65†

Raise up the rooftop

(shout hymen!)

higher, carpenters,

(shout hymen!)

here comes the bridegroom, Ares’ equal

and taller than the tallest giant

*****

† 65 and 66 have often been cited by scholars as evidence of Sappho’s heavy-handed sense of humour and lack of subtlety. Yet they are important evidence of Sappho’s celebration of women’s experience. The poems were probably sung as the bridal procession moved from the bride’s to the groom’s house, at the climax of the ceremony. The comparison of the groom in 65 to Ares, the god of war, and the ridicule of his heroic stature satirises male values. Again, in 66, the door-keeper was a friend of the groom who guarded the groom’s house against the ritual attempt of the bride’s attendants to “rescue” her.