Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

~

~ Some time around 600 years B.C., on another Greek Island, the famed poet, Sappho, wrote the following:


Ἔλθε Κύπρι
χρυσίαισιν ἐν κυλίκεσσιν ἄβρως
συμμεμιγμένον θαλίαισι νέκταρ
οἰνοχοεῦσα.

or

"Come, goddess of Cyprus,
and in golden cups
serve nectar
delicately mixed with delights."

What do you make of that, huh?

[wyoming cowboy]

maybe she liked the cypriot sweet, sugar watermelon rind. "Glyko tis Putixas".....i couldnt resist...

[GreekIslandGirl]

Oh, come on, wyco! If you can gaze further than your navel (or loins), you'll be illuminated by the wider message.

Here's another of her lovely poems with a further interesting association:


A Prayer to Our Lady of Paphos

Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of Zeus,
snare-knitter! Do not, I beg you,

cow my heart with grief! Come,
as once when you heard my far-
off cry and, listening, stepped

from your father's house to your
gold chariot, to yoke the pair whose
beautiful thick-feathered wings

oaring down mid-air from heaven
carried you to light swiftly
on dark earth; then, blissful one,

smiling your immortal smile
you asked, What ailed me now that
me call you again? What

was it that my distracted
heart most wanted? ``Whom has
Persuasion to bring round now

``to your love? Who, Sappho, is
unfair to you? For, let her
run, she will soon run after;

``if she won't accept gifts, she
will one day give them; and if
she won't love you --- she soon will

``love, although unwillingly...''
If ever --- come now! Relieve
this intolerable pain!

What my heart most hopes will
happen, make happen; you your-
self join forces on my side!

Sappho

[SheldonCooper]

Who, Sappho, is unfair to you?

Poor Sappho!

Beautiful poem, I only wish I could appreciate its original language.

[kimon07]

~

~ Some time around 600 years B.C., on another Greek Island, the famed poet, Sappho, wrote the following:


Ἔλθε Κύπρι
χρυσίαισιν ἐν κυλίκεσσιν ἄβρως
συμμεμιγμένον θαλίαισι νέκταρ
οἰνοχοεῦσα.

or

"Come, goddess of Cyprus,
and in golden cups
serve nectar
delicately mixed with delights."

What do you make of that, huh?

I think there is something wrong with the translation you posted. "thaliaisi" means pleasures (not edibles) while "avros" probably goes to serve or poor into the cylices.

So in English it should rather read as:

Come Cypris (Aphrodite) delicately (άβρως) poor nectar in golden cylices to mix with our joys/pleasures or
Come Cypris poor nectar in golden cylices to delicately mix with our joys/pleasures.
Apparently she was it again when making the wish to Cypris (I mean trying to seduce some poor woman)

http://inamidst.com/stuff/sappho/

[GreekIslandGirl]

I think there is something wrong with the translation you posted. "thaliaisi" means pleasures (not edibles) while "avros" probably goes to serve or poor into the cylices.

http://inamidst.com/stuff/sappho/

I would argue that "pleasures" is synonymous with "delights". Which she certainly associated with Aphrodite (Cyprus) and Paphos too - and from where are the best Cyprus Delights?

But, seriously, a number of her putative homoerotic poems have ambiguous translations/meanings. Some were perfectly 'innocent' written for her beautiful young daughter but because of the word for 'child' and 'slave' being the same, the early (male) translators preferred to have her lamenting over love to her female 'slave'.

- Anyway, isn't it amazing how an average woman of Greece, some 2,500 years ago was aware of a little far, far away island and its history, when even just 100 years ago the average woman in, say, Birmingham was not educated enough to know where the Isle of Wight might be.

[kimon07]

Anyway, isn't it amazing how an average woman of Greece, some 2,500 years ago was aware of a little far, far away island and its history, when even just 100 years ago the average woman in, say, Birmingham was not educated enough to know where the Isle of Wight might be.

The fact that the Greeks located the birth place on one of their important deities on Cyprus, proves that Cyprus was part of the Greek World from the beginning of time.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Anyway, isn't it amazing how an average woman of Greece, some 2,500 years ago was aware of a little far, far away island and its history, when even just 100 years ago the average woman in, say, Birmingham was not educated enough to know where the Isle of Wight might be.

The fact that the Greeks located the birth place on one of their important deities on Cyprus, proves that Cyprus was part of the Greek World from the beginning of time.

Absolutely. It is clues like this which complete the picture for historians. Unlike the unbelievable, unsubstantiated claims some care to make to discredit facts for political, short-term convenience. One argument of theirs seems to be that Cyprus was a named country whilst Greece was not. But all the main Greek Islands had names; as did all the mainland regions. Also, the fact it was the Greeks who named Cyprus seems to ellude them.

Ἤ σε Κύπρος καὶ Πάφος ἢ Πάνορμος ...