166:
22:
157:
184:, Telesilla concentrated on local legends. Both Pausanias and Plutarch state that she was well regarded by women in particular, and her surviving fragments suggest that she was interested in women's lives. Five fragments of her poetry relate to the gods Artemis and Apollo, and one apparently comes from a poem about the wedding of Zeus and Hera. According to
142:
which referred to the female driving out the male; the inclusion of
Telesilla in the legend was perhaps inspired by something in her poetry. However, some scholars such as R. A. Tomlinson and Jennifer Martinez Morales have argued that the story of women defending the city is plausible, though
250:
included her in his canon of nine women poets. According to
Pausanias, there was a stele to Telesilla in front of the temple of Aphrodite in Argos which depicted her holding a helmet and with her poems on the ground around her, and Tatian reports that Niceratus sculpted her.
129:
of Sparta attacked Argos in 494 BC and defeated the Argive army at Sepeia, Telesilla organised the old men, slaves, and women of the city to defend it until the
Spartans withdrew. Plutarch says that Telesilla's victory was celebrated by the festival of
55:
poet from Argos, active in the fifth century BC. She is known for her supposed role in the defence of Argos in 494 BC, which is doubted by modern scholars. Only a few fragments of her poetry survive, several of which reference the gods
923:
Project
Continua is a web-based multimedia resource dedicated to the creation and preservation of women's intellectual history from the earliest surviving evidence into the 21st Century.
188:, Telesilla's poetry inspired the Argives. Umbertina Lisi suggested that this referred to war poetry, though Telesilla's surviving fragments are religious rather than martial.
138:, who does not mention Telesilla's defence of the city, and modern scholars mostly doubt the historicity of the story. It is generally believed to be invented to explain a
111:
was around 450 BC. If both these dates are correct, she would have lived a relatively long life. Alternatively, Maria
Elisabetta Colonna has proposed that she was born
203:. It is addressed to "maidens" (κοραι), and was possibly a choral poem written for performance at a local festivals, used in the education of girls of noble families.
180:
Nine fragments of
Telesilla's poetry survive in quotation or paraphrase, with only one being longer than a single word. What little survives suggests that, like
760:
Martinez
Morales, Jennifer (2019). "Women on the Walls? The Role and Impact of Women in Classical Greek Sieges". In Armstrong, Jeremy; Trundle, Matthew (eds.).
125:
Plutarch reports that
Telesilla was sickly; on the instructions of an oracle she became a poet, and was cured. According to both Plutarch and Pausanias, when
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meter, the
Telesillan, was named for her. The longest surviving fragment of Telesilla is two lines quoted by the grammarian
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suggests that she held a hereditary priesthood, as names beginning "Telesi–" were sometimes associated with such families.
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69:
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to illustrate the
Telesillan metre, named after her. She was apparently famous in antiquity, included by
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Telesilla's poetry was apparently admired in antiquity. According to Eusebius she was as famous as
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Ingalls, Wayne B. (2000). "Ritual Performance as Training for Daughters in Archaic Greece".
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Five of Telesilla's surviving fragments relate to the gods Apollo (left) and Artemis (right)
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in his canon of women poets; in the twentieth century she inspired a poem by the
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64:. The longest surviving fragment, only two lines, is quoted by the grammarian
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877:
Argos and the Argolid: From the End of the Bronze Age to the Roman Occupation
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Little is known of Telesilla's life. She was from the Peloponnesian city of
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Lesser & Anonymous Fragments of Greek Lyric Poetry: A Commentary
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The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome
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Bowman, Laurel (2004). "The 'Women's Tradition' in Greek Poetry".
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416:
414:
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118:. Plutarch says that Telesilla was from an aristocratic family;
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800:
Sappho's Lyre: Archaic Lyric and Women Poets of Ancient Greece
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895:
West, M. L. (2011). "The Greek Poetess: Her Role and Image".
897:
Hellenica: Selected Papers on Greek Literature and Thought
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429:
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Tomlinson suggests that Telesilla's role was exaggerated.
