WEBVTT 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:37.840 Hello, everybody, and welcome to a very special episode of Lambda, the LGBT and Antiquity Podcast, the show about all things LGBT and the ancient world. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.719 I'm your host, Dominica Raven, Lesbian Visibility Day Special. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:48.000 Today is a special episode of the show dedicated to lesbian visibility in the ancient world. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:51.039 We are not going to go through a traditional Lambda deep dive. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:55.920 This is actually two smaller dives into the poems and records where lesbian lives are visible. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:02.240 There is enough to discuss today, but either one of these would make an excellent future standalone episode. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.680 For today it's all about showing visibility. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.640 Greek magical papyri number thirty two. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:16.079 One of the best representations of female homoeraticism from antiquity comes from the second century AD in Greek speaking Egypt. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:20.640 A small piece of papyrus was found in an Egyptian cemetery in eighteen eighty nine. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:58.640 The text reads as follows I adjure you, Yoangelos, Anubis and Hermes, and all the rest down below, attract and bind Sarapias, daughter of Helen, to Heris, daughter of Thomotharian, quickly, by her soul and heart attract Sarapias, whom Helen bore from her own womb My Ote Elbosato alaubeto in This papyrus is a magical spell used to court a woman. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:03.439 The romantic formulas are fairly common when mortals bequeath a god for help. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:10.080 Those last few words are magical passwords whose meaning, if they ever had any, is long forgotten. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:18.800 The text repeats several times on the papyrus fragment with minor subtle variations, which is also pretty common in these magical spells. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:24.080 But what is special about this passage is that it leaves no doubt as to its intention. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:34.960 This is a spell used by a woman named Herais to attract Sarapias, with the end goal of binding the two women together even in death. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:53.520 That the papyrus was found on a cemetery and calls out to Anubis, an Egyptian underworld god appropriated by Greek speakers in the region, and to Hermes Tracemagistus, a fusion of Hermes the guide who directs souls to the afterlife and the native Egyptian god Thoth. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:05.599 These indicate that we're not looking at a temporary fling, but rather an eternal bond between these two women, deliberately formulated for them to carry into the afterlife. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:12.879 In antiquity magic was not about rebellion against the gods, but rather an attempt to use the power of the gods. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:21.360 Adherents could call upon deities and natural embodiments and rally this divine and preternatural support behind one's objectives. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:25.039 In many of the magical papyri this meant romance. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:29.840 In this magical papyri, it indicates homoeratic romance. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:41.520 Taken together this implies these women were using the means available to them, including magic to take charge and exert personal influence on their lives. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:50.240 Often in antiquity we get a sense that many people are stoically following their heteronormative rules at the expense of their own desires. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:55.919 Women often had even less agency and autonomy in their romantic pursuits than men. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:59.280 However, this papyrus clearly shows a different story. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:08.159 Herais is making her own plans, expressing her own agency, and following through on her own desires. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:15.599 She may have been legally married, in fact it would have been stranger for her not to have been married in this time and place. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.639 Maybe Serapis is also married. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:26.560 This did not prevent either of them from following their own desires and using the powers at their disposal to bind themselves together. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:28.959 This is remarkable in its own way. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:37.360 These women may not have had any more say in their life trajectory, but they could use magic to pursue their desires anyway. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:47.040 Beyond this the papyrus was clearly intended to be taken to the grave, which would strongly imply that the women were intending to be bound for all eternity. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:59.759 As such we could take this magical spell to be something of a common law wedding, though in all likelihood both of these women were legally married, this is the wedding they wanted to last forever. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:06.959 It is for this reason they called upon Anubis and Hermes to guide their souls together in the afterworld. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:17.360 So even as they had limited sway over their social roles, they still found a way to be together, bound to one another despite all social conventions. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.759 Herais and Satapis were bound for all time. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.480 Even the grave could not end it. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.240 Now it's time to read the original lesbian herself. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.439 Sappho lived around six hundred BC, placing her among the very first of all the Greek poets. