Anactoria

Anactoria (or Anaktoria) is the name of a woman mentioned by Sappho as a lover of hers in Fragment 16 (Lobel-Page edition) [1], often referred to by the title "To an Army Wife, in Sardis." Fragment 31 is traditionally called the "Ode to Anactoria", though no name appears in it (A. C. Swinburne, quoted in Lipking 1988).

Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote a long poem titled Anactoria, in which Sappho addresses Anactoria in imagery that includes sadomasochism, cannibalism, and dystheism.[2] Lipking (1988) discusses Swinburne's poem.

References

Lipking, Lawrence I. (1988). Abandoned Women and Poetic Tradition. University of Chicago Press. pp. 92–96. ISBN 0-286-48452-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=51hqhyw5yLoC. Retrieved 2007-08-17.