Cleobulina

Cleobulina (Ancient Greek: Κλεοβουλίνη, Κλεοβουλήνη, 6th century BC) or Eumetis[a] (Εὔμητις) was an ancient Greek poet. She was known for writing riddles, and three riddles attributed to her survive.[1] Her existence has been debated.[2][3][4][5]

Life

According to Athenaeus and Diogenes Laërtius, Cleobulina came from Lindos on the island of Rhodes.[1] She was the daughter of Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, and, in his The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men, Plutarch credits her with moderating her father's rule.[6][7] The same author writes that as a young girl Cleobulina was a companion of the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales of Miletus, but according to Diogenes Laërtius she was his mother. If either association is accurate, Cleobulina must have been active at the beginning of the 6th century BC.[1]

Works

Riddles were already attributed to Cleobulina by the end of the fifth and the beginning of the fourth century BC, and Athenaeus mentions a treatise on them by the otherwise unknown Diotimus of Olympene.[1][8] However, only three riddles frequently attributed to Cleobulina survive, besides a fourth more often attributed to her father.[9] One was clearly well known in antiquity, as it was quoted twice by Aristotle, as well as by Plutarch, Demetrius of Phalerum, and Athenaeus. Another survives in quotation by an anonymous philosopher, and the third in Plutarch's Moralia.[1] Two are elegiac couplets and the third is a single dactylic hexameter.[10]

Athenaeus mentions and partially reproduces two ancient comedies that are attributed Cleobulina in his work. However, one of them was written by Cratinus, a writer of Old Comedy; it may have been produced between 451 and 450 BC, as Eusebius says that Cleobulina was especially renowned in that year.[1][11] The other was by Menander's uncle and teacher, Alexis.[1][12]

Reception

The Suda has an entry about her,[13] and in 1690 Gilles Ménage wrote a study about her.[14] In 1706, Johann Caspar Eberti[15] provided a list of sources and references. She is also referred to by Lucretia Marinelli (1601),[16] Johann Frauenlob (1631),[17] Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1655),[18] Johannes Esberg (1700)[19] und Johann Pasch (1701),[20] in part under the name Eumetis.

Cleobulina appears in Judy Chicago's 1974-1979 installation The Dinner Party, where under the name of Cleobuline she is sat with other female artists and poets of antiquity next to Sappho.

Notes

  1. ↑ Plutarch says that her real name was Eumetis, though as this means "clever" in Greek this may be an invention by Plutarch or his source.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Plant, I. M. (2004). Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 29–32.
  2. ↑ Nühlen, Maria (2021). Philosophinnen der griechischen Antike. Eine Spurensuche. Wiesbaden: Springer. pp. 108–115.
  3. ↑ Gardella Hueso, Mariana (2021). "Cleobulina of Rhodes and the Philosophical Power of Riddles". In: Chouinard, I., McConaughey, Z., Medeiros Ramos, A., Noël, R. (eds) Women's Perspectives on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, pp. 31-45. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73190-8_3
  4. ↑ Scheider, Luisa (2020). Untersuchungen zu griechischen Rätseln. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 601–606. ISBN 9783110663297.
  5. ↑ Kwapisz, Jan (2013). "Were there Hellenistic Riddle Books?". In: Jan Kwapisz, David Petrain, Mikolaj Szymański (Eds): The Muse at Play. Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry, pp. 148-167. Berlin: De Gruyter.
  6. ↑ "Cleobulina of Rhodes". Ancient Women Philosophers. Mount St Mary College. Archived from the original on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  7. ↑ Plutarch, Gastmahl der Sieben Weisen 148D; see here Luisa Schneider, Luisa (2020). Untersuchungen zu antiken griechischen Rätseln. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 142–144.
  8. ↑ Dissoi logoi 3,11. On the dating of this sophistic text, see Scholz, Peter, and Alexander Becker (Eds). Dissoi Logoi – Zweierlei Ansichten. Ein sophistischer Traktat. Text – Übersetzung – Kommentar. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-05-004081-3. p. 16.
  9. ↑ On the attribution of this fourth riddle, compare Schneider, Luisa (2020). Untersuchungen zu antiken griechischen Rätseln. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 101–102; and Gardella Hueso, Mariana (2021). Cleobulina of Rhodes and the Philosophical Power of Riddles. In: Isabelle Chouinard, Zoe McConaughey, Aline Medeiros Ramos, Roxane Noël (Eds). Women’s Perspectives on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Springer: Cham. p. 40.
  10. ↑ Bowie, Ewen (2006). "Cleobuline". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e616050.
  11. ↑ Poetae Comici Graeci. Vol. 4, Fragments 92–101.
  12. ↑ Poetae Comici Graeci. Vol. 4, Fragments 92–101.
  13. ↑ Entry for kappa from the Suda.
  14. ↑ Gilles Ménage: Historia mulierum philosopharum. Lyon 1690, S. 6–8 (online, p. 6, at Google Books)
  15. ↑ Johann Caspar Eberti: Eröffnetes Cabinet Deß Gelehrten Frauen=Zimmers. Frankfurt / Leipzig 1706, S. 99–100 (Digitalisat).
  16. ↑ Lucretia Marinella: La nobiltà et l’eccellenza delle donne co’ diffetti et mancamenti de gli uomini. Venedig 1601, S. 38 (online, p. 38, at Google Books).
  17. ↑ Johann Frauenlob: Die lobwürdige Gesellschaft der gelehrten Weiber. 1631, S. 10 (Digitalisat).
  18. ↑ Johann Heinrich Hottinger: Historia ecclesiastica. Band 4. 1655 (online at Google Books).
  19. ↑ Johannes Esberg: Exercitium academicum. Mulieres philosophantes leviter adumbrans. Upsala 1700, o. S. (S. 17) (Digitalisat).
  20. ↑ Johann Pasch: Gynaeceum doctum sive dissertatio historico-literaria, Vom gelehrten Frauenzimmer. Wittenberg 1701, S. 18–17 (online, p. 18, at Google Books).

Further reading

  • Leon, Vicki. "Cleobulina," in Uppity Women of Ancient Greece. (San Luis Obispo: Tabula Rasa Press, 1989). ISBN 1-57324-010-9
  • Fabbro, Elena. "La zampa cornuta dell'asino morto. Il più enigmatico enigma di Cleobulina (fr. 3 West2)", in C. Griggio - F. Vendruscolo (edd.), Suave mari magno.. Studi offerti dai colleghi udinesi a Ernesto Berti. pp. 55–76 (Udine: Forum) ISBN 978-88-8420-486-8
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