Animus Classics Journal: Vol. 1, Issue 1

events of the poem, is left a lonely figure in the present, contemplating
the past, completed departures of those who are considered most
beautiful.
The art of recall, specifically concerning women who have
departed or were abducted while acting in accordance with Aphrodite’s
compulsion is an important element within Greek marriage ritual. If the
motif of disappearance is a direct connection to epithalamial tradition,
then the rationale for the presence of Helen’s departure in the poem is
not so far-fetched. As Eric Dodson-Robinson writes, the “abduction”
of Helen mirrors the mock abduction of a bride from her father’s οἶκος,
while the underlying tones of autonomy for both Anaktoria and Helen
show that each departure was done semi-willingly, choosing to go, under
Kupris’ persuasion, from the protection of a father’s house to that of a
groom’s. 16 Sappho’s sudden but completed recall of Anaktoria (“And now
this reminds me…” (με νῦν… ὀνέμναι)) 17 harkens to a particular moment
in the wedding ceremony, the performance of an epithalamium right after
the bride departs from her father’s abode to her groom’s.
A consideration within the genre question for Fragment 16
features what Helen left behind, and who Sappho chooses to name. Helen
left behind “the very best man but forgets her child and her dear parents”
(ἄνδρα τὸν άριστον καλλίποισ᾽…κωὐδὲ παῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων τοκήων …
ἐμνάσθη). 18 While this best man is a reference to Menelaus, Dodson-
Robinson posits that Menelaus plays the role of a father, rather than a
groom, in the context of Fragment 16. 19 The “dear parents” refer back
to the original heads of Helen’s household, while the child (παῖδος) is
Helen herself, a role she must abandon in order to become a part of a
her husband’s household. The reshaping of the old myth is not to warp
the story of Helen and Menelaus per se, but to mimic the emotions of
the addressed bride (Anaktoria) and to communicate to the audience the
grief of her parents and the shifting of alliance from one household to
another. She leaves (καλλίποισα) for another’s house and, in order to do
so effectively, must forget (ἐμνάσθη) her allegiance to childhood and
parents. 20
To consider Fragment 16 outside of an epithalamia-context,
Menelaus’ role switches from a father to his original mythological status
as a man intent on retrieving his wife. The poem consequently focuses
on two women guilty of forgetting and two lovers who remember their
dearly departed all too well. While Menelaus is mentioned by attribute
only as “the very best man” (ἄνδρα τον ἄριστον), 21 Sappho recalls him
along with Helen and Anaktoria as a mythical personification of her
own grief. As a pseudo-Menelaus, she hungers for the woman who is οὐ
παρεοῖσα, but avoids the hate-seeped reaction Menelaus suffers by again
referring back to the priamel. 22 Despite Anaktoria’s absence, Sappho
prefers her presence over Lydian chariots or armed forces. 23 In myth,