# Anyte > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anyte > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anyte.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyte > Source revision: 1354220308 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{good article}} {{Short description|Hellenistic poet}} [[File:Anyte Lévy-Dhurmer.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of ''Anyte'' by [Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer](/source/Lucien_L%C3%A9vy-Dhurmer), for [Renée Vivien](/source/Ren%C3%A9e_Vivien)'s ''Les Kitharèdes'']] '''Anyte of Tegea''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀνύτη}}; {{Floruit|{{circa|300 BC}}}}) was a Hellenistic poet from [Tegea](/source/Tegea) in [Arcadia](/source/Arcadia_(region)). Little is known of her life, but twenty-four [epigrams](/source/epigrams) attributed to her are preserved in the ''[Greek Anthology](/source/Greek_Anthology)'', and one is quoted by [Julius Pollux](/source/Julius_Pollux); nineteen of these are generally accepted as authentic. She introduced rural themes to the genre, which became a standard theme in [Hellenistic](/source/Hellenistic) epigrams. She is one of the nine outstanding ancient women poets listed by [Antipater of Thessalonica](/source/Antipater_of_Thessalonica) in the ''[Palatine Anthology](/source/Palatine_Anthology)''. Her pastoral poetry may have influenced [Theocritus](/source/Theocritus), and her works were adapted by several later poets, including [Ovid](/source/Ovid). == Life == No reliable information about Anyte's life survives, and she can only be approximately dated by the style of her work.{{sfn|Barnard|1978|p=209}} Based on this, and on possible imitations of her works in the second half of the third century BC, she is generally thought to have been active around 300 BC.{{sfn|Skinner|2005|p=107|loc=n.11}} According to [Julius Pollux](/source/Julius_Pollux),{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=67}} writing in the second century AD, she was from [Tegea](/source/Tegea) in [Arcadia](/source/Arcadia_(region)).{{sfn|Barnard|1978|p=204}} An alternative tradition, recorded in the ''[Greek Anthology](/source/Greek_Anthology)'', claimed that Anyte was from [Mytilene](/source/Mytilene) on [Lesbos](/source/Lesbos).{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=56}} Anyte's use of a [Doric dialect](/source/Doric_Greek), and mentions in her poem of Tegea and the Arcadian god [Pan](/source/Pan_(god)), suggest that a Tegean origin is more likely,{{sfn|Snyder|1991|p=67}} though Pollux may have simply assumed this on the basis of Anyte's mention of Tegea.{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=37}} The story of a Lesbian origin was likely a later invention to link Anyte to [Sappho](/source/Sappho).{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=56}} Only one story about Anyte's life is preserved. [Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)) claims that she was once visited by the god [Asclepius](/source/Asclepius) while she was asleep, and told to go to [Naupactus](/source/Naupactus) to visit a certain blind man there. On doing so, the man was cured, and he built a temple to Asclepius.{{sfn|Barnard|1978|p=209}} [Marilyn B. Skinner](/source/Marilyn_B._Skinner) suggests that Anyte in fact wrote a hymn to Asclepius, and that Pausanias' anecdote is a "garbled testimony" of that poem.{{sfn|Skinner|2001|p=217}} Though little is known about Anyte's life, more of her poetry survives than any other ancient Greek woman, with the exception of Sappho.{{sfn|Barnard|1978|p=209}} == Poetry == Twenty-five epigrams attributed to Anyte in antiquity survive,{{sfn|Plant|2004|p=56}} one quoted by [Julius Pollux](/source/Julius_Pollux) and the remainder in the ''[Palatine](/source/Palatine_Anthology)'' or ''[Planudean Anthology](/source/Planudean_Anthology)''.{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|p=71|loc=n. 4}} Of these, nineteen are generally agreed to be by Anyte. Of the remaining six, four are attributed to both Anyte and another author in either the ''Palatine'' or ''Planudean Anthology'',{{efn|AP 7.190 is attributed to Anyte or [Leonidas](/source/Leonidas_of_Tarentum) in both the ''Palatine'' and ''Planudean Anthology''. AP 7.189, 7.232, and 7.236 are all attributed to Anyte in the ''Planudean Anthology'' but to Aristodicus, [Antipater of Sidon](/source/Antipater_of_Sidon) and [Antipater of Thessalonica](/source/Antipater_of_Thessalonica) respectively by the ''Palatine''.