Editing Camma

{{Short description|Galatian princess and priestess of Artemis}}
[[File:Camma CourDOr Metz 3246b.jpg|right|thumb|''The poisoning of Camma and Synorix in the temple of Diana'' (Charles Poerson, 17th century).]]

'''Camma''' ({{langx|grc|Κάμμα}})<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/greek/polyaenus8B.html Polyaenus, Stratagems, Book 8, 39]</ref> was a [[Galatia]]n princess and [[priest]]ess of [[Artemis]] whom [[Plutarch]] writes about in both ''On the Bravery of Women'' and the ''Eroticus'' or ''Amatorius''.{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|page=1}} As Plutarch is our only source on Camma, her [[historicity]] cannot be independently verified.{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|page=2}}<ref>Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville is cited by Sandra Péré-Noguès (2013) as declaring that the Greeks had invented such stories, though she is not so dismissive.</ref> In both works, Plutarch cites her as an exemplar of fidelity and courage in love.{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|page=2}}

In Plutarch's accounts, Camma was wedded to the [[wikt:tetrarch|tetrarch]] Sinatus, and became known and admired for her virtue and beauty.<ref name="plut"/>{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|pages=2–3|ps=: text and translation of the passage from the ''Amatorius''.}} Sinatus' rival, another tetrarch named Sinorix, murdered Sinatus and proceeded to woo Camma herself. Rather than submit to Sinorix' advances, Camma took him to a [[temple of Artemis]] where she served poison to both herself and him in a libation of either milk and [[honey]]<ref name="plut"/> or [[mead]].{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|pages=2–3|ps=: text and translation of the passage from the ''Amatorius''.}} Camma died happily, according to Plutarch, in the knowledge that she had avenged the death of her husband.<ref name="plut">[[Plutarch]]. ''De Mulierum Virtutibus'' 20, in the ''[[Moralia]]''. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Bravery_of_Women*/B.html English translation published online by Bill Thayer.]</ref>{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|pages=2–3|ps=: text and translation of the passage from the ''Amatorius''.}}

Plutarch's story of Camma inspired a number of works of later art and literature. [[Polyaenus]] briefly reprises Plutarch's tale in his 2nd-century CE ''Stratagems of War''.<ref>[[Polyaenus]], ''Stratagems'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus8B.html#39.1 VIII.39.1]</ref> In the Renaissance, the story of Camma enjoyed considerable popularity, inspiring ''De re uxoria'' by Barbaro,{{sfnp|Bartera|2011|page=140}} ''De institutione feminae christianae'' by Vives,{{sfnp|Bartera|2011|page=140}} the ''Libro del cortegiano'' by Castiglione,{{sfnp|Bartera|2011|page=140}} and ''[[Orlando furioso]]'' by Ariosto (where Camma is renamed Drusilla).{{sfnp|Bartera|2011|page=140}} [[Thomas Corneille]] wrote a play named ''Camma'' (1661) about the story of the Galatian princess. The opera ''[[Nephté]]'' (1789) by [[Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (composer)|Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne]] uses the story of Camma but moves the setting to Ancient Egypt. [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]] subsequently wrote the tragedy ''The Cup'' (1884), in which Camma is again a Galatian princess. The poem ‘Camma’ by [[Oscar Wilde]] has been seen as a hedonistic commentary on Plutarch's Camma.{{sfnp|Gilabert i Barberà|2000|page=4}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Literature===
* {{cite journal |first=Salvador |last=Bartera |journal=International Journal of the Classical Tradition |date=2011 |volume=18 |number=1 |pages=138–144 |title=Review of Carlo Caruso and Andrew Laird (eds.), ''Italy and the Classical Tradition: Language, Thought and Poetry 1300–1600'' (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 2009) |doi=10.1007/s12138-011-0241-8|s2cid=161262553 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Pau |last=Gilabert i Barberà |date=2000 |title=Oscar Wilde. 'Camma', a Severe and Hedonic Aesthetic Correction of Plutarch's Ethics |journal=Actas del VII Simposio Internacional Sobre Plutarco de la Sociedad Española de Plutarquistas |location=Majorca|hdl=2445/12170 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Sandra |last=Péré-Noguès |date=2013 |url=https://pallas.revues.org/647 |title=Chiomara, Camma, et autres princesses… Une histoire des femmes dans les sociétés " celtiques " est‑elle possible ? [Chiomara, Camma and other princesses… Is a history of women and gender in Celtic societies possible?] |journal=L'Antiquité en Partage |volume=90 |pages=159–176}}

{{Celts}}

[[Category:Galatian people]]
[[Category:Ancient Celtic women]]
[[Category:Ancient priestesses]]
[[Category:Ancient princesses]]
[[Category:1st-century BC women]]
[[Category:Artemis]]
[[Category:Asian people whose existence is disputed]]

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