Cleitagora
Cleitagora or Clitagora or Kleitagora (Greek: Κλειταγόρα) was a lyric poetess mentioned by Aristophanes in his Wasps and his lost play the Danaïdes;[1] a fragment of Cratinus also mentions her.[2] She was called a "female Homer".[3] A drinking song named "Cleitagora" is mentioned in Aristophanes' Lysistrata.[2] Suda wrote that she was a Spartan.[4] Aside from these few mentions, nothing is known of either Cleitagora or the song named after her.[5]
Sarah Pomeroy argues that Cleitagora was probably Spartan, as a scholiast on Lysistrata claims. As Spartan women, unlike other Greek women, drank wine in their daily life rather than only at religious festivals, it makes sense to name a drinking song after a Spartan woman. If Cleitagora was Spartan, this would explain why the song "Cleitagora" was said to be more appropriate to sing than "Telamon" when the Spartan women are visiting in Lysistrata.[2] However, the scholiast on the Wasps says that Cleitagora was Thessalian,[5] and Hesychius says that she was from Lesbos.[2]
See also
References
- Smith 1870.
- Pomeroy 2002, p. 10.
- Chrystal, Paul (2017-06-29). Women in Ancient Greece. Fonthill Media.
- Suda, ka.1763
- Aristophanes 1971, p. 293.
Works cited
- Aristophanes (1971). MacDowell, Douglas (ed.). Wasps. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Pomeroy, Sarah B. (2002). Spartan Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513066-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Smith, Philip (1870). "Cleitagora". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. p. 784.