#ancient poetry

[paganimagevault]

Khwarazm/Chorasmian murals from Akchakhan-Kala & Toprak-Kala, 3rd century BCE - 3rd century CE. The one with hearts is from Toprak-Kala. The rest are from Akchakhan-Kala.

"The world of hearts is under his power in the same manner that The Khwarazmshahs have brought peace to the world."

-Khaqani Shirvani

#ancient history #art history #ancient poetry #poems and poetry #goddess #antiquities #art #literature #ancient #history #museums #prose #mural #frescoes #heart shaped #archaeology #fresco

[kusurrone]

October 15th? You mean Virgil's birthday???🐝🐝🎉🎉🎉

#virgil #vergil maron #vergil maro #publius vergilius maro #ancient literature #ancient poetry #ancient rome #spqr #roman empire #divine comedy #the divine comedy #yassification of publius vergilius maro #virgil tag

[uaravsh]

"...because the people I most strive to please do me the worst injuries."

- Sappho, Come Close (@silentroad )

#sappho #poem #ancient greece #ancient greek literature #tumblrpost #literature #quotes #relatable #art #dark academia #lit #poetry #quoteoftheday #writing #writing community #spilled ink #spilled poem #books and poetry #ancient poetry

[therabbitthatpostthings]

I’m not saying we as a society have Homosexualized many things in history but I am saying there are far too many ancient poems, texts, stories, etc where a man mourns the death of his “best friend” as a wound so deep it pierced his heart and buried it along with the one he longs for,

And his WIFE as a causal Tuesday.

#shitpost #shitposting #ancient poetry #mythology #achilles #achilles and patroclus #the epic of gilgamesh #gilgamesh #gilgamesh and enkidu #anything but lovers #HISTORY HATES LOVERS #This extends into modern society btw #*cough cough* #jc leyendecker #alexander hamilton #fucking Ryan and Chad from High School Musical 2 #*cough*

[brasideios]

‘… Be wise, strain the wine and cut back long hope,

into a small space. Even as we speak, envious time

flies past. Harvest the day and leave as little as possible

for tomorrow.’

(Horace, Odes 1.11)

#horace #odes #horace’s odes #quintus horatius flaccus #ancient rome #ancient poetry

[breitzbachbea]

#beablabbers #catullus #tagamemnon #ancient poetry

[amynessblog]

“Do not tell others how to act unless you can set a good example.”

- Aesop

#quotes #aesops fables #life quotes #peace quotes #inspirational quotes #book quote #inspiring quotes #quotation #book quotes #life quote #greek poetry #poems and poetry #ancient poetry #poetry #poesie #poème #writers and poets #poets and writers #poeta #zitat #zitate #citas de la vida

[weeklypoetry]

Sappho, Fragment 34 Voigt

ἄστερες μὲν ἀμφὶ κάλαν σελάνναν

ἂψ ἀπυκρύπτοισι φάεννον εἶδος

ὄπποτα πλήθοισα μάλιστα λάμπη

γᾶν <ἐπὶ παῖσαν>

****

ἀργυρία

Poetic translation:

The gleaming stars all about the shining moon Hide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth ⁠with clear silver light.

Literal translation: The stars about the fair moon lose their bright beauty when she, almost full, shines [on all] earth with silver.

Free of any human interaction, somehow still full of Sappho's typical melanchony, it offers a personified view of the cosmos like embarassed little girls watching in awe as a woung woman shines bright with silver. Because the stars are clearly the focus, the first word we can see and what I think the reader should relate to; we all pale in comparison to bright, shiny full moon, so gracious to bathe of all us in her light - and the stars are, here, no less human.

For italian speakers, I higly recommend this analysis by the University of Bologna, that goes into finer detail than I ever could.

Certainly my very favorite of all of Sappho's work. I'm already a sucker for nocturnals - Sappho and Leopardi, long loves of mine, feed me well in that regard - and this one takes the cake. Also one of the firsts of hers I've ever had to translare, which doesn't helo lessen my enjoyment for sure. The beauty in her fragments is also in the unsaid, unseen; was the silver surely the light, or is there in the line we're missing, some other feminine noun to complete it? It also makes me kind of mad, solely because a lot of poetry sites out there dealing with ancient greek poetry conviniently forget to inform that we don't actually have the whole poem, a lot of it are just guesses (even if based on studies and evidences) and meaning isn't as clear as they make it seem. For example, almost none of the sites i've searched through for a translation mentioned that "on all" the earth isn't in the text, but was assumed through studies and is often marked as such in greek. Or that there's a whole missing line between that and "silver".

