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All over the Near East, it is a common feature of love poems that lovers call each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister’. It is a figure of speech that is found on numerous occasions in Sumerian (Alster 1993, 17) and Egyptian (Fox 1985, xii-xiii) poetry, several times in the extant Ugaritic epics (Korpel 1990, 226-228), as well as in the Biblical Song of Songs (Watson 1995, 258-259), although it does not seem to exist in Akkadian and Hittite texts.
The same expression can be found in classical antiquity. It obviously features in the Septuagint, but also in Heliodorus of Emesa (27.28, 29.29, etc.), Petronius (9.2, 10.6 and 127.1, 127.2, 129.8), Martialis (2.4.3), pseudo-Tibullus (3.1.23, 3.1.26) and in several papyri (e.g. P.Oxy. 744.1). Perhaps also in Sappho fr. 5 (Lardinois 2003). This fragment has long been interpretated as being addressed to Sappho’s brother, but parallels with Sappho fr. 1 and with Od. 6.180-185 point into the direction of a love poem. Even though this use of the word for ‘brother’ (κασίγνητον) is not attested elsewhere in early Greek poetry, the obvious parallels with Near Eastern poetry reinforce this interpretation. Also, a Near Eastern element in Sappho’s poetry would not be unlikely, since several others have been found as well, like references to Gello and the Adonis cult (see West 1997, 526-531 for possible Near Eastern influences in Sappho).
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Heliodorus of Emesa 27.28
Heliodorus of Emesa 29.29
Homer, Odyssey 6.180-185
Martialis 2.4.3
Petronius, Satyricon 9.2
Petronius, Satyricon 10.6
Petronius, Satyricon 127-129
pseudo-Tibullus 3.1.23-26
P.Oxy. 744.1
Sappho 1
Sappho 5
Song of Songs 4:9-12
Song of Songs 5:1-2
Bibliography
| Alster 1993, 17 | Alster, Bendt. “Marriage and love in the Sumerian love songs, with some notes on the Manchester Tammuz.” In: Mark E. Cohen, Daniel C. Snell, and David B. Weisberg (eds.). The tablet and the scroll. Near Eastern studies in honour of William W. Hallo. Bethesda: CDL Press 1993, 15-27. |
| Fox 1985, xii-xiii | Fox, Michael V. The Song of Songs and the ancient Egyptian love songs. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press 1985. |
| Korpel 1990, 226-228 | Korpel, Marjo C. A. A rift in the clouds. Ugaritic and Hebrew descriptions of the divine. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 1990. |
| Leick 1994, 71-72 | Leick, Gwendolyn. Sex and eroticism in Mesopotamian literature. London: Routledge 1994. |
| Lardinois 2003 | Lardinois, André. Sappho Fr. 5: A Love Poem?. New Orleans: APA lecture (4.1.2003) 2003. |
| Watson 1995, 258-259 | Watson, Wilfred G. E. “Some Ancient Near Eastern Parallels to the Song of Songs.” In: Jon Davies, Graham Harvey and Wilfred G. E. Watson (eds.). Words remembered, Rexts renewed. Essays in Honour of John F. A. Sawyer. Sheffield: Sheffield University Press 1995, 253-271. |
| West 1997, 526-531 | West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997. |
André Lardinois
Erik van Dongen
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