}} and two epigrams are attributed to Anyte by the ''Palatine Anthology'', but are included without an author named in the Planudean.{{efn|AP 7.492 and 7.538}} Of these six uncertain poems, two (AP 7.190 and 7.232) are considered possibly or probably by Anyte; the others are generally doubted.{{efn|Jane McIntosh Snyder also accepts 7.538 as "probably" by Anyte.{{sfn|Snyder|1991|pp=69–70; 168|loc=n.11}}}}{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=7}} It is likely that Anyte compiled a book of her poetry from her epigrams{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|p=71}} – she may have been the first to do so.{{sfn|Bowman|2004|p=10}} The ''Greek Anthology'' twice refers to her as "the [lyric poet](/source/Greek_lyric)", and Pausanias mentions her [epic poetry](/source/epic_poetry), but neither lyric nor epic poetry by Anyte survive.{{sfn|Plant|2004|pp=56,60|loc=n.2}} {{verse translation|lang=grc|italicsoff=true |1=παρθένον Ἀντιβίαν κατοδύρομαι, ἇς ἐπὶ πολλοὶ νυμφίοι ἱέμενοι πατρὸς ἵκοντο δόμον, κάλλευς καὶ πινυτᾶτος ἀνὰ κλέος: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πάντων ἐλπίδας οὐλομένα Μοῖρ᾽ ἐκύλισε πρόσω. |2=I mourn the virgin Antibia, through the fame of whose beauty and wisdom Many eager young men came to her father's house. Fate, the destroyer, rolls hope far away from all. |attr1=Anyte 6 = ''AP'' 7.490 |attr2=[Richard Aldington](/source/Richard_Aldington), "Antibia"{{sfn|Aldington|1921|p=15}}}} Anyte's poetry is composed in a mixed dialect, with elements of [Doric](/source/Doric_Greek) and [epic](/source/Homeric_Greek) language, as well as some [Atticisms](/source/Attic_Greek);{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=14}} it was common for Hellenistic poets to deliberately mix dialects in this way.{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=19}} It is often interested in women and children, and [Kathryn Gutzwiller](/source/Kathryn_Gutzwiller) argues that it was deliberately composed in opposition to traditional epigrams, which were by anonymous authors and from a masculine and urban perspective.{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|p=72}} Accordingly, of five [epitaph](/source/epitaph)s written by Anyte which survive, only one marks the death of a young man, as was traditional in the genre; the remaining four all commemorate women who died young.{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|pp=75–76}} She is most famous for her epitaphs for animals and pastoral epigrams describing idyllic landscapes.{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|p=71}} Two dedicatory epigrams by Anyte also survive.{{sfn|Martin|2021|pp=42–43}} Anyte's poetry was, like that of her contemporaries, highly allusive, particularly referencing [Homer](/source/Homer).{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=9}} She imitates the structure and syntax of Homer's poetry,{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=10}} making use of Homeric vocabulary to write about personal and domestic themes.{{sfn|Greene|2005|p=140}} For instance, Anyte's epigram 6, an epitaph dedicated to the unmarried Antibia, repeatedly echoes phrases from the ''[Iliad](/source/Iliad)'' and ''[Odyssey](/source/Odyssey)''.{{sfn|Greene|2005|p=145}} She also echoes Homer in her frequent use of compound adjectives, such as her description of the ''poikilodeiros'' ("with a neck of many colours") snake in epigram 10.{{sfn|Fain|2010|p=43}} Her work references Hesiod,{{sfn|Geoghegan|1979|p=12}} archaic Greek lyric and [Attic drama](/source/Theatre_of_ancient_Greece),{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=67}} and shows evidence that she was familiar with the epigrams of [Simonides of Ceos](/source/Simonides_of_Ceos) and [Anacreon](/source/Anacreon).{{sfn|Bowman|2004|p=22}} Several of her epigrams allude to the works of [Erinna](/source/Erinna), a female poet of the early Hellenistic period.{{sfn|de Vos|2014|p=418}} ==Reception== Anyte's pastoral poems and epitaphs for pets were important innovations, with both genres becoming standards in Hellenistic poetry.{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=68}} Her pastoral works may have influenced [Theocritus](/source/Theocritus), and both [Ovid](/source/Ovid) and [Marcus Argentarius](/source/Marcus_Argentarius) wrote adaptations of her poems;{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=68}} the epigrammatist Mnasalces produced an epigram collection in imitation of Anyte.