Ancient
Weddings
by Jennifer
Goodall Powers, SUNY Albany
Original text
© 1997 Jennifer Goodall Powers
Sappho and Her
Wedding Songs
Book of Epithalamia
The final and shortest
book of Sappho's poetry, Book Nine, is devoted to epithalamia,
wedding songs. The book of epithalamia varied in meter and various
other aspects, as Page explains her Book Nine
... is
represented by a mere dozen short fragments, miscellaneous in
metre, sometimes abnormal in dialect, for the most part trivial
in subject and style. The indication is that the book was very
short, and that its contents were of a type uncommon in Sappho's
poetry.
One feature of the
epithalamia is that they were the only poems of Sappho that were
intended to be performed at a formal ceremony. Because very few
other Greek wedding songs remain, Sappho's epithalamia hold a
special place in the history of literature. These songs were
sung at different times during the ceremony, which would be reflected
in the poems themselves. Fragment 110, for instance, talks about
the doorkeeper at the bridal chamber and so probably was sung
when the couple first entered the bedroom. Fragment 111, on the
other hand, was most likely sung during the procession, which
is its subject.
Fragment 105a is
a familiar, but instructive verse that typifies Sappho's treatment
of the marriage ceremony.
All alone
a sweet apple reddens on the topmost branch,
high on the highest branch, the apple pickers did not notice
it,
they did not truly forget it, but they could not reach it. (Fr.
105)
Here Sappho compares
a bride to an apple, ready for plucking and marriage. Like the
apple, the bride had previously escaped the notice of the gatherers/suitors
and so she may have been older than the average bride, which
would explain why this poem was appropriately performed at the
wedding ceremony. DuBois discusses the language for the apple
that is reddening and maturing just as the bride is at a stage
of life in which she is blooming:
the word,
ereuthetai, "reddens," the verb, is at the center
of the first line of the fragment and anchors it, its color spreading
forward and backward in the line ... As the sweet-apple reddens
and thus ripens, so the girl blushes and ripens. As the apple
lives and grows, it reddens, turning from the immature fruit;
the girl matures inevitably as well.
DuBois continues
by exploring the double meaning of akron, which can mean
both distance (high) and quality (the best):
This sweet
apple is the best, the highest of the high, the most distant
from the common ground. The most physically distant, the highest,
is also best. And akron suggests completeness, the fullness
of time: the sweet apple reddens on the perfected branch.
The close relationship
and deep meaning of each word in this fragment enhance the comparison
of the apple and the bride and their situations.
The sexual image
of the bride in this poem is also evident. Apples are symbols
for breasts and sexuality; the use of the verb usually has blood
and blushing connotations; and a sweet apple symbolizes the sweet
temperament of a wife. Winkler expands the simile's meaning,
which, for him, also goes beyond just describing a sexual woman:
"the vocabulary and phrasing ... contain a delicate and
reverential attitude to the elusive presence and-absence of women
in the world of men." He goes on to point out that not only
is this something men had never expressed in poetry before, but
it is also something men would not understand. Sappho is not
describing the physical aspects of the bride's sexuality (breasts,
etc.); she is illustrating the emotional sensuality of the bride
(maturity, growth in womanhood). Male poets would traditionally
focus on the physical lust and desire aroused in themselves by
women. Instead, this fragment explores something only a woman
would truly have been able to vocalize.
Other fragments
of the epithalamia also illustrate prominent wedding themes.
For example, Sappho gives the groom a sharp-witted treatment
in some.
The feet
of the doorkeeper are seven fathoms long,
his sandals are made of five ox-hides,
ten cobblers worked hard making them. (Fr. 110)
Oh the roof on high,
sing hymnaios,
raise up, craftsmen,
sing hymnaios.
