacred were they that their remains were used as an aphrodisiac (the very word comes from the name of the Goddess)
*4* This line in the original uses συμμαχος which literally translates as something like battle-ally but this word, in all other surviving sources, referrs to men (since women generally didn't fight battles.) Sappho seems to be the only Greek to apply this word to a female.
ORIGINAL
Ποικιλόθρον', ἀθάνατ' Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε
μή μ' ἄσαισι μήδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον·
ἀλλὰ τυῖδ' ἔλθ', αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀΐοισα πήλοι
ἒκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες
ἄρμ' ὐπαδεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα διννεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνωἴθε-
ρας διὰ μέσσω.
αἶψα δ' ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ', ὦ μάκαιρα,
μειδιάσαισ' ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳι,
ἤρε', ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι
δηὖτε κάλημμι,
κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· τίνα δηὖτε Πείθω
μαῖς σ' ἄγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς σ', ὦ
Ψάπφ', ἀδικήει;
καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ' ἀλλὰ δώσει,
αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.
ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλεπᾶν δὲ λῦσον
ἐκ μεριμνᾶν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τελέσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ' αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.
Throned on gold and wonders of art*1*, immortal
Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus with tricks to
Lead me on*2* through blisses and pain! Why doom me,
Body and soul now?
Oh my Goddess! Help! If on other days you
Ever heard me off in the distance, moaning-
Heard and hurried, leaving your father's home to
Harness your golden
Carriage. Had it yoked in a second to sparrows*3*
As they drew you quick as a wink above the
Sultry earth, whirling flaps in a blur, careening,
Out from your cover,
Spiraled down here. as your immortal features
Formed into a smile in your quips and questions,:
“What's up now love? Trouble again? And this time
Why all the ruckus?
What's your wild heart throbbing to have? Who is it
This time? Only tell me the girl you'd have me
Twist and turn around to your love. She's being
Cruel to you, Sappho?
Running off now? Soon she'll be chasing you, love.
Won't take gifts? Tomorrow she'll even give them.
Just won't love? Tomorrow she will. She'll love you
Like it or not, dear”
Come right now though! Now's when I need you. End this
Tossing, turning! All that I'm crazy for you
Know so well then fight for it, standing by me
Shoulder to shoulder*4*.
Footnotes to the translation:
In order to view the polytonic Greek text your Browser must be Unicode compatible
*1* In the original Sappho uses the epithet Ποικιλόθρον' to describe Aphrodite. This has been translated by others as “On a throne of many colors,” “on your many-splendored throne,” “rainbow-throned” and “on your many splendored colored throne.” These are all viable, but Sappho was not a poet who would use any such vague effulgence as “many-splendor-colored.” The word also has a slight twist to it. ποικιλος meant not only many-colored, or intricately crafted in the context of art or furniture, but also cunning, crafty and tricky as Aphrodite herself was. An exact translation of the latin varius.
*2* Here the original gives us δολοπλοκε which translates as something like “trick-weaver” or “wile-weaver” but this was a common word for women at the time, used colloquially and did not at all have the high-flown literary resonance that wile-weaver would have. Thus I have used “lead us on” to mimic nuance.
*3* It is not known what sort of bird the στροῦθοι were, nor are we ever likely to know, given our scant information on Sappho's Aeolic dialect of Greek. My best guess is sparrows for two reasons. First in Attic Greek the στροῦθοι were indeed sparrows. Second sparrows were considered by the ancient Greeks to be extremely sexy birds, held sacred by Aphrodite. So sacred were they that their remains were used as an aphrodisiac (the very word comes from the name of the Goddess)
*4* This line in the original uses συμμαχος which literally translates as something like battle-ally but this word, in all other surviving sources, referrs to men (since women generally didn't fight battles.) Sappho seems to be the only Greek to apply this word to a female.
ORIGINAL
Ποικιλόθρον', ἀθάνατ' Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε
μή μ' ἄσαισι μήδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον·
ἀλλὰ τυῖδ' ἔλθ', αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀΐοισα πήλοι
ἒκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες
ἄρμ' ὐπαδεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα διννεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνωἴθε-
ρας διὰ μέσσω.
αἶψα δ' ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ', ὦ μάκαιρα,
μειδιάσαισ' ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳι,
ἤρε', ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι
δηὖτε κάλημμι,
κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· τίνα δηὖτε Πείθω
μαῖς σ' ἄγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς σ', ὦ
Ψάπφ', ἀδικήει;
καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ' ἀλλὰ δώσει,
αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.
ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλεπᾶν δὲ λῦσον
ἐκ μεριμνᾶν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τελέσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ' αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.
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Hymn to Aphrodite (Translation-Greek)
Hymn to Aphrodite (Translation-Greek)