{{sfn|Gutzwiller|1993|p=72}} An epigram by Posidippus on the death of a young woman references one of Anyte's poems as well as Sappho and Erinna.{{sfn|de Vos|2014|p=422}} Mary Maxwell suggests that the style of the Augustan poet [Sulpicia](/source/Sulpicia) was influenced by Anyte and her contemporary, [Nossis](/source/Nossis).{{sfn|Maxwell|2002|p=19}} Antipater of Thessalonica lists her in his canon of nine women poets.''Palatine Anthology'' 9.26{{sfn|Barnard|1978|p=204}} According to [Tatian](/source/Tatian), statues of Anyte were sculpted by [Cephisodotus](/source/Cephisodotus_the_Younger) and {{ill|Eutícrates|lt=Euthycrates|es}}.{{sfn|Degani|2006}} At the beginning of the twentieth century, Anyte's poetry was highly thought of by the [Imagist](/source/Imagist) poets, with [Richard Aldington](/source/Richard_Aldington) describing her in his translation of Greek and Latin poetry as the "woman-Homer".{{sfn|Snyder|1991|p=76}} Modern scholars have been more critical of Anyte's work, considering her subjects frivolous.{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=67}} However, [Josephine Balmer](/source/Josephine_Balmer) describes her poetry as "stunning", and argues that it demonstrates both education and technical skill.{{sfn|Balmer|1996|p=68}} [H.D.](/source/H.D.) adapted one of Anyte's epigrams in her poem "Hermes of the Ways";{{sfn|Vandiver|2023|p=153}} she is one of the women included on [Judy Chicago](/source/Judy_Chicago)'s ''Heritage Floor'',{{sfn|Brooklyn Museum}} is represented in [Anselm Kiefer](/source/Anselm_Kiefer)'s series ''Women in Antiquity'',{{sfn|Jesus College}} and has a [crater](/source/Anyte_(crater)) on Mercury named after her.{{sfn|USGS}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} == References == {{reflist}} ==Works cited== * {{cite book|last=Aldington|first=Richard|title=Medallions in Clay|year=1921|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/medallionsincla00melegoog/mode/2up}} * {{cite book|last=Balmer|first=Josephine|title=Classical Women Poets|location=Newcastle Upon Tyne|publisher=Bloodaxe Books|year=1996|isbn=978-1-85224-342-5|url=https://archive.org/details/classicalwomenpo00jose_0/mode/2up}} * {{cite journal|last=Barnard|first=Sylvia|title=Hellenistic Women Poets|journal=The Classical Journal|year=1978|volume=73|issue=3|jstor=3296687|pages=204–213}} * {{cite journal|last=Bowman|first=Laurel|title=The 'Women's Tradition' in Greek Poetry|journal=Phoenix|volume=58|issue=2|year=2004|doi=10.2307/4135194 |jstor=4135194 |pages=1–27}} * {{cite web|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/amyte|title=Amyte|access-date=4 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220225024/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/amyte|archive-date=20 December 2021|ref=CITEREFBrooklyn_Museum}} * {{cite encyclopedia|last=Degani|first=Enzo|entry=Anyte|title=Brill's New Pauly|year=2006|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e126600}} * {{cite book|last=de Vos|first=Mieke|chapter=From Lesbos She Took Her Honeycomb: Sappho and the 'Female Tradition' in Hellenistic Poetry|title=Valuing the Past in the Greco-Roman World |year=2014|editor1-first =Christoph |editor1-last=Pieper |editor2-first=James|editor2-last= Ker}} * {{cite book|last=Fain|first=Gordon L.|title=Ancient Greek Epigrams: Major Poets in Verse Translation|year=2010|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-26579-0|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientgreekepig0000unse}} * {{cite book|last=Geoghegan|first=D.|title=Anyte: The Epigrams|year=1979|publisher=Edizioni dell'ateneo & bizzarri|location=Rome}} * {{cite book|last=Greene|first=Ellen|chapter=Playing with Tradition: Gender and Innovation in the Epigrams of Anyte|editor-last=Greene|editor-first=Ellen|title=Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome|year=2005|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-3663-9}} * {{cite journal|last=Gutzwiller|first=Kathryn J.|title=Anyte's Epigram Book|journal=Syllecta Classica|year=1993|volume=4|pages=71–89 |doi=10.1353/syl.1993.0005 |s2cid=192160362 }} * {{cite web|title=Anselm Kiefer|url=https://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/events-and-exhibitions/sculpture-close/2009/anselm-kiefer|publisher=Jesus College, Cambridge|access-date=11 June 2024|ref=CITEREFJesus_College}} * {{cite journal|last=Martin|first=A.