It is amazing what modern technology came do.
Software solves the mystery of a 2,500 year-old poem by Sappho
Science illuminates the dark night when the Greek poet looked to the heavens, lonely for her lover.
by Annalee Newitz - May 14, 2016 8:33am PDT
Fragments of Sappho's poetry, though not "Midnight Poem," transcribed in the second century BCE.
Bodleian Library, Oxford
The poet Sappho was so celebrated in the ancient world that the Roman Empire was still producing statues and paintings of her centuries after her death. Her work was organized into nine books of lyric poetry in the famous library at Alexandria, yet we know almost nothing about her life, except that she lived on the Greek island of Lesbos and wrote love poems to women. She remains famous to the present day, even though only a few fragments of her poetry have survived. One of these fragments, called "Midnight Poem," was written in the mid-sixth century BCE to an absent lover. Due to tantalizing hints in the poem, scholars have long debated when it was written. Now, thanks to software used to simulate night skies in planetariums, scientists have figured it out.
"Midnight Poem" still conjures up a powerful image of loneliness. Here is Julia Dubnoff's translationfrom the original Aeolic Greek:
The moon is set. And the Pleiades.
It’s the middle of the night.
Time passes.
But I sleep alone.
What has tantalized scholars about this poem is the highly specific reference to the celestial object Pleiades, an open star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters for its seven brightest stars. Located in the constellation Taurus, and known throughout the ancient world, the Pleiades would have been instantly recognizable to Sappho's readers. The question is, at what time of year would the moon and Pleiades have set before midnight?
Continue reading at:
Software solves the mystery of a 2,500 year-old poem by Sappho?
Software solves the mystery of a 2,500 year-old poem by Sappho
Science illuminates the dark night when the Greek poet looked to the heavens, lonely for her lover.
by Annalee Newitz - May 14, 2016 8:33am PDT
Fragments of Sappho's poetry, though not "Midnight Poem," transcribed in the second century BCE.
Bodleian Library, Oxford
The poet Sappho was so celebrated in the ancient world that the Roman Empire was still producing statues and paintings of her centuries after her death. Her work was organized into nine books of lyric poetry in the famous library at Alexandria, yet we know almost nothing about her life, except that she lived on the Greek island of Lesbos and wrote love poems to women. She remains famous to the present day, even though only a few fragments of her poetry have survived. One of these fragments, called "Midnight Poem," was written in the mid-sixth century BCE to an absent lover. Due to tantalizing hints in the poem, scholars have long debated when it was written. Now, thanks to software used to simulate night skies in planetariums, scientists have figured it out.
"Midnight Poem" still conjures up a powerful image of loneliness. Here is Julia Dubnoff's translationfrom the original Aeolic Greek:
The moon is set. And the Pleiades.
It’s the middle of the night.
Time passes.
But I sleep alone.
What has tantalized scholars about this poem is the highly specific reference to the celestial object Pleiades, an open star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters for its seven brightest stars. Located in the constellation Taurus, and known throughout the ancient world, the Pleiades would have been instantly recognizable to Sappho's readers. The question is, at what time of year would the moon and Pleiades have set before midnight?
Continue reading at:
Software solves the mystery of a 2,500 year-old poem by Sappho?
