My Blogging Namesake: Korinna of Tanagra

Korinna, whose name means "girl," is the best known Greek woman poet after Sappho. She lived in either the 6th or 3nd century BC. There is an old story that she tutored the 6th century poet Pindar, who wrote poems to celebrate victorious athletes. When she afterwards defeated him in a poetic competition, he called her a "sow." But this story may have been invented, since her poetry uses spellings for Greek words that were current in the 3rd century. Her works, which do not survive apart from fragments on papyrus, dealt with local legends and the gods of her native mountains and rivers.

Korinna fragment 655.1-6 (translated by Jane McIntosh Snyder)
Terpsichore (goddess of dancing and singing) [summoned me] to sing
beautiful tales of old
to the Tanagraean girls in their white robes.
And the city rejoiced greatly
in my clear, plaintive voice. Pin It