Semonides of Amorgos

Semonides of Amorgos (Greek: Σημωνίδης or Σιμωνίδης; fl. 7th century BC) was a Greek iambic and elegiac poet who is believed to have lived during the seventh century BC. Fragments of his poetry survive as quotations in other ancient authors, the most extensive and well known of which is a satiric account of different types of women which is often cited in discussions of misogyny in Archaic Greece. The poem takes the form of a catalogue, with each type of woman represented by an animal whose characteristics—in the poet's scheme—are also characteristic of a large body of the female population. See also: Types of Women Quotes Greek text cited from M. L. West, Iambi et elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati, vol. II (Oxford, 21992)Translations cited from J. M. Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus, with the Anacreontea, vol. 2, LCL 259 (1916), pp. 212–37, unless otherwise noted. νέωτα δ᾿ οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐ δοκεῖ βροτῶνΠλούτῳ τε κἀγαθοῖσιν ἵξεσθαι φίλος.φθάνει δὲ τὸν μὲν γῆρας ἄζηλον λαβὸνπρὶν τέρμ᾿ ἵκηται, τοὺς δὲ δύστηνοι βροτῶνφθείρουσι νοῦσοι, τοὺς δ᾿ Ἄρει δεδμημένουςπέμπει μελαίνης Ἀΐδης ὑπὸ χθονός. There's none alive but thinketh he will come home winged with wealth and good things next year; yet one of us ere he reach his goal is taken with unenvied Age, another's mind is wasted by miserable Disease, or Death sendeth him below dark Earth whelmed by War. Fragment 1.9–14 τοῦ μὲν θανόντος οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμοίμεθα,εἴ τι φρονοῖμεν, πλεῖον ἡμέρης μιῆς. Were he to die we should not take it to heart, if we were wise, for more than a single day. Fragment 2 Other translations:Of souls departed, if our minds were strong,We'd think no longer than a day is long.—Anonymous, "The Dead", OBGVT (1938), no. 121 χωρὶς γυναικὸς θεὸς ἐποίησεν νόοντὰ πρῶτα. In the beginning God made woman’s mind apart from man’s. Fragment 7.1–2 External links Category:Poets from Greece