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Praxilla Quotes (0--451)
Author, Writer, Poet
About Praxilla
Praxilla (Greek: Πράξιλλα; fl. 451 BC) was a Greek lyric poetess of the 5th century BC from Sicyon on the Gulf of Corinth. Five quotations and three paraphrases from her poems survive. The surviving fragments of her work come from both religious choral lyric and drinking songs (skolia); the three paraphrases are all versions of myths. Various social contexts have been suggested for Praxilla based on this range of surviving works, including that her poetry was in fact composed by two different authors; that she was an hetaira (courtesan); that she was a professional musician; or that the drinking songs derive from a non-elite literary tradition rather than being authored by a single writer. Praxilla was apparently well-known in antiquity: she was sculpted in bronze by Lysippus and parodied by Aristophanes.
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“Ὦ διὰ τᾶς θυρίδος καλὸν ἐμβλέποισα,
παρθένε τὰν κεφαλὰν, τὰ δ᾿ ἔνερθε νύμφα.
• Look at the lattice above
For a pretty wonder,—
Down to the necklet—a girl,
But a woman under.”
παρθένε τὰν κεφαλὰν, τὰ δ᾿ ἔνερθε νύμφα.
• Look at the lattice above
For a pretty wonder,—
Down to the necklet—a girl,
But a woman under.”
“Κάλλιστον μὲν ἐγὼ λείπω φάος ἠελίοιο,
δεύτερον ἄστρα φαεινὰ σεληναίης τε πρόσωπον
ἠδὲ καὶ ὡραίους σικύους καὶ μῆλα καὶ ὄγχνας·
• The fairest things I leave behind
Are daylight, and the purple bars
Of sunset, and the summer wind,
And moonrise, and the gathered stars;
And what the terraced orchard bears,
Ripe cucumbers and mellow pears.”
δεύτερον ἄστρα φαεινὰ σεληναίης τε πρόσωπον
ἠδὲ καὶ ὡραίους σικύους καὶ μῆλα καὶ ὄγχνας·
• The fairest things I leave behind
Are daylight, and the purple bars
Of sunset, and the summer wind,
And moonrise, and the gathered stars;
And what the terraced orchard bears,
Ripe cucumbers and mellow pears.”
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Quotes About Praxilla
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Eusebius on Praxilla
“Second year of the 82nd Olympiad (451 BC), flourished Crates the comedy-writer, Telesilla, Praxilla, and Cleobulina.”
Athenaeus on Praxilla
“Praxilla of Sicyon, too, was admired for the drinking-songs she wrote.”
Tatian on Praxilla
About Praxilla
Praxilla (Greek: Πράξιλλα; fl. 451 BC) was a Greek lyric poetess of the 5th century BC from Sicyon on the Gulf of Corinth. Five quotations and three paraphrases from her poems survive. The surviving fragments of her work come from both religious choral lyric and drinking songs (skolia); the three paraphrases are all versions of myths. Various social contexts have been suggested for Praxilla based on this range of surviving works, including that her poetry was in fact composed by two different authors; that she was an hetaira (courtesan); that she was a professional musician; or that the drinking songs derive from a non-elite literary tradition rather than being authored by a single writer. Praxilla was apparently well-known in antiquity: she was sculpted in bronze by Lysippus and parodied by Aristophanes.