Greek/Roman Mythological Figures As Taylor Swift Songs

Have you ever heard a song and thought 'wow, this song is perfect for X character?' I study ancient Greece and Rome and can't stop thinking about mythological (and historical)figures when I listen to Taylor Swift. (These are in no particular order) [cw: suicide, infanticide]

1. Sappho - Invisible

Taylor Swift / Via people.com

Sappho was a Greek poetess who is famous for her erotic poetry about other women, including a poem about feeling invisible when watching her crush with someone else

...just like Taylor's "Invisible"

"And you just see right through me but if you only knew me

We could be a beautiful, miracle, unbelievable/Instead of just invisible"

2. Catullus #1 - Death by a Thousand Cuts

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Catullus writes a lot of poetry about his tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend, including this famous two-line poem:

"I hate and I love. You may wonder why I do this;

I don't know, but I know it's happening and I'm in pain"

Kinda similar to Taylor's "Death by a Thousand Cuts", right?

"Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts

Flashbacks waking me up

I get drunk, but it's not enough

'Cause the morning comes and you're not my baby"

3. Sulpicia - King of My Heart

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Sulpicia is the only surviving female poet from ancient Rome, and her first poem celebrates her new boyfriend. Her first three words tandem venit amor, "finally love has come" remind me so much of "And all at once you are the one that I've been waiting for" from Taylor's "King of my Heart" that I actually translated the whole poem using only lines from reputation

And all at once you are the one I have been waiting for—you and me

We have a big reputation, and you’ve heard about me.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams, you should see the things

We do, I know I’m going to be with you.

Baby, all at once, this is enough: Hold on to the memories,

they will hold on to you.

Don’t read the last page, but I stay when you're lost,

and I'm scared and you're turning away.

They say I did something bad, but why does it feel

So good? Call it what you want.

4. Ovid - exile

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This one seems a little on the nose, since Ovid was exiled for writing erotic poetry in a time of moral reform.

But "I'm not your problem anymore/so who am I offending now" from folklore's "exile" is a great description of what actually happened to Ovid AND the type of poetry he liked to write.

5. Medea - my tears ricochet

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One of the more famous mythological figures is Medea, who took revenge on her husband leaving her by killing their two children and flying off into the sunset on a chariot pulled by dragons. Major mic drop moment from 2000 years ago.

I found Medea's rage at her abandonment similar to this line from "my tears ricochet" from folklore:

"And if I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too

Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe

All the hell you gave me?"

6. Dido - All Too Well

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Dido is one of my favorite ancient characters, and deserves more attention than she gets. She hosts the shipwrecked Aeneas, a Trojan refugee, and they have a year long love affair. When he ghosts her to follow his fate to found a city in Italy (that would lead to Rome), she curses him, builds a pile of his stuff, and burns it and herself with it. Then, when he visits the underworld, he sees her spirit and tries to mansplain that he never knew their relationship was that serious and that him leaving would hurt her so much, turns her back on him and refuses to talk.

"All Too Well" from Red is my absolute favorite Taylor Swift song and every time I hear it I think of Dido.

"Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much

But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up…"

"Hey, you call me up again just to break me like a promise

So casually cruel in the name of being honest..."

7. Ariadne - White Horse

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Continuing our trend of abandoned women, I can't help but think of Ariadne when I hear "White Horse" from Fearless.

"I was a dreamer before you went and let me down

Now it's too late for you

And your white horse, to come around"

Ariadne was abandoned by Theseus after she helped him escape the Minotaur. She had hoped to live a different life by leaving with him, but as thanks for her help, he dumped her on an island on his way home. Too late for that white horse.

8. Cleopatra - mad woman

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This choice was inspired by a poem by the Roman poet Horace about Cleopatra. In his "Cleopatra Ode", where Cleopatra is described as a "maddened woman" bent on destroying Rome. To quote Taylor from "mad woman":

"And there's nothin' like a mad woman

What a shame she went mad

No one likes a mad woman/You made her like that"

What I really like about this comparison is the fact that Cleopatra as a "mad woman" was a story created to justify war against her ally, the Roman Mark Antony (It's not civil war if you're fighting a mad, foreign queen)--and so they "made her like that"

9. Patrochilles (Achilles and Patroclus) - the 1

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If you're a fan of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles or play the game Hades, you know of Achilles and Patroclus and their possible relationship.

I personally think that their relationship was more than just friends, and I like to think that Achilles, when thinking about Patroclus, would have thought similar to Taylor in "the 1":

"And if my wishes came true

It would've been you

In my defense, I have none

For never leaving well enough alone"

10. Psyche - willow

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In Greek mythology, Cupid falls in love with Psyche instead of cursing her to love someone hideous. He tries to remain anonymous (only coming to her in the dark) but she is curious and lights a candle one night.

This is very similar to evermore's "willow":

"Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneakin' in

As if you were a mythical thing

Like you were a trophy or a champion ring

And there was one prize I'd cheat to win"

11. Calypso - august

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When being forced to roam around the Mediterranean, Odysseus is shipwrecked on Calypso's island. He stays on her paradise of an island, 'bewitched', for 7 years.

The thing is, Calypso knows that one day Odysseus will have to leave. And so when I heard "august":

"August slipped away

Like a bottle of wine

'Cause you were never mine

Your back/Beneath the sun

Wishing I could write my name on it"

12. Jason - ME!

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Jason has technically already been mentioned in this list--he's the man who abandoned Medea. The thing about Jason is that he only care's about himself. While this is not the intention of Taylor Swift's "ME!" from Lover, I just think he'd love the ego stroke of these lines:

"I know I tend to make it about me

I know you never get just what you see

But I will never bore you, baby…

And you can't spell "awesome" without 'me'"

13. Penelope - hoax

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Penelope was Odysseus' wife--he left her at home while he went away to the Trojan war and thanks to some meddlesome gods was away for 20 years. Penelope, according to the Odyssey, spends those 20 years preserving her marriage, fending off men who want to marry her to gain her husband's throne. . Many times Penelope wonders if her husband is being as faithful as she is. I see this reflected in folklore's "hoax":

Stood on the cliffside

Screaming, "Give me a reason"

Your faithless love's the only hoax

I believe in

Don't want no other shade of blue

But you

No other sadness in the world would do

Meanwhile, Odysseus sleeps with almost every woman he encounters (see Calypso, above, with whom he spends 7 years). And so, Penelope really does believe in a hoax.

14. Odysseus - Blank Space

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Speaking of Odysseus and his inability to keep it in his pants...

"Blank Space" from 1989, although a parody of media portrayals of Taylor, is fitting.

"We'll take this way too far

It'll leave you breathless, mm

Or with a nasty scar

Got a long list of ex lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane"

Thanks to my friends at Sententiae Antiquae for their help with this.

15. Aeneas - Shake it Off

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Aeneas, who as I mentioned above abandoned Dido and was fated to found a city that would lead to Rome, has this nasty habit of repressing his emotions. Its how he was able to deal with leaving Dido and the deaths of most of his companions. And so, thanks again to my friends at Sententiae Antiquae, Taylor's "Shake it Off" from 1989 seems fitting:

"But I keep cruising, can't stop, won't stop moving

It's like I got this music in my mind, sayin' it's gonna be alright"

Also, Aeneas is described multiple times as nescius rerum, or "ignorant of things", so the line "got nothing in my brain" is fitting.