Activity

The conduct of Helen of Troy

Characters:

Sappho of Lesbos (Sappho of Mytilene)

Theme: Goddesses of Olympus

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Classical culture > 1st ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Mythology and religion

Enunciation

Although the activity that you are about to do is based on a fragment of the Greek poetess Sappho, born in Mytilene in the 7th century BC, we will start by reading a summary of the myth of the judgment of Paris to introduce it:
It was time to celebrate the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, a ceremony to which gods and mortals had been invited. The bride and groom were Tethys and Peleus, a goddess, daughter of Nereus, ancient god of the sea; and a mortal. But there was someone who had not been invited to the great wedding, the goddess Eris (Discordia), who angrily decided to come and spoil the event. To do this, she took a golden apple with the phrase "for the most beautiful". She threw it on the table where all the gods were and then walked away. The goddesses Hera-Juno, Athena-Minerva and Aphrodite-Venus each considered the apple to belong to them. Since all three wanted the apple, Zeus-Jupiter sent his son Hermes-Mercury with the three goddesses to Mount Ida so that Paris, son of King Priam, a beautiful young prince, could decide who of the three was the most beautiful. Each goddess tried to convince the young man of her merits and also promised her succulent benefits if she was chosen. So Hera undertook to name him ruler of Asia. Athena would grant him wisdom and victory in all battles, and Aphrodite would grant him the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, Helen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus. Paris decided that the most beautiful woman was Aphrodite, which irritated the other goddesses, who showed their anger during the Trojan war. &nbsp;
(Our own translation)&nbsp;
1- Read this extract from a poem by Sappho:&nbsp;
"Some say that the most beautiful thing on the black earth&nbsp; &nbsp;is a host of horsemen, others a company of infantrymen&nbsp; and others a fleet of ships, but I say that it is what is loved.&nbsp; It is very easy to make anyone understand this,&nbsp; because the one that most stood out among men for her beauty,&nbsp; Helen, abandoned her illustrious husband,&nbsp; and went on a ship to Troy,&nbsp; and she did not remember her daughter or her parents&nbsp; because Cypris disturbed her."&nbsp;
Safo, Frg.16, LP&nbsp;
(Our own translation)&nbsp;Clavo, Mar&iacute;a Teresa (1996), &ldquo;Safo, fragmento 16 V: el deslumbramiento&rdquo;, en Enraonar 26, pp. 41-64, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona
2- Answer the following questions:&nbsp;
a- Who was Helen? Whose daughter was she? With whom did she get married?&nbsp;
b- After reading the extract, what do you think is Sappho's opinion about love?&nbsp;
c- According to Sappho in the poem, do you really believe that Helen was kidnapped?&nbsp;
d- What is Sappho's opinion of Helena's behaviour?&nbsp;
e- Who is Cypris? How does she influence Helena's behaviour?&nbsp;
f- In pairs, find information about these heroines of the Greek epic and make a mural: Andromache, Briseis, Cassandra, Hecuba and Penelope.&nbsp;
g- After presenting the works on the heroines, discuss in class the role given to women in both Greek mythology and epics.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Observations and context

Sappho's example served as a stimulus for almost all the surviving poets of Greco-Roman antiquity, from the Greeks (Mirtis and Corina, from Boeotia; Telesila and Praxila, from the Peloponnese; Erina, from the island of Telos; Mero, from Byzantium; Anita, from Tegea, a modest village in Arcadia? ) to the Romans (Melino, the elegiac Sulpicia, Herenia Procula, Sulpicia the satirist, the travellers Julia Balbila and Cecilia Trebula, Fabia Aconia Paulina, the last pagan...). Romantic writers used it as a shield to validate female authorship (Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Carolina Coronado, María Rosa Gálvez, etc.). With the contributions of the papyri found at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, Sappho was once again translated and read.

The activity is designed for 1st of ESO, although it can be adapted to other levels, and it can be done individually or in pairs.

Description

Working on a fragment of Sappho's work, the students must answer some questions.

Answer

Documents

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