|title=Ill-Fated Shields and Man-Slaying Spears: Anyte and Nossis on the 'Heroic Code' in Hellenistic Epigram|journal=Akroterion|volume=66|year=2021|pages=41–57 |doi=10.7445/66--1032 |s2cid=249082893 |doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|last=Maxwell|first=Mary|title=H.D.: Pound's Sulpicia|journal=Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics|year=2002|volume=10|issue=2|pages=15–48 |jstor=20163884}} * {{cite book|last=Plant|first=I. M.|title=Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: an Anthology|year=2004|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-3622-6|url=https://archive.org/details/womenwritersofan0000unse}} * {{cite book|last=Skinner|first=Marilyn B.|year=2001|chapter=Ladies’ Day at the Art Institute: Theocritus, Herodas, and the Gendered Gaze|editor1-first=André|editor1-last=Lardinois|editor2-first=Laura|editor2-last=McClure|title=Making Silence Speak: Women's Voices in Greek Literature and Society|location=Princeton, N.J.|publisher=Princeton University Press}} * {{cite book|last=Skinner|first=Marilyn B.|chapter=Homer's Mother|editor-last=Greene|editor-first=Ellen|title=Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome|year=2005|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0-8061-3663-9}} * {{cite book|last=Snyder|first=Jane McIntosh|title=The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome|publisher=SIU Press|location=Carbondale|year=1991|isbn=978-0-8093-3596-1|url=https://archive.org/details/womanlyrewomenwr0000snyd_b0e6}} * {{cite web|publisher=USGS Astrogeology Science Center|title=Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Anyte on Mercury|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15622?__fsk=864238907|access-date=4 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220215325/https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15622?__fsk=864238907|archive-date=20 December 2021|ref=CITEREFUSGS}} * {{cite book|last=Vandiver|first=Elizabeth|editor-last=Tambakaki|editor-first=Polina|title=Brill's Companion to Classical Reception and Modern World Poetry|year=2023|isbn=978-90-04-52927-4|chapter='A Group of Ardent Hellenists': The Imagists, Greek Meter, and Making It New|publisher=BRILL |url=https://brill.com/display/title/63685}} ==Further reading== * {{cite book|first=M. J. |last=Baale|title=Studia in Anytes Poetriae Vitam et Carminum Reliquias|location=Haarlem|year=1903|ref=none}} * Bernsdorff, Hans (2001). ''Hirten in der nicht-bukolischen Dichtung des Hellenismus.'' Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. 91–180, on Anyte especially pp. 100–103, 110–119. * {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Highet|first1=Gilbert|last2=Spawforth|first2=Anthony|entry=Anyte|title=Oxford Classical Dictionary|edition=4th|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.563 |isbn=978-0-19-173525-7|url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-563|ref=none}} == External links == * {{wikisourcelang-inline|el|Ανύτη|Ἀνύτη}} * [http://www.attalus.org/poetry/anyte.html Anyte: translation of all surviving epigrams] at ''attalus.org''; adapted from W. R. Paton (1916–18) * [https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/greek/epigrams-by-women-from-the-greek-anthology/ Epigrams by Women from the Greek Anthology] at ''[Diotíma](/source/Diot%C3%ADma_(website))'', translated with notes by Marilyn B. Skinner. Includes Anyte 15 (AP 9.144). * [https://sites.google.com/site/hellenisticbibliography/epigrammatists/anyte ''Bibliography for Anyte''] at [https://sites.google.com/site/hellenisticbibliography/ ''A Hellenistic Bibliography''], compiled and maintained by Martine Cuypers, Trinity College Dublin. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Anyte}} Category:3rd-century BC Greek women Category:3rd-century BC Greek poets Category:3rd-century BC women writers Category:Ancient Arcadian poets Category:Ancient Greek women poets Category:Doric Greek poets Category:Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Category:Ancient Tegeans Category:Pastoral literature --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Anyte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyte) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyte?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.