A woman's right is a goddess's right? The meaning and function of the image of Helen in the poetry of Sappho (in light of recent papyrology's discoveries)

The image of the Helen in Sapph. Fr. 16 (Neri-Cinti) is analyzed in detail on the basis of the new papyrus fragments which were published by Dirk Obbink (Obbink, 2016a). According to the results of the comparative analysis, it is concluded that the form of the aoristic active participle from the verb περιέχειν, which is used in Sapph. Fr. 16, refers not only to the vocabulary of Homer, but also to the vocabulary of legal documents (cf.: Hom. Il. XV, 653-654; Hellanic., Fr. 31, 50 Jacoby; IG XII(2), №58, 8-9 etc.). Thus, we confirm a special significance of the Sapph. Fr. 16, which is a "program" song of Sappho’s thiasos (cf. Bierl, 2003).