Caecilia Trebulla
Caecilia Trebulla was a poet of the
She was not the only poet to leave her mark on this monument, or even the only female poet to leave her mark, but the inscriptions left by female poets on Memnon's leg are almost 6% of the surviving works by women from the ancient world.
Surviving poetry
1.
By Trebulla.
When I heard the holy voice of Memnon,
I longed for you, mother, and I prayed for you to hear it too.[1]
2.
Caecilia Trebulla,
upon hearing Memnon for the second time.
Before we heard only his voice,
Today he greeted us as friends and intimates,
Memnon, son of Eos and Tithon.
Did Nature, creator of all,
Give perception and voice to stone?[1]
3.
I, Caecilia Trebulla,
Wrote after hearing Memnon here.
Cambyses smashed me, this stone,
Made as a likeness of an Eastern king.
My voice of old was a lament, groaning
For Memnon's suffering, which Cambyses stole.
Today I cry sounds inarticulate and unintelligible
Remains of my former fate.[1]
References
Further reading
- Rosenmeyer, Patricia A. The language of ruins : Greek and Latin inscriptions on the Memnon colossus. New York. OCLC 1019833512.