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Someone, I tell you, in another time, will remember us. — Sappho

How important was the rhythm in ancient Greek tragedies? How can the rhythm reveal the emotional shifts of a hero? Were the rhythms of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides so different?

Evangelia Thalassini, an actor and researcher of ancient rhythmic theory, discusses the power and the deep meaning of rhythm in ancient Greek culture while she recites Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite" in ancient Greek by using the original rhythm (check out the lyrics at the end of this description).

"It is true that the prosody contains the element of the phonetic pronunciation of the letters. Still, for this video, we decided to deal only with the rhythm of the prosody and not with the phonetic pronunciation of the letters for which we know very little, and the issue is "blurred."
So, we mainly present the rhythm of the original ancient Greek poetry, and as far as the phonetics are concerned, the pronunciation that is applied is that of modern Greek.
We must emphasize that rhythm is the only certain thing preserved in the ancient text, so we decided to deal only with this element of prosody." — Evangelia Thalassini


// Episode's Details in "Short Interviews Series"
🖋 Title: Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite" in Ancient Greek | Decoding the Ancient Rhythm
⏱ Duration: 5min 03sec
🎬 Film auteur: Nikolaos Koumartzis

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// Who is Evangelia?
Evangelia has done extensive theatrical studies such as Theatre Acting at the “Veaki Drama School” in Athens, and Stage Direction at the “Royal Superior Academy of Drama” (RESAD) in Madrid. She holds a Master's degree in “Stage Arts Composition” at the University “Rey Juan Carlos” in Madrid.
She has directed several theatrical plays in Greece and Spain, and since 2015 she has been involved exclusively in presenting tragedies in ancient Greek at archaeological museums and sites in Greece, such as Sophocles' “Antigone".
What's more, she has been researching the musicality of the speech in ancient texts, the relation of the triptych “Music – Speech – Movement”, and the rhythm of prosody (alternation of long and sort syllabus).
She has extensive experience in teaching the rhythms of ancient Greek poetry.

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// Lyrics in ancient Greek

ποικιλόθρον' ἀθανάτ' Ἀφρόδιτα,
παῖ Δίος δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
μή μ' ἄσαισι μηδ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον,

ἀλλὰ τυίδ' ἔλθ', αἴ ποτα κἀτέρωτα
τὰς ἔμας αὔδας ἀίοισα πήλοι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες

ἄρμ' ὐπασδεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνω ἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω·

αἶψα δ' ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ', ὦ μάκαιρα,
μειδιαίσαισ' ἀθανάτωι προσώπωι
ἤρε' ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι
δηὖτε κάλημμι

κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλαι θύμωι· τίνα δηὖτε πείθω
.. σάγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα; τίς σ', ὦ
Ψάπφ', ἀδικήει;

καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ', ἀλλὰ δώσει,
αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κoὐκ ἐθέλοισα.

ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον, σὺ δ' αὔτα
σύμμαχο