A Happy Woman?
Characters:
Theme: The female world
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Multilingual Competence
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Classical culture > 3rd ESO > The survival of classical languages. Language and lexicon
Enunciation
Read these two excerpts by Sappho, a poetess from Lesbos who lived between the 7th and 6th century BC and answer the questions.
I- Fortunate bridegroom, now the marriage that you prayed for
is accomplished, you have the girl for whom you prayed,
and you, bride, your appearance is full of grace,
your eyes are gentle and love wells on your delightful face:
Aphrodite has honored you beyond all others.
Poem of Sappho translated by Jim Powell (retrevied on 06/09/2022) <http://www.projethomere.com/ressources/Sappho/Poetry-of-Sappho.pdf>
II- I have a beautiful daughter, like a golden flower, my beloved Kleis. I would not trade her for all Lydia nor lovely...
Poem of Sappho translated by Julia Dubnof (retrevied on 06/09/2022) <https://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/sappho.html>
1- Answer the following questions:
- Specify which stage of a women's life represents each of the texts. Give reasons for your answer.
- Did the bride and the groom marry happily for love?
- Make a presentation about the rituals that the bride and the groom followed in Greece and Rome and compare them with current ones.
2- Find the words behind the following definitions:
- Name given to newlywed women in Rome: ______________.
- Bridal suite: ______________.
- Simple Greek dress: ______________.
- A different name for an Ionic peplos: ______________.
- Name given to Roman women after they became mothers: ______________.
- Name given to newlywed women in Greece: ______________.
3- Find the etymology of the word matrimony. Where does it come from? How can you explain its connection to the first etymon? Can you give some other derivatives of this word?
In Latin, "ring" was anulus. Deduce the name of the finger in which the ring was place and why it was called that.
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.
Description
Students must find in two excerpts by Sappho the words matching the definitions given and then answer some questions.