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Brill's Companion to Sieges in the Ancient Mediterranean
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Greek Lyric Poetry IV: Bacchylides, Corinna, and Others
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Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: an Anthology
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associates her with the defence of the city after the
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899:. Vol. III. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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802:. Berkeley: University of California Press.
199:to illustrate this meter, about the myth of
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258:'s poem "Telesila", and she is included in
837:Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6
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921:Project Continua: Biography of Telesilla
783:. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
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254:In the modern world, Telesilla inspired
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880:. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
817:Robbins, Emmet (2006). "Telesilla".
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716:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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220:And Artemis, girls, fleeing from
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155:
91:. A tradition reported by both
937:Women in ancient Greek warfare
855:Snyder, Jane McIntosh (1991).
827:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1202980
134:. The battle is described by
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712:Davies, Malcolm, ed. (2021).
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25:Illustration of Telesilla by
967:5th-century BC Greek writers
962:5th-century BC women writers
680:. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
705:Oxford Classical Dictionary
699:Carey, Christopher (2012).
988:
957:5th-century BC Greek women
952:5th-century BC Greek poets
612:Balmer, Josephine (1996).
236:—trans. David A. Campbell
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972:Ancient Greek women poets
942:Ancient Greek lyric poets
874:Tomlinson, R. A. (1972).
859:. Carbondale: SIU Press.
248:Antipater of Thessalonica
209:
70:Antipater of Thessalonica
798:Rayor, Diane J. (1991).
682:Harvard University Press
676:Campbell, D. A. (1992).
103:in 494 BC; according to
211:ἁ δ᾿ Ἄρτεμις, ὦ κόραι,
834:Scott, Lionel (2005).
218:
120:Martin Litchfield West
37:
779:Plant, I. M. (2004).
614:Classical Women Poets
421:Martinez Morales 2019
354:, p. 579, n. 18.
24:
527:, p. 50, n. 11.
230:—Telesilla, fr. 717
213:φεύγοισα τὸν Ἀλφεόν
27:Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer
616:. Bloodaxe Books.
38:
18:Ancient Greek poet
847:978-90-47-40798-0
840:. Leiden: Brill.
819:Brill's New Pauly
809:978-0-520-07336-4
764:. Leiden: Brill.
691:978-0-674-99508-6
663:. Brooklyn Museum
587:, pp. 49–50.
551:, pp. 17–18.
539:, pp. 59–60.
515:, pp. 61–62.
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51:) was an ancient
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739:(1): 1–20.
701:"Telesilla"
661:"Telesilla"
606:Works cited
585:Balmer 1996
573:Balmer 1996
537:Snyder 1991
525:Balmer 1996
513:Snyder 1991
489:Snyder 1991
472:Bowman 2004
460:Snyder 1991
406:Davies 2021
305:Balmer 1996
244:Bacchylides
197:Hephaestion
127:Cleomenes I
66:Hephaestion
53:Greek lyric
931:Categories
667:1 December
448:Carey 2012
391:Rayor 1991
379:Scott 2005
352:Scott 2005
328:Plant 2004
282:References
132:Hybristica
364:West 2011
136:Herodotus
97:Pausanias
49:Τελέσιλλα
41:Telesilla
193:glyconic
105:Eusebius
93:Plutarch
753:1089087
733:Phoenix
653:4135194
633:Phoenix
270:Aspasia
222:Alpheus
201:Alpheus
182:Corinna
109:floruit
74:imagist
62:Artemis
29:, from
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246:, and
147:Poetry
58:Apollo
749:JSTOR
649:JSTOR
639:(1).
89:Argos
76:poet
901:ISBN
882:ISBN
861:ISBN
842:ISBN
804:ISBN
785:ISBN
766:ISBN
718:ISBN
686:ISBN
669:2022
618:ISBN
256:H.D.
107:her
95:and
83:Life
78:H.D.
60:and
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272:in
262:'s
232:PMG
33:by
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