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[rivalesses]

Ancient Greece survived to this day.
Sappho and her circle of girlfriends live in an alternate version of the modern world.
This is their lives as experienced through the eyes of Gorgo, Sappho's rival.

Comments

i've done my research, i promise.

[rivalesses]

This free interpretation of the historical figure of the Lesbian woman, Gorgo, is based on Sappho's poetry, mainly as translated by Anne Carson, with additional comparisons to Aaron Poochigan's "Stung With Love: Poems and Fragments" and Mette Moestrup's Danish reimagining in "Sappho". Linguistic and historical notes are taken from all three translations as well as a couple of uncredited titles.

who is gorgo? let me tell you.

[rivalesses]

WHAT WE KNOW - OR NOT

x Sappho's contemporary, female poet, her rival.
x Possibly a daughter of the Polyanaktid family.
x May or may not have had a school similar to Sappho's.
x May or may not have been married to Sappho's companion, Gongyla.
x Often banded together with the poet, Andromeda, against Sappho.
x No poetry of Gorgo's has survived to this day.

WHAT I MAKE OF IT

Gorgo, in her mid-thirties to early forties, is really just trying to live her life in Mytilene with her wife, Gongyla, who has studied under Sappho, but later joined Gorgo's school instead. She is really just trying not to get involved in all Sappho's drama, but Lesbos isn't big enough for the both of them, at least if you ask Sappho. They compete over acclaim and acknowledgement, they compete over performance opportunities, they compete over students. In the end, if you consider legacy the bar, Sappho will win, but Gorgo will find rest in death and oblivion, if nothing else.

Where Sappho is hot-headed, passionate and highly emotional, Gorgo is calmer and more collected. She takes great pride in her talents as an educator and has never slept with one of her own students, like Sappho does on a whim. Rather, she has married one of Sappho's former students, Gongyla, who now works with her in their school, Gongyla as the chief musician and Gorgo as the poet, the writer. Her style of poetry is very refined and structurally pleasant, though her subject matter does not feel as personal as Sappho's poetry. She is often engaged at the same parties as Sappho, so they must perform back to back, something that pisses them both off equally much. She is happy in her marriage and satisfied with her career, all in all, a happy woman. No objections.

Unless we count Sappho.

SOME MORE DETAIL

one. Daughter of the influential Polyanaktid family in Mytilene, is sponsored by her father (Polyanaktides) and keeps good books for this reason. A cousin “a couple of times” removed to Andromeda.

two. Has a younger sister (Penelope) and a younger brother (Origen), the only boy in the family. Heir to the name, plays at his wedding when he marries.

three. Is of a stable, warm-hearted, privileged family and this has coloured her own approach to the world greatly. Determined, stern, but kind.

four. A devout believer in the gods, nurtures an especially close yet complex bond to Hera, the goddess of women.

five. Married a decade to Gongyla, former student of Sappho, something for which Sappho has never forgiven her. Doesn’t define her sexuality, but is primarily attracted to women.

six. Envies Sappho that she has a daughter, longing to have children of her own, but hasn’t been able to conceive any with Gongyla.

seven. Considers her students to be her children. Her girls, her daughters.

what i call canon.

[rivalesses]

FRAGMENT 8
]
]
] Atthis for you
]
]



FRAGMENT 22
]
] work
] face
]
]
if not, winter
] no pain
] I bid you sing
of Gongyla, Abanthis, taking up
your lyre as (now again) longing
floats around you,

you beauty. For her dress when you saw it
stirred you. And I rejoice.
In fact she herself once blamed me
Kyprogeneia

because I prayed
this word:
I want



FRAGMENT 29C
] robes
] necklaces
]

]
]
]
]

]
] for Gorgo
]
]



FRAGMENT 95
not

]
]
Gongyla

surely a sign
for children mostly
came in [

I said, O master
I swear no
I take no pleasure

but a kind of yearning has hold of me - to die
and to look upon the dewy lotus banks
of Acheron



FRAGMENT 144
to those who have quite had their fill
of Gorgo



FRAGMENT 155
a very long farewell to the child of Polyanaktides