The bridegroom comes just like Ares,
a man much bigger than a big man. (Fr. 111)
Unlike fragment
105a that praises the bride, these poems mock the unwieldy size
of body parts of the men involved in the ceremony. Fragment 110
was performed by a choir of maidens warning the best man to keep
watch throughout the night outside the bridal chamber. As Greek
marriage and the wedding ceremony itself placed such a high value
on producing children, the couple's first sexual encounter was
very important. So too then was the doorkeeper important. And
yet while Sappho mocks his feet, she also concludes the poem
by reminding him how hard the cobblers worked to make the sandals.
This is also a warning to him about how hard he is expected to
work at his job: protecting the couple's first consummation by
guarding the door.
Fragment 111 was
sung during the procession, comparing the size of the groom to
Ares. The god is usually very threatening and imposing, so why
compare a groom to him? Just as Ares cowers when faced with the
sexual aggression of Aphrodite, so too may Sappho be making a
joke at the groom's expense. Ribald jokes were often the source
of wedding songs and this one could be mocking the groom's sexual
abilities and fears.
Despite her ribald
treatment of the groom in fragment 111, Sappho is slightly more
respectful of the groom in fragment 115.
What would
I compare to you so beautifully,
o dear bridegroom
I would compare you above all to a tall sapling. (Fr. 115)
While fragment 115
does not illustrate a particular part of the wedding ceremony
as do the previous two fragments, the poetess may have uttered
it as the groom entered the bridal chamber. In line with the
other poems mocking the "men's paraphernalia," Sappho
may be making a statement here about the groom's sexual excitement
for his new bride. She says the groom is like a new tree that
is young and inexperienced, but stands upright.
Another interesting
observation about these fragments is their jovial tone not usually
seen in Sappho's poetry. This tone, however, is characteristic
of epithalamia as the wedding ceremony was a celebration of the
happiness of the union and its future children that was enhanced
by songs. Sappho is not cruelly mocking the height of the groom
in fragment 115 or the size of the doorkeeper's feet in 110;
instead, she is making a joke that everyone can share.
A common theme of
epithalamia is a reminder to the groom how lucky he is to be
marrying such a worthy bride.
O blest
bridegroom, your marriage has been
achieved as you prayed,
you have the maiden which you prayed for,
you look graceful, your eyes...
gentle, and love pours over your beautiful face
... Aphrodite honored you especially. (Fr. 112)
For now
there was no other child, bridegroom,
like this one (Fr. 113)
Lardinois explains
that "the looks of a girl were considered to be extremely
important in antiquity." The bride in fragment 112 is subtly
compared to Aphrodite, elevating the beauty of the bride to divine
status. This beauty is embodied in such features as her eyes,
voice and sweetness of nature. The groom, then, has found a truly
worthy wife.
One unique feature
of fragment 112 is that Sappho uses the same language here, in
a heteroerotic poem, as she does in her homoerotic poems. mellixa,
used to describe feminine gentleness, for example, is used again
in fragments 2 and 71. Both of these poems, unlike the epithalamia
here, discuss Sappho's love for other women. Fragment 71 is dedicated
to a girl named Mica:
Keuxtai, meaning poured forth,
has a sexual connotation, both in fragment 112 about love and
fragment 96 about dew, that leaves the audience with an image
of sexuality informing its object of desire. The groom, for instance,
in fragment 112 is steeped in sexual desire for his beautiful
bride. Likewise in fragment 96 Attis' lover is so desirous, her
love melts over even the flowers. While it is the dew that is
keuxutai, the tone of the poem and the connotations of
the verb indicate that Attis' lover is also pouring forth her
desire and sadness at the memory of Attis.
Both of these fragments
are clearly about love of women and yet Sappho uses the same
language as in fragment 112. This demonstrates Sappho's prioritizing
of beauty and the (homosexual) love that beauty arouses and her
incorporation of those ideas into her portrayal of marriage.
Fragment 113 is
also a celebration of the luck of the groom in marrying a worthy
bride. Still, Sappho's use of pais, child, in reference
to the bride raises an interesting issue. Does it imply that
the bride was like a child passed into the hands of a new "father"?
Indeed, if the bride was one of her students, Sappho might have
played a protective role herself and would have wanted the groom
to assume this role. She might be especially concerned if the
bride was still young, and if Sappho did not think she was ready
to "graduate" into marriage.
The complicated
subject of virginity is addressed in fragment 114.
In this poem a new
bride wonders where her virginity has gone and learns that it
will never be able to return to her. Burnett explains the conflicting
importance of virginity and marriage:
virginity
was of supreme importance and yet Sappho's maids, unlike Artemis,
were not to spend their lives in the wilds, but were to enter
luxurious households as brides. Ideally they were to have enough
understanding of Eros to bring their husbands pleasure, and consequently
their education in purity had to be seconded by another that
taught them the value of physical love.
One of the responsibilities
of Sappho as head of a thiasos would have been to prepare
the girls for this loss of virginity brought about by marriage.
Burnett continues:
at Sappho's
house ... everyone learned the contradictory double lesson of
the bride: that virginity kept was glorious, while virginity
lost in a marriage-bed was an even more splendid thing. One had
to be both pure and desirable, and the balance was not easy to
keep, for chastity was provocative.
Fragment 114 indicates
that loss of virginity to marriage is indeed one of the lessons
taught at Sappho's thiasos. While this bride has been
prepared for married life at the school, marriage and heterosexual
love remain frightening concepts, and here she laments the change
that has occurred. Marriage was an ambiguous time for brides
and this poem verbalizes one aspect of the fearful expectations
of the bride.
Two fragments 103
and 104 describe the beautiful setting of the wedding and capture
the pleasant mood which would have been part of the ceremony.
... for
... speak ... this
... the bride with beautiful feet ...
... the daughter of Zeus with a purple girdle ...
... having put aside her natural instinct ... the purple girdle
...
... holy Graces and Pierian Muses ...
... when ... songs ... the mind ...
... hearing the clear song ...
... bridegroom, to discomforting ... companions ...
... her locks of hair, having put aside the lyre ...
... gold sandalled Dawn ... (Fr. 103)
Hesperus,
bringing everything that shining Dawn
scattered, you bring the sheep, you bring the goat,
you
bring back the child to its mother. (Fr. 104a)
This bride of fragment
103 seems to be enjoying a completely private moment with herself
before submitting to male-dominated marriage. Aphrodite has put
aside her "natural instinct" for the moment so the
bride is not compelled to love and desire her husband. Instead,
she can enjoy this temporary freedom, probably barefoot, absorbing
the beauty of nature and solitude.
While it may not
seem to be a wedding song, fragment 104 is found in the book
of epithalamia. Because of the fragmentation, one can only guess
at what the end of the poem said. Campbell makes two suggestions:
"the continuation might have been either 'but Evening does
not bring the bride back to her parents' home' or 'so Evening
brings the bride to her husband's home.'" These suggestions
support the idea that fragment 104 is a wedding song, and the
fragment that we have today sets the mood for the end of the
evening procession.
Fragments 116 and
117 are the final poems of this book. Both of these epithalamia
were probably sung at the wedding ceremony, intending to wish
luck (fertility) to the couple as they enter the bridal chamber
to consummate the marriage.
Rejoice
bride, rejoice worthy bridegroom, many things ... (Fr. 116)
May you
be well bride, be well bridegroom. (Fr. 117)
Fragment 117, in
translation, loses Sappho's intention. In the Greek, however,
her usage of the second person optative "charios"
in her address to the bride indicates a much more personal message
than the third person imperative "charion" in
her address to the groom. Not only do the number of both of these
commands (second person for the bride and third person for the
groom), but also the moods contrast with each other to illustrate
Sappho's conflicting attitudes towards the bride and groom. The
optative of wish, possibly unattainable, used to address the
bride indicates a genuine concern and understanding for her situation.
The impersonal third person command to the groom, on the other
hand, shows no emotional connection between the speaker and the
groom. This further supports the notion that Sappho intended
her wedding songs to celebrate the bride and encourage her transition
into wifehood. And yet, in fragment 116, both the bride and the
groom are addressed in the second person, which indicates that
Sappho does not exclude the male entirely from the ceremony.
