On Sappho 1: vv. 7–15 and Rigveda 1.118; an emendation in v. 18

Abstract

The literary image in Sappho 1.7–15 of a goddess ascending on and travelling by a chariot which is yoked to birds occurs also of the Daughter of the Sun in hymn 1.118 of the Rigveda. Apart from the image as such, the shared context of prayer in the two poems and certain features common to the identities of both goddesses suggest that the images share a common ancestor in Indo-European religious discourse. In Sappho 1.18, the emendation πείθην, together with the understanding of the major ms. tradition in v. 19 as a crasis κἀcάγην < καὶ ἐcάγην, lets Aphrodite relate the wishes of Sappho in oblique speech, θέλειc being implied following θέλω in v. 17.