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.639 The exact dates are unclear from surviving documentation. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:42.240 Sappho wrote a tremendous volume of poetry, most of which was choruses for young women. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:51.920 Some poems were designed to be sung at civic rituals and events and weddings, while others were personal reflections where she sang about her own desires. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:57.759 She is among the greatest examples of female homoeroticism in history. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:00.000 But you already know the basics. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.759 Let's get to the poetry. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:08.000 Perhaps the most famous poem in all of Sappho is her hymn to Aphrodite, the Roman goddess Venus. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.959 Sappho is feeling heart sickness and calls upon Aphrodite to comfort her. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:18.079 Sappho then recounts another time she was in a similar situation and the goddess helped her. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:25.680 That first time Aphrodite arrived in a chariot pulled by sparrows and manifested herself before Sappho. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.480 The goddess asked, Who do you desire this time, Sappho? 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.360 Who must I coax into loving you? 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.920 Though she ran away, soon she will be returning to you. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:41.600 Though she doesn't love you now, soon she will. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:47.519 Sappho calls upon the deity again to help her with another girl she desires. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:51.439 The text of this hymn leaves absolutely no room for ambiguity. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:55.920 Sappho is in love with a girl and calls upon Aphrodite for help. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:04.879 This is significant as the goddess whose purview is the whole romantic sphere makes no distinction between hetero and homosexual desire. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:16.959 The summit of beauty and love herself guides, watches over, facilitates and protects all lovers, but has a special proclivity for the homosexual desires of Sappho. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:24.639 Though we can't be certain which girl Sappho was courting in the hymn to Aphrodite, we do have other poems that add names. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:37.439 One such poem begins some think that a fleet or troop of mounted cavalry or an army is the best sight in the world, but I say what one loves there's a bit of a Cesura here. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:40.160 That reminds me of Anactoria. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:47.600 I'd sooner see her lovely walk and that glistening on her face than all the hosts of Lydia. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:53.360 Another poem tells of the melancholic separation between Sappho and one of her girlfriends. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.639 She is crying as she leaves, and the two will never see one another again. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:09.439 The woman says I solemnly swear I don't want to leave you, Sappho, and Sappho replies Be happy when you remember this time we had together. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:16.720 Remember that time we made the flower garlands, remember when we anointed ourselves in perfume and myrrh. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:22.639 Remember when we reclined on soft couches and satisfied our longing. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:25.839 Sappho is never going to see this girl again. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:31.680 Though there are other ways of reading the text, I interpret this as the girl going off to be married. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:42.960 Remember, marriage is a deal where the patafamilius of one family made a business deal with the patafamilius of another, and the bride and groom may have never even met one another before. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:53.360 The daughter certainly had no say in what her father did to manage his household, so if a woman were told to marry, she was married. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:58.080 Thus this poem reflects something which might have been otherwise invisible to us. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:08.240 The woman who prefers the company of other women and may have had no interest in men at all, yet is compelled into mandatory heteronormativity. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:15.440 Once the bride reached her new home she would have been occupied with all sorts of domestic tasks, not least of which was having in rearing children. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:22.159 For the woman to even return to her birth family on vacation would have been pretty rare during her life. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:26.559 There is a tragedy here which will have occurred thousands of times in antiquity. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:32.159 A lesbian relationship is broken up for the convenience of the family. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:38.240 I wanted to end our discussion of Sappho with my personal favourite poem from the whole lyric corpus. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:42.879 Sappho describes a yearning for a girl who is unnamed in this fragment. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:46.960 Sappho gazes at her and hears her voice and laughter. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.039 This makes Sappho's heart leap and she is totally speechless. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:55.200 There is a fire running through her veins and her eyes fail. 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:00.159 Sappho starts to sweat and shake with an overwhelming desire. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:05.679 In the end she is feeling like she is dying with desire. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:12.480 Of all the poems in antiquity this is the most visceral representation of feminine desire for other women. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.799 Sappho's whole body reacts to seeing the woman. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:25.120 The sight of the girl and the sound of her voice creates an overpowering longing she feels down to her bones. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:28.799 I remember the first time I read this poem. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:34.879 As a kid there really wasn't anything actually written by lesbians that I had access to. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:46.399 Any and all references were either written by a heteronormative man or by a heteronormative woman who was projecting a fantasy onto female homoeroticism. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:53.919 So when I was in school and the lyric poetry was set in front of me, I remember having to stop at this poem. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:00.799 I read it over and over again, pacing the library trying to process what I was reading and experiencing. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:09.440 When a man loves a woman, it's different from when a woman loves a woman in ways I'm not remotely equipped to describe. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:16.879 Hearing somebody talk that language and express what I had already experienced was overwhelming for me. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:25.840 That voice from two and a half thousand years ago said what I could not, and I am grateful it may still be heard. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:31.679 So we can very clearly see lesbian visibility in these stories. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:37.519 Sappho said beautifully some ideas which I don't know I've ever heard said any better. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:44.080 There from the dawn of Greek civilization is a lesbian voice which continues to speak to us. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:48.000 So we can see very clearly lesbian visibility in these stories. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:53.360 Sappho said beautifully some ideas I don't know anyone else has ever said better. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:59.360 From the dawn of Greek civilization is a lesbian voice which continues to speak to us. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:05.919 Both of these lesbian voices were not resigned to their societally acceptable roles. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:16.320 Rather, they were able to follow their desires, pursue their interests, and express what they wanted using whatever methods were at their disposal. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:22.320 Wherever you are in whatever is going on in your life, take a few minutes today and think about the lesbians. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.840 Think about what it means to be a lesbian, or else what it means to support lesbians. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:36.720 Rejoice that we do live in a world where lesbians are visible and that their voices can help shape our concepts of love and romance. 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:40.159 Have a good lesbian visibility day. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:55.840 Notes and comments I wanted to apologize for the change in audio quality in this episode. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:03.919 My day job is actually Contracts Archaeology, and since the ground is no longer fully frozen, I'm on the road. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:08.559 This broadcast is actually coming from a hotel room between shifts. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:17.679 I have tried my best to keep its audio quality better, but I can hear that it is definitely slightly less quality than a normal episode. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:23.360 Greek magical papyrus number thirty two is the one we were referencing today. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:35.759 The translation was done by Edward O'Neill in The Greek Magical Papyri in translation including the demonic spells, edited by Hans Bates nineteen eighty six from the University of Chicago Press. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:37.919 It's found on page two hundred and sixty six. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:45.279 There are more examples of homoeraticism in the magical papyri, which we will return to in future episodes. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:49.279 The hymn to Aphrodite is found in Sappho's poem number one. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:14:00.559 Sappho longs for Anactoria in poem number sixteen, and Sappho Fragment number ninety four contains the poem about the girl going away and their relationship ending forever. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:06.799 Sappho Fragment number thirty one contains that visceral description of lesbian desire. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:12.320 If you're interested in learning about Sappho, an excellent source is the digital sappho. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:24.480 It contains all of the fragments and poems that have come down to us, though it is predicated on knowing the basics of the Greek language to use. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:32.399 If you're interested in reading these sources in translation, type in queer desire from Sappho to Serapiacos. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:41.840 You will be directed to the University of Oxford website which has a translation of these invaluable sources from antiquity. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.399 That's all for this special episode, folks. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.919 We'll see you next Monday for our regularly scheduled program. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:15:06.399 We will finish our deep dive into Atis by exploring the relationship between the trans woman Attis and the female coded intersex deity Rea Kaibale, another excellent example of a different type of lesbian desire in antiquity. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:08.240 See on Monday