Regardless, I hope that this translitteration and translation can be of satisfaction, especially to those much more expert in this subject than little ol me.

↑ the analysis link again, for easier clicking.

#poetry #poem #poems #poets #poetry on tumblr #poesia #poesie #poeti #ancient poetry #sappho #ancient greek poetry #poetry analysis #greek poetry #sappho poetry #this one is super early bc i couln't wait to start lmao #next ones are each going to be on a monday i prommy

[1five1two]

The first bowl moistens my lips and throat;

The second bowl banishes all loneliness;

The third expelled the dullness from my mind,

Inducing inspirations born from all the books I’ve read;

At the fourth cup, I begin to perspire –

life's troubles evaporate through my pores.

The fifth cup cleanses my entire being.

Six cups and I am in the realm of the Divine.

Seven cups - ah, but I can drink no more:

I can only feel the gentle breeze blowing through my sleeves,

wafting me away to the Isle of Immortality!

Lu Tung, 8th century Taoist poet

#poetry #zen poetry #taoist #writing #ancient poetry

[paganimagevault]

Tocharian B Love Poem, manuscript B496, 6th-7th C. CE

"…a thousand years, [you will] tell [our] story. [I thus announce, [here]tofore there was no human being dearer to me than [you]; likewise hereafter there will be no one dearer to [you] than [me]. [Your] love, [your] affection, [my] jubilant song rises up! Along with life [itself], this should not come to an end for [my] whole life. I was thinking: “I will live with one love well [for the whole of my] life, without any deceit, without…” The God [of Karma] alone recognized this, my thought. Thus he provoked a quarrel; it ripped out my heart [that belonged] to [you. I]t led [you] afar, it tore me apart, it turned me into a partaker of all sorrows; he took away the consolation [I had] in thee… my life, spirit, and heart, day-by-day…"

-Cf. the transcription and translation in J. P. Mallory and Victor H.Mair, The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), p. 273.

#tocharian #indo european #literature #ancient history #history #ancient literature #xinjiang #ancient poetry #poems and poetry #love story

[girlcavalcanti]

reblog if you find overly dramatic horny doomed hopeless dead poets extremely sexy

#ancient poetry #latin poetry #greek poetry #mediaeval #poetry

[kusurrone]

eng: mmmm photosynthesis

#vergil #virgil #publius vergilius maro #virgilio #dante alighieri #divine comedy #the divine comedy #dante #la divina commedia #divina commedia #virgilio marone #vergil maro #vergil maron #dead romans society #ancient literature #ancient rome #ancient poetry #incorect quote #incorrect quotes #virgil tag #russian tag

[blueiskewl]

An Egyptian Pottery Jar Predynastic Period, Nagada II, circa 3600-3200 B.C.

Of ovoid form with pieced cylindrical handles and everted rim, the body painted in reddish brown with two multi-oared boats, each with a palm frond at the bow and two cabins on deck, the waters of the Nile indicated below, fan shapes and “s” motifs under the handles. Height 11.4 cm.

#An Egyptian Pottery Jar #Predynastic Period Nagada II circa 3600-3200 B.C. #pottery #ancient poetry #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient egypt #egyptian history #egyptian art

[chibi-n00b]

-Sappho

(Sappho, A New Translation translated by Mary Barnard)

#sappho #sappho of lesbos #poetry #dark academia #chaotic academia #ancient greece #ancient literature #ancient poetry

[fakeawake]

Philology majors be like:

"This is obviously Sappho"

#Sappho #sapphic #poetry #ancient poetry #greek #ancient greek #lesbian #latin #papyrus #quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra #philology #philological #fragments #queueusque tandem abutere catilina patientia nostra

[darkacademiaestheticx]

That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!

—Connie Willis, Passage

#dark acadamia aesthetic #darkacademiaestheticx #dark academia #english literature #french literature #russian literature #literature #poetry #writerslife #writing #literacy #literary #ancient rome #ancient history #ancient greece #ancient people #ancient poetry #ancient writing #victorian #romanticism