Lesbia

Common card · No. 379433

PetIn several works by the first century–BCE Roman poet Catullus, Lesbia is named as a woman with whom the poet engages in a passionate love affair. Her name is considered a pseudonym, which associated her with the Greek poetess Sappho, a native of Lesbos and a major influence on Catullus. As Catullus constructs her, Lesbia is a beautiful married woman, attractive to him both for her physical beauty and her intellectual charm. His poems include expressions of passionate desire for Lesbia, misery at her rejection and perceived betrayal of him, and bitter attacks on her and other men for her infidelity and sexual activities. Elizabeth Marie Young calls Lesbia "an ongoing obsession" of Catullus's poetry. His portrayal of her inverts traditional Roman gender norms: she is portrayed as the more active participant in their relationship, while he often portrays himself as her powerless victim. Several aspects of her characterisation, perhaps including her name, recall tropes associated with...

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