Anyte, Nossis, and Erinna were three of the most famous women poets of the Hellenistic period. They composed short poems about death, love, and sex, often centered on women. They also invented the tradition of writing poems about speaking animals. None of them was hired by a Hellenistic king to be a resident poet at court, so they had to create their poetic masterpieces on their own. We lack documentary evidence to tell us why women authors worked in this genre of creative literature, as opposed to writing longer works of epic or history; they may have preferred shorter poems for aesthetic and literary reasons, but it may also be because they lacked the financial backing to complete bigger projects.

Anyte on Mourning a Young Woman

The virgin Antibia I mourn for; many

young men came to her father’s house seeking to marry her,

drawn by the fame of her beauty and wisdom. But everyone’s

hopes deadly Fate tossed away.

Anyte on a Dolphin Speaking after Death

No longer taking joy in surging seas

will I stretch out my neck as I leap from the depths,

no longer around the lovely bows of the ship

will I jump, delighting in the figurehead, my likeness.

No, the purple surge of the sea cast me onto the land;

here I lie on this narrow strip of beach.

Nossis on the Joy of Sex

Nothing is sweeter than sexual passion; every other blessing is second;

I spit out from my mouth even honey.

This is what Nossis says: anyone that Aphrodite has not kissed

doesn’t know what kind of flowers her roses are.

Nossis on a Woman’s Present to Aphrodite

The picture of herself Callo dedicated in the temple of blond Aphrodite,

having her portrait made to look exactly like herself.

How gracefully it stands; see how great is the grace that blooms on it.

Best wishes to her! For she has no blame in her life.

Erinna on the Death of the Bride Baukis

I am the grave marker of the bride Baukis. As you pass by

this most wept-for pillar, say this to Hades in the underworld:

“You are jealous of Baukis, Hades!” The lovely letters that you see

announce the brutal fate Chance brought to Baukis,

how with the pine-torches from the wedding that they were using to worship Hymenaeus [the god of marriage]

the groom’s father set afire her funeral pyre.

And you, Hymenaeus, the tuneful song of the wedding

converted to the sad cries of lamentation.

Source: Palatine Anthology, 7.490, 7.215, 5.170, 9.605, 7.712. Translations by Thomas R. Martin.

Question to Consider

What do these women’s poems reveal about women’s lives and concerns in the Hellenistic age?