Abstract
Archaic Greek poetry was a multiple phenomenon: different areas developed diverse, though interrelated genres. This article comments on the unique position Aeolic mélos had in the archaic Greek song tradition. Firstly, it points to Sappho and Alcaeus’ somewhat ambivalent reception by ancient authors. Secondly, it shows how different aspects of their corpus exhibit a pattern of communication with other Greek poetry, while maintaining its own particularities. This unique status is demonstrated by an analysis of Aeolic poetic formulae. Finally, the article proposes the insular geography of Lesbos as one of the reasons for the singularity of this poetry.
Highlights
Archaic Greek poetry was a multiple phenomenon: different areas developed diverse, though interrelated genres
The Doric basis of the language adopted by the Aeolian Pindar and the Ionian Simonides and Bacchylides is undeniable
As they were being produced in different areas, some genres retained various elements which tied them to their geographical origins: metre, conventions, language[8]
Summary
Archaic Greek poetry is noticeably a mixture of cultural variety and unity. Just as there was no single Greek language, in Greek literature one could find a whole range of poetic genres distributed in different dialects. While song was an omnipresent practice in Archaic and Classical Greece[9], and its different manifestations shared themes, metres, and techniques, few traditions became as widely known and incorporated by other communities as Ionian elegy and épos or Dorian mélos. In Archaic times, an intermediary section of the spectrum consisted of traditions which, while becoming famous and producing Pan-Hellenic canonical poets, whose works were constantly reperformed, did not export their genres so widely. This was the case of Lesbian and Ionian mélos. I conclude with an account for this singular status of Aeolic song, based in the island’s geopolitics, which framed the songs’ performance, composition, and reception inside and outside Lesbos
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