Anyte of Tegea

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Anyte of Tegea was a Hellenistic poet from Tegea in Arcadia. Little is known of her life, but 24 epigrams attributed to her are preserved in the Greek Anthology, and one is quoted by Julius Pollux; 19 of these are generally accepted as authentic. She introduced rural themes to the genre, which became a standard theme in Hellenistic epigrams.[1] She is one of the nine outstanding ancient women poets listed by Antipater of Thessalonica in the Palatine Anthology.[2] Her pastoral poetry may have influenced Theocritus, and her works were adapted by several later poets, including Ovid.

Life

No reliable information about Anyte's life survives, and she can only be approximately dated by the style of her work.[3] Based on this, and on possible imitations of her works in the second half of the third century BC, she is generally thought to have been active around 300 BC.[4] According to Julius Pollux,[5] writing in the second century AD, she was from Tegea in Arcadia.[6] An alternative tradition, recorded in the Greek Anthology, claimed that Anyte was from Mytilene on Lesbos,[7] though her use of a Doric dialect, and mentions in her poem of Tegea and the Arcadian god Pan, suggest that a Tegean origin is more likely.[8] The story of a Lesbian origin was likely a later invention to link Anyte to Sappho.[7]

Only one story about Anyte's life is preserved. Pausanias claims that she was once visited by the god Asclepius while she was asleep, and told to go to Naupactus to visit a certain blind man there. On doing so, the man was cured, and he built a temple to Asclepius.[3] Though little is known about Anyte's life, more of her poetry survives than any other ancient Greek woman, with the exception of Sappho.[3]

Poetry

Twenty-five epigrams attributed to Anyte in antiquity survive,[7] one quoted by Julius Pollux and the remainder in the Palatine or Planudean Anthology.[9] Of these, nineteen are generally agreed to be by Anyte. Of the remaining six, four are attributed to both Anyte and another author in either the Palatine or Planudean anthology,[a] and two epigrams are attributed to Anyte by the Palatine Anthology, but are included without an author named in the Planudean.[b] Of these six uncertain poems, two (AP 7.190 and 7.232) are considered possibly or probably by Anyte; the others are generally doubted.[c][11] It is likely that Anyte compiled a book of her poetry from her epigrams[1] – she may have been the first to do so.[12] The Greek Anthology twice refers to her as "the lyric poet", and Pausanias mentions her epic poetry, but neither lyric nor epic poetry by Anyte survive.[13]

Anyte's poetry is composed in a mixed dialect, with elements of Doric and epic language, as well as some Atticisms.[14] It is often interested in women and children, and Kathryn Gutzwiller argues that it was deliberately composed in opposition to traditional epigrams, which were by anonymous authors and from a masculine and urban perspective.[15] Accordingly, of five epitaphs written by Anyte which survive, only one marks the death of a young man, as was traditional in the genre; the remaining four all commemorate women who died young.[16] She is most famous for her epitaphs for animals and pastoral epigrams describing idyllic landscapes.[1] Two dedicatory epigrams by Anyte also survive.[17]

Anyte's poetry make use of Homeric vocabulary in order to write about personal and domestic themes.[18] For instance, Anyte's epigram 6, an epitaph dedicated to the unmarried Antibia, repeatedly echoes phrases from the Iliad and Odyssey.[19] Her work also references archaic Greek lyric and Attic drama,[5] and shows evidence that she was familiar with the epigrams of Simonides of Ceos and Anacreon.[20]

Reception

Anyte's pastoral poems and epitaphs for pets were important innovations, with both genres becoming standards in Hellenistic poetry.[21] Her pastoral works may have influenced Theocritus, and both Ovid and Marcus Argentarius wrote adaptations of her poems;[21] the epigrammatist Mnasalces produced an epigram collection in imitation of Anyte.[15] Antipater of Thessalonica lists her in his canon of nine women poets.[6] According to Tatian, a statue of Anyte was sculpted by Cephisodotus.[22]

