Moero () or Myro () was a woman

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

of the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

from the city of

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

. Little of her poetry survives: ten lines of her epic poem ''Mnemosyne'' are quoted by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

, and two of her epigrams are preserved in the ''

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' () is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical Greece, Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Palatine ...

''; two other poems are known only through mentions in other sources.

Life

Moero was the wife of Andromachus Philologus and the mother – the

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

says daughter, but this is less likely – of the tragedian

Homerus of Byzantium Homer of Byzantium (Greek: ) was an ancient Greek grammarian and tragic poet. He was also called ''ho Neoteros'' ("the Younger") to distinguish him from the older Homer. The son of the grammarian Andromachus Philologus and the poet Moero (some s ...

. She was probably active during the late fourth and early third centuries BC.

Work

Little of Moero's poetry has survived. Ten lines from her epic poem ''Mnemosyne'' are quoted by

, and though

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, ) was a hero venerated in his '' temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer. Meleager is also mentioned as o ...

mentions "many" epigrams by Moero in the introductory poem to his ''Garland'', only two four-line poems remain in the ''

''. She also wrote a poem called ''Arai'' ("Curses"). This is known only through a

scholion Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient au ...

Parthenius of Nicaea Parthenius of Nicaea () or Myrlea () in Bithynia was a Greeks, Greek Philologist, grammarian and poet. According to the ''Suda'', he was the son of Heraclides and Eudora, or according to Hermippus of Berytus, his mother's name was Tetha. He was take ...

's ''Erotica Pathemata'', which notes that the myth of Alcinoë is told in it. Finally, Eustathios mentions that she wrote a hymn to Poseidon. The surviving fragment of Moero's ''Mnemonsyne'' tells the story of Zeus' childhood on Crete, where he had been hidden by his mother Rhea to save him from being killed by his father Cronus. Like the surviving fragment of

Corinna Corinna or Korinna () was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Tanagra in Boeotia. Although ancient sources portray her as a contemporary of Pindar (born ), not all modern scholars accept the accuracy of this tradition. When she lived has been th ...

's poem on the contest between Cithaeron and Helicon (PMG 654 col. i), it retells an episode of Zeus' early life to emphasise the role of women. Moero's surviving epigrams are stylistically similar to the works of Anyte. One is addressed to a

bunch of grapes In viticulture, the grape cluster (also bunch of grapes) is a fertilized inflorescence of the grapevine, the primary part of this plant used for food (grape leaves are also used in some culinary traditions). The size of the grape bunch greatly va ...

; the other asks some dryads to protect a man who has carved a statuette for them. The latter is imitated by Hermocreon (''AP'' 9.327). Judging by her surviving poetry, Moero's work explored motherhood, women's responsibilities to their families, and female sexual desire.

Reception

Moero seems to have had a high reputation as a poet in antiquity.

Antipater of Thessalonica Antipater of Thessalonica (; c. 10 BC - c. AD 38) was a Greek epigrammatist of the Roman period. Biography Antipater lived during the latter part of the reign of Augustus, and perhaps into the reign of Caligula. He enjoyed the patronage of Lu ...

includes her in his list of famous women poets, and Meleager's proem to his ''Garland'' refers to her as a "lily", putting her alongside

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

and Anyte. According to Tatian, Cephisodotus, the son of

Praxiteles Praxiteles (; ) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubitably attributable sculpture ...

, sculpted her. Two epigrams which refer to Moero, composed by Anyte and

Marcus Argentarius Marcus Argentarius (; fl. ) was a Greek epigrammatist. Some thirty-seven epigrams are attributed to Marcus in the ''Greek Anthology'', most of which are erotic, and some are plays on words. Stylistic evidence suggests he wrote during the early d ...

, survive in the Greek Anthology, and may be a reworking of a now-lost poem by Moero. In the twentieth century, Moero was referenced by the

imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism has bee ...

poet

H. D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American Modernist poetry in English, modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who Pen name, wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after ...

in her poem "Nossis" and novel ''Palimpsest'', and was included in

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

's ''Heritage Floor''.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 3rd-century BC women writers 3rd-century BC Greek poets Ancient Byzantines Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology Ancient Greek epic poets Ancient Greek elegiac poets Ancient Greek lyric poets Ancient Greek women poets 3rd-century BC Greek women