Melinno

Melinno (Ancient Greek: Μελιννῶ) was a Greek lyric poet. She is known from a single surviving poem,[1] known as the "Ode to Rome", which is quoted by the fifth century AD author Stobaeus.[2]

Nothing is known of Melinno or her life.[3] Scholars have suggested dates ranging from the third century BC to the second century AD.[4] C. M. Bowra argued based on the content of the poem attributed to her that the first half of the second century BC was likely;[3] and most scholars agree with a date in the republican period.[5] The fact that she wrote a poem about the power of Rome without any mention of the emperor suggests that she was writing before the beginning of the principate.[4] Literary parallels have been suggested between Melinno's poetry and poems in honour of Tiberius Quinctius Flaminius from 191 BC.[6] However, some scholars, such as Hugh Lloyd-Jones, argue for a date in the second century AD. Lloyd-Jones sees the poem as characteristic of the Greek revivalism of the period,[7] and draws comparisons to the poetry of Mesomedes and Julia Balbilla.[6]

According to Stobaeus, Melinno was from the island of Lesbos. This may have been based on her use of the Sapphic stanza in her poetry.[4] However, she does not use a Lesbian dialect in her poetry, and aside from Stobaeus' testimony there is nothing to link her to the island.[8]

Melinno's "Ode to Rome" is a hymn to the goddess Roma, made up of five Sapphic stanzas.[7] It is written in an artificial choral dialect, and Melinno's use of this dialect and the Sapphic stanza, which was rarely used after Sappho's day, suggest that she was well-educated.[4][7] Each of Melinno's stanzas is a self-contained unit, unlike the practice of the archaic Lesbian poets.[7] C. M. Bowra describes the effect as being "stiff and stilted",[3] but suggests that these sharp divisions between the stanzas were to allow the poem to be performed as part of a ritual, with each stanza performed separately.[9] Josephine Balmer notes that despite the stiffness of the poem, which "even Melinno's apologists" acknowledge, it is filled with mythological and literary allusions.[7]

References
  1. Rayor 1991, p. 194.
  2. Carey 2012.
  3. Bowra 1957, p. 28.
  4. Plant 2004, p. 99.
  5. Robbins 2006.
  6. Pomeroy 1977, p. 57.
  7. Balmer 1996, p. 93.
  8. Bowra 1957, p. 21.
  9. Bowra 1957, p. 22.

Works cited
  • Balmer, Josephine (1996). Classical Women Poets. Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-342-2.
  • Bowra, C. M. (1957). "Melinno's Hymn to Rome". Journal of Roman Studies. 47 (1). doi:10.2307/298561. JSTOR 298561.
  • Carey, Christopher (2012). "Melinno". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Anthony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8.
  • Plant, I. M. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: an Anthology. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1977). "Technikai kai Mousikai: The Education of Women in the Fourth Century and the Hellenistic World". American Journal of Ancient History. 2 (1).
  • Rayor, Diane (1991). Sappho's Lyre: Archaic Lyric and Women Poets of Ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07336-4.
  • Robbins, Emmet (2006). "Melinno". Brill's New Pauly.
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