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Anyte's poetry was highly thought of by the Imagist poets, with Richard Aldington describing her in his translation of Greek and Latin poetry as the "woman-Homer".[23] Modern scholars have been more critical of Anyte's work, considering her subjects frivolous.[5] However, Josephine Balmer describes her poetry as "stunning", and argues that it demonstrates both education and technical skill.[21] Anyte is one of the women included on Judy Chicago's Heritage Floor,[24] and has a crater on Mercury named after her.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ AP 7.190 is attributed to Anyte or Leonidas in both; AP 7.232 to Antipater of Sidon by the Palatine; AP 7.236 to Antipater of Thessalonica by the Palatine; and AP 7.189 to Aristodicus by the Palatine anthology.
  2. ^ AP 7.492 and 7.538
  3. ^ Jane McIntosh Snyder also accepts 7.538 as "probably" by Anyte.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Gutzwiller 1993, p. 71.
  2. ^ Palatine Anthology 9.26
  3. ^ a b c Barnard 1978, p. 209.
  4. ^ Skinner 2005, p. 107, n.11.
  5. ^ a b c Balmer 1996, p. 67.
  6. ^ a b Barnard 1978, p. 204.
  7. ^ a b c Plant 2004, p. 56.
  8. ^ Snyder 1991, p. 67.
  9. ^ Gutzwiller 1993, p. 71, n. 4.
  10. ^ Snyder 1991, pp. 69–70, 168, n.11.
  11. ^ Geoghegan 1979, p. 7.
  12. ^ Bowman 2004, p. 10.
  13. ^ Plant 2004, pp. 56, 60, n.2.
  14. ^ Geoghegan 1979, p. 14.
  15. ^ a b Gutzwiller 1993, p. 72.
  16. ^ Gutzwiller 1993, pp. 75–76.
  17. ^ Martin 2021, pp. 42–43.
  18. ^ Greene 2005, p. 140.
  19. ^ Greene 2005, p. 145.
  20. ^ Bowman 2004, p. 22.
  21. ^ a b c Balmer 1996, p. 68.
  22. ^ Martin 2021, p. 42.
  23. ^ Snyder 1991, p. 76.
  24. ^ Brooklyn Museum.
  25. ^ USGS.

Works cited

  • Balmer, Josephine (1996). Classical Women Poets. Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-342-2.
  • Barnard, Sylvia (1978). "Hellenistic Women Poets". The Classical Journal. 73 (3).
  • Bowman, Laurel (2004). "The 'Women's Tradition' in Greek Poetry". Phoenix. 58 (2). doi:10.2307/4135194. JSTOR 4135194.
  • "Amyte". Brooklyn Museum. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  • Geoghegan, D. (1979). Anyte: The Epigrams. Rome: Edizioni dell'ateneo & bizzarri.
  • Greene, Ellen (2005). "Playing with Tradition: Gender and Innovation in the Epigrams of Anyte". In Greene, Ellen (ed.). Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806136639.
  • Gutzwiller, Kathryn J. (1993). "Anyte's Epigram Book". Syllecta Classica. 4: 71–89. doi:10.1353/syl.1993.0005. S2CID 192160362.
  • Highet, Gilbert; Spawforth, Anthony (2012). "Anyte". Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.563. ISBN 9780191735257.
  • Martin, A. (2021). "Ill-Fated Shields and Man-Slaying Spears: Anyte and Nossis on the 'Heroic Code' in Hellenistic Epigram". Akroterion. 66: 41–57. doi:10.7445/66--1032. S2CID 249082893.
  • Plant, I. M. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: an Anthology. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806136226.
  • Skinner, Marilyn B. (2005). "Homer's Mother". In Greene, Ellen (ed.). Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806136639.
  • Snyder, Jane McIntosh (1991). The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome. Carbondale: SIU Press. ISBN 9780809335961.
  • "Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Anyte on Mercury". USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.

Further reading

  • Baale, M. J. (1903). Studia in Anytes Poetriae Vitam et Carminum Reliquias. Haarlem.
  • Anite di Tegea poetry by the Italian writer Sabrina Gatti, taken from the collection La pioggia sui vetri, Sabrina Gatti, LDS Edizioni

External links

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