page_title: Sappho 44
section_title: Poem
hierarchical_section_title: Sappho 44 / Poem
context_page_description: Fragment 44 is a fragment of a poem by the archaic Greek poet Sappho, which describes the wedding of Hector and Andromache. It is the longest of Sappho's surviving fragments, and is written in epic style suiting its subject.
context_section_description: The poem's meter is the glyconic with double dactylic expansion (gl²ᵈ) – each line is of the form "xx -uu -uu -uu- ux".  In the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poems, it was included in Book II.
  Sappho's authorship of the poem has been contested.  Scholars such as Edgar Lobel and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf have doubted that Sappho wrote the work due to its epic style.  However, the poem was accepted as authentic in the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry, and modern scholars generally agree that she wrote the poem.
  Sappho 44 tells the story of the marriage of Hector and Andromache, which is mentioned in Book 22 of the Iliad.  It describes Andromache's arrival in Troy, escorted by Hector and watched by the Trojans.  The metre and style of the poem evoke Greek epic, and the poem is often interpreted as an intertext to the Iliad.  The Iliad did not have its later status as the canonical epic poem in sixth-century Lesbos, however, and it is difficult to tell how many of the allusions in the poem to the epic cycle are specific to the Iliad, rather than being traditional.
  The poem may have been written for performance at a wedding.  However, as early as 1966, some scholars had begun to question this belief, noting that the story of Hector and Andromache – culminating in the death of Hector and the enslavement of Andromache – is not particularly suitable for a wedding.  Lawrence Schrenk argues that the poem specifically alludes to two scenes in the Iliad – firstly, Andromache's seeing Hector's body being dragged from the battlefield and the subsequent flashback to her wedding in Book 22, and secondly, the recovery of Hector's corpse in Book 24.
  The poem has received relatively little scholarly attention, and many scholars consider it not to be one of Sappho's best works.  However, Schrenk argues that the poem is more subtle than has often been appreciated.
caption: Jacques-Louis David, Andromache Mourning Hector 1783.  Sappho 44 tells the story of the marriage of the Trojan hero Hector and his wife Andromache.
exif: {}