What does TELESILLA mean?

It was 30 years ago, in 1980 when my father, Spiros Filippas, while working for many years in Europe for hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants, had decided to come back to Greece and make his dream come true. His dream was to built  a Family run Hotel, a Guesthouse, where the visitors wouldn't be only costumers but also friends, who would come back with there families and friends again and again. And so he did in 1980-2. He was trying to find a really different name and so one night while sitting at home he watched  a documentary about the History of Ancient Greece. It was this beautiful story:

Telesilla of Argos fl.c. 494 B.C.

According to Herodotus, in the late sixth century B.C. the Argives were named the best of the Greeks in the art of music. Following in this artistic tradition, Telesilla lived in Argos in the following century, where she was renowned for her bravery as well as her poetry.

Only one fragment remains of Telesilla's writing, as well as three single word quotes and various references, so it is impossible to judge the quality of her work. She appears to have written on mythological themes and, perhaps, martial poetry. A stele representing Telesilla, the composer of songs, was put in front of a seated statue of Aphrodite near the theatre in Argos. Pausanias describes the scene on the stele in which Telesilla's songs are at her feet while she lifts her helmet to her head.

When the Spartan  defeated the Argive army, Telesilla is said to have armed the Argive women. The story goes that when the Spartans saw their enemy, they retreated out of fear that should they lose, it would be humiliating to have been defeated  by women. This story has met with scepticism. Some think Telesilla roused the forces with her poetry.

 

After all we can say that it was a great choice as people remember us so well no mater how many years